Payment and withdrawal in non-EU, non-Eurozone - Revolut, N26, other options?

Hello,

I would like to work out the best solution for payment and ATM withdrawals to non-EU, non-Eurozone countries. Regular bank ccounts (I bank with AIB) have rather steep fees for such stuff, especially the ATM withdrawal part.

I already use Revolut (free plan) for other reasons. Revolut has a 1000 Euro limit on free currency conversion on the free plan, 3000 on the 3.99/mo plan and unlimited on the 8.99/mo plan. But on top of that it charges 2% for every ATM withdrawal except a ridiculously low limit (even on the 8.99/mo plan it's a mere 400 Euro). And there is the weird 1% currency conversion surcharge on weekends.

I looked at N26. N26 claims free currency conversion on all plans at all times; non-Euro ATM withdrawals are 1.7% on the free plan but free on the 9.99/mo Euro plan.

As far as I can work out you are fully locked into N26 for 12 months while a Revolut plan can be cancelled with the loss of a 2 month fee. And there are other nice perks with the Revolut paid account (such as <18 features). It also seems that N26 charges for card/Google Pay top-ups, so I'd have to fund the account using a bank transfer which needs to be done in advance.

However, the N26 plan still looks very attractive if all withdrawals and payments in a non-EU currency are totally free.

Is there a catch there? Maybe the actual exchange rates for N26 are not as good as the Revolut ones, or maybe there are "network" fees that N26 charges but Revolut doesn't? (The currencies I am interested in are not supported for opening an account in Revolut).

Also, what other options should I look at for such payments/withdrawals?

I have been using N26 for many years predominantly because of their favourable non-Euro currency treatment and non-Euro ATM withdrawals.
Haven't watched the FX rates very closely but by and large they were fine. There are no network fees.
Of course, you always run the risk of an ATM charging you for using it, but that fee is the same regardless of what account you are using.

I have used a N26 Standard (no fees) Debit Card for a number of years when vacationing for 5/6 weeks pa in the US and never had any difficultly despite a large number of varied transactions (apart from Walmart who at one stage were declining all European Credit/Debit cards). No standing charges, no transaction charges and very fair FX rates. Instant notification of all transactions. Don’t use ATMs at all. Just recently switched to N26 Metal and will be using that shortly in the US. I’d have no problem recommending it.

Thanks!

Also, what's the deal with N26 Metal? It's significantly more expensive than You - is this for the gadget insurance when traveling plus protection of stuff you buy using N26?

My only reason for going to metal was to get the 4% interest on savings. I’ll benefit from the phone support if I have any issues. All the rest of the stuff is just faff (insurance, discounts) and I’ve zero interest in it.

But one has to declare the interest for DIRT, right? And if yes, how do you find out exactly how much interest was paid to you over the calendar year, given that the amount of savings probably changed throughout the year? I guess it should be filed as "EU deposit interest" seeing as this is a German bank?

Also, is this an investment or savings product? That is, will the German mandatory bank deposit insurance (100k per depositor per bank) cover the full capital value?