bunq Review

Introduction

bunq is an Amsterdam-based, international mobile bank, founded in 2015 by Ali Niknam, the original founder of the IT company TransIP.

Being officially permitted and insured by the Dutch Central Bank, bunq, however, is a totally independent borderless European bank, without any branches, queues, or paperwork whatsoever. The bank is a mobile app itself.

bunq is fully international with the app and website being available in 6 languages for both operation and customer support. By opening a bunq account, one get access to 25 bank accounts (multicurrency), up to 3 physical cards (Mastercard / Maestro) and up to 5 virtual Debit Mastercards.

Banking Features

In-app card control:

Enable foreign payments, activate paying online, set CVC codes to change, create virtual cards, block/unblock cards.

Fingerprint login:

A choice of preferred login method: a password or a fingerprint.

Savings Goals:

Helps saving up for your next dream purchase, or experience, with a current status of your progress. Savings Goals are shareable with friends, family or partners.

Auto Save:

Achieve your goals faster by setting your bunq app to save automatically on every payment, and round up your spendings to €1, €2, or €5.

Interest rate:

At 0.27%, bunq claims to provide customers with an interest rate 9x higher than traditional banks, and on all accounts, not just savings accounts.

bunq Accounts and Fees

It costs €2.99/month to open the basic bunq’s “Easy Bank” account and get 1 physical card free of charge. However, by opening the “Easy Bank” account, you receive 3 cards free of charge and in the “Easy Green” 4. In the “Easy Bank” account you do not get free withdrawals, whereas in the “Easy Money” and “Easy green” account you get 10 free withdrawals/month.

Personal account types

	Easy Bank	Easy Money	Easy Green
Price per month	€2.99	€8.99	€17.99
Card Fee	1 card free of charge	3 cards included, €9.00 + €3.00/month for every additional card	4 cards included, €9.00 + €3.00/month for every additional card
25 sub-accounts included	X	✓	✓
Free ATM withdrawals (EUR)	€0.99 per first 5 withdrawals	10 withdrawals/month	10 withdrawals/month
Free payments (EUR)	✓	✓	✓
Currency Conversion	Real exchange rate via TransferWise	Real exchange rate via TransferWise	Real exchange rate via TransferWise
Google Pay & Apple Pay	✓ (selected countries)	✓ (selected countries)	✓ (selected countries)
Receiving money outside SEPA (EUR)	✓ Terms fees apply	✓ Terms fees apply	✓ Terms fees apply
Top up with iDEAL, Sofort or Bank Transfer	Free	Free	Free
Top up with credit or debit card	Up to €500/month free. Then 0.5%	Up to €500/month free. Then 0.5%	Up to €500/month free. Then 0.5%
International Transfers	TransferWise	TransferWise	TransferWise

Business accounts

• The direct connection between bunq and bookkeeping software
• The VAT set aside and transfer to a designated VAT sub-account automatically
• All receipts in one place
• Own IBAN for each sub-account
• Realtime API
• Employee access

	Easy Bank	Easy Money	Easy Green
Price per month	€4.99	€10.99	€20.99
25 sub-accounts included	X	✓	✓
Card Fee	1 card free of charge	3 cards included. €9.00 + €2.99/month for every additional card	Metal card included
Free ATM withdrawals (EUR)	€0.99 per first 5 withdrawals	10 withdrawals/month	10 withdrawals/month
Free payments (EUR)	✓	€0.10 per payment/request	€0.10 per payment/request
Currency Conversion	€0.10 per payment+ the real exchange rate	€0.10 per payment+ the real exchange rate	€0.10 per payment+ the real exchange rate
Google Pay & Apple Pay	✓ (selected countries)	✓ (selected countries)	✓ (selected countries)
Receiving money outside SEPA (EUR)	Per Swift inbound up to €25.00	Per Swift inbound up to €25.00	Per Swift inbound up to €25.00
Top up with iDEAL, Sofort or Bank Transfer	€0.10	€0.10	€0.10
Free top up with credit or debit card	Up to €500/month	Up to €500/month	Up to €500/month
Bulk Payments	✓	✓	✓
Paying a direct debit	€0.10	€0.10	€0.10
Scanning and paying invoices in the bunq app.	X	€0.20 per scan + €0.10 per payment	€0.20 per scan + €0.10 per payment
Automate all your finances with Zapier	X	Free	Free

Security

Create virtual cards, block and unblock current cards if lost or stolen, view and change your PIN directly from your phone — total control over the cards and account in general, quickly from the app.
bunq has a full banking license issued by the Holland Central Bank, so the customers’ funds are protected and refundable up to €100k.

Card settings on-the-go

Changing your PIN, setting card limits, (de-)activating or blocking a card, all that in real-time, just from your mobile.

bunq’s patent-pending Dual PIN technology enables using 1 card for 2 accounts.

Mastercard rotating CVC code:

An extra safety layer making the CVC code refresh automatically every few minutes in the app, or letting users update it manually.

bunq Support

bunq offers standard means of contact: a built-in-app chat and Email.

Instead of a basic FAQ section on the website, bunq offers the clients a proprietary community platform “Together”, where users can ask for help, find answers, or just share experiences, and get ranked and promoted, for doing so. By sharing knowledge, the users earn points and can get a higher ranking.

Unfortunately, bunq doesn’t provide telephone support.

Conclusion

Opening a bunq account is fast and very easy, and even before the card arrives, you could use it with the card details in the app. Once opened a personal account, you can also have a joint account shared with someone else.