N26 Launch Savings Account Paying 1.70% to 3.00% less fees

Are the prices for the various accounts wrong in that article?

According to the app (at least for me) the prices per month are;

Smart €3.90
You €7.90
Metal €13.50
I have a Metal account and pay €162.20 every 12 months.
 
That doesn’t seem wise.


The wisdom of it is questionable - however Bunq and many Irish bank offerings limit interest to 100k.

I'm happy to over the DGS in what are seen as systemically important banks - clearly N26 is not that, however it may encourage systemically important banks to change their limits.

Pre-financial crisis the level of DGS (about 20k then I think) was rarely seen as a limit for either depositors or used by banks as a level they stopped paying interest - it would probably have been seen then as bizarre if banks used the limit then as they do now.
 
That’s a great news, N26 finally providing interests can be seen as an escalation of the neobanks war on raising cash. That is more than welcome.

That also means money is actually moving around and going to the banks providing the best interest rates. I would say N26 recently saw a lot of cash exiting to other banks and had to act quickly especially after Revolut new Flexible account.

I also expect Bunq to raise interests (hopefully pretty soon) as they are no more competitive with their 2.46% for Irish market. They just need to see more money exiting their bank, and this can accelerate with this move from N26.
 
Yeah I pretty much emptied my Bunq account and transferred to N26. Also upgraded from free account to their top tier to avail of the 4% rate.
 
I've decided to stick with Bunq for the moment to see what, if anything, they do. Signing up for metal membership on N26 is an annual commitment, and I suspect all banks will drop their interest rates later in the year. So, it may not be worth the switch.
The extra metal benefits don't really make it worthwhile for me - the benefits of the travel insurance are much more limited than my annual travel policy - so I can't drop that.
 
In my case, it's actually worth paying the €13.50 /month for the metal plan to get the 4% for my house deposit (house won't be ready till end of the year). So after 5 months, I will be up money by paying for the metal card, after DIRT and PRSI - for the entire year - so I can pull out my savings then and still be up.
Stupid Q. I've seen reference to paying DIRT for non-Irish accounts but not PRSI. How does the PRSI obligation arise from interest from this account and not an Irish account.

How easy is it to declare DIRT for non-Irish accounts to Revenue. I saw another post in a forum and it seemed like even the Revenue where unclear \ gave incorrect directions how to make the filing.
 
To pay PRSI you need to be a "chargeable" person, where you need to do a Form 11 for your taxes.

Sometimes described as someone who makes over 5k a year in non PAYE income - which isn't the complete picture.


has more details - according to that document, Deposit interest > 5000 but taxed at source is an exception (to becoming chargeable), N26 isn't taxing at source - though it seems it would be a good thing if they could.

I'm Form 11 but my understanding is it's relatively easy to pay on MyAccount/Form 12 - but Revenue are currently sometimes handing it incorrectly and charging too much tax. If it was me I'd try to hold off filling in that form for a few more months and hope they fix it - they are admitting it's an error it seems - which is good as admitting errors wouldn't be their strongest point.
 
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I've decided to stick with Bunq for the moment to see what, if anything, they do. Signing up for metal membership on N26 is an annual commitment, and I suspect all banks will drop their interest rates later in the year. So, it may not be worth the switch.
The extra metal benefits don't really make it worthwhile for me - the benefits of the travel insurance are much more limited than my annual travel policy - so I can't drop that.
Fair enough but just to point out if rates do drop then it will affect Bunq as well as N26. There may be a point where paying for the top tier isn’t worth it but with rate cuts affecting all banks I think they will have to drop a hell of a lot to not make it worth it if you have a big enough deposit.
 
I've decided to stick with Bunq for the moment to see what, if anything, they do. Signing up for metal membership on N26 is an annual commitment, and I suspect all banks will drop their interest rates later in the year. So, it may not be worth the switch.
The extra metal benefits don't really make it worthwhile for me - the benefits of the travel insurance are much more limited than my annual travel policy - so I can't drop that.
If I may try to change your mind, 2.8% from N26 free plan is still better than 2.46% from Bunq.
Also any other free option is better (like trade republic...).
And moving your money helps (a little) to put more pressure on banks that are behind with interests rates.
 
If I may try to change your mind, 2.8% from N26 free plan is still better than 2.46% from Bunq.
Also any other free option is better (like trade republic...).
And moving your money helps (a little) to put more pressure on banks that are behind with interests rates.
Yes - but I think Bunq will respond with an increase in their rates. If they don't, then I will definitely move (I am just staying there "for the moment" to see what happens).
 
To pay PRSI you need to be a "chargeable" person, where you need to do a Form 11 for your taxes.

Sometimes described as someone who makes over 5k a year in non PAYE income - which isn't the complete picture.


has more details - according to that document, Deposit interest > 5000 but taxed at source is an exception (to becoming chargeable), N26 isn't taxing at source - though it seems it would be a good thing if they could.

I'm Form 11 but my understanding is it's relatively easy to pay on MyAccount/Form 12 - but Revenue are currently sometimes handing it incorrectly and charging too much tax. If it was me I'd try to hold off filling in that form for a few more months and hope they fix it - they are admitting it's an error it seems - which is good as admitting errors wouldn't be their strongest point.
What about USC?
 
With the lower rate for a free account and a higher rate for the metal account, how much would you need to have in the savings account for it to cover the cost of metal?
 
With the lower rate for a free account and a higher rate for the metal account, how much would you need to have in the savings account for it to cover the cost of metal?

See Post #18 by user @tax_moron who reckons that paying for metal and receiving the elevated 4% interest rate becomes profitable if you have €22k in the account for 12 months.
 
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Note that the N26 Instant Savings account must be opened from within the Finances area, which only appears to be available on the N26 mobile app.

You can create a 'space' for savings on the website (or app) and even assign it an IBAN, but it won't get the attractive interest rate.

Those who have Advanzia deposits maturing soon: you may wish to make a small transfer from N26 to Advanzia now, which will allow you to transfer from Advanzia to N26 later (on the assumption that Advanzia won't extend their bonus rate again).
 
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Yes - but I think Bunq will respond with an increase in their rates. If they don't, then I will definitely move (I am just staying there "for the moment" to see what happens).
With SEPA Instant transfers between the two, I didn't see any reason not to move. It'd take seconds to reverse the move of the rates changed.
 
To follow up, it becomes profitable to have the metal plan if you have €22k or more (for an entire year - not accounting for compounding)


I'd factor in that N26 are unlikely to maintain the 4% offering for 12 months as the ECB are likely to start cutting rates in the next few months.

A question on the N26 Q&A slightly misleadingly makes it appear fixed for a year which is obviously not the case;

if you maintain a daily balance of €15,000 in your Instant Savings account for 12 months and you have Metal membership, you’ll earn a total gross interest of €600 before taxes.
 
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