Number26/N26 Mastercard/Account now for Irish Residents

Red Silurian

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

AnPost is because their merchant bank does not see the card as a debit card but rather as credit card.

That despite the card being issues as such. All their merchant bank needs to do is ensure they use the right BIN provider. That should be fixable.

Hold up a sec, is this technically issued as a credit or debit card? I fly Ryanair a bit so if it's a credit card I'll be charged an extra % on every flight for using credit instead of debit...

Also if we're limited to 5 atm withdrawls a month then if it's a credit card there would be no cashback facilities

Bob24

colmtheperson wrote: »

Hold up a sec, is this technically issued as a credit or debit card? I fly Ryanair a bit so if it's a credit card I'll be charged an extra % on every flight for using credit instead of debit...

Also if we're limited to 5 atm withdrawls a month then if it's a credit card there would be no cashback facilities

It is clearly written Debit MasterCard on the card and if you do a BIN lookup online with the first 6 digits of the card number, the 2 websites I have tried do list the card type as debit (but one of the 2 wrongly reports it is issued from the US).

It *might* be that AnPost have issues with Debit Mastercards ...

Red Silurian

Bob24 wrote: »

It is clearly written Debit MasterCard on the card and if you do a BIN lookup online with the first 6 digits of the card number, the 2 websites I have tried do list the card type as debit (but one of the 2 wrongly reports it is issued from the US).

It *might* be that AnPost have issues with Debit Mastercards ...

I don't know of any Irish banks that issue MasterCard debit cards, they're all visa... That could be it!

Red Silurian

Bristol Helpless Stapler wrote: »

I've sent a few emails so will wait until I get a response. Next time I'm in a bad mood I'll start pestering them all with emails and tag along Shane Ross as well for the craic.

Surely if it's a MasterCard then it can be used to top up leap card regardless of country of origin no?

nsa0bupkd3948x

colmtheperson wrote: »

Surely if it's a MasterCard then it can be used to top up leap card regardless of country of origin no?

The issue is with the direct debit auto top up which can only be set up with Irish Bank accounts instead of any sepa one

The J Stands for Jay

colmtheperson wrote: »

I don't know of any Irish banks that issue MasterCard debit cards, they're all visa... That could be it!

KBC use MasterCard debit cards.

ahbell

colmtheperson wrote: »

Hold up a sec, is this technically issued as a credit or debit card? I fly Ryanair a bit so if it's a credit card I'll be charged an extra % on every flight for using credit instead of debit...

Also if we're limited to 5 atm withdrawls a month then if it's a credit card there would be no cashback facilities

Ryanair is fine as long as you select Mastercard Debit from the drop down. If you select Mastercard from the drop down your transaction will go through and you will be charged extra for using a credit card. I know this as I was stung with it last year, however when I phoned Ryanair customer service they gave me a refund for the charge.

Quackster

McGaggs wrote: »

KBC use MasterCard debit cards.

As does EBS.

Bob24

colmtheperson wrote: »

Surely if it's a MasterCard then it can be used to top up leap card regardless of country of origin no?

As others have mentioned, this is around direct debits for auto top-up.

But while it is not the case of the NTA, beware than other providers or online stores might also decline a payment card issued by a foreign bank (which I think is also kind of illegal as far as SEPA regulations are concerned). Three's online top-up facility was for example not available with a non-Irish payment card until a few months ago (now it works fine). And last December I order something from dyson.ie and they did not accept my non-Irish visa card - had to pay wit my Irish one.

In my experience most of the time there is is not problem (and things are overall improving), but once in a while a foreign might cause trouble.

Bob24

McGaggs wrote: »

KBC use MasterCard debit cards.

It would be interesting to know if those are accepted by AnPost. Debit Mastercard seem to be less widespread than Visa Debit and I have actually seen an occurrence if them not been recognised as Debit Cards a few weeks ago. My partner was booking a flight with Air France, which charges higher payment fees for credit cards than debit cards. The only way to pay with her KBC Debit MasterCard was as a standard Mastercard with the higher fee, whereas my BoI Visa Debit was indeed recognised as a debit card with a lower fee.

jester77

N26 Credit has launched, can get credit between 1k and 25k with repayments spread out between 12 and 60 months with rates between 2.95% and 7.5%

Germany only for now by the looks of it

Bob24

jester77 wrote: »

N26 Credit has launched, can get credit between 1k and 25k with repayments spread out between 12 and 60 months with rates between 2.95% and 7.5%

Germany only for now by the looks of it

Argh ... it is a saving account I am waiting for, not the opposite! I must be the wrong kind of customer ;-) (but I understand that with the crazy low interest rates of the ECB, from a profitability perspective credits make more sense to them than saving accounts)

jester77

Bob24 wrote: »

Argh ... it is a saving account I am waiting for, not the opposite! I must be the wrong kind of customer ;-) (but I understand that with the crazy lower interest rates of the ECB, from a profitability perspective credits make more sense to them than saving accounts)

They mention savings and insurance products are on the way. But as you say, with interest rates being so low it is hard to see them offering much in terms of value when it comes to savings.

Bob24

jester77 wrote: »

They mention savings and insurance products are on the way. But as you say, with interest rates being so low it is hard to see them offering much in terms of value when it comes to savings.

Yes, I don't expect great interest rates. Just thinking German euros might be a better bet than Irish euros if at some point things go wrong with the eurozone.

Abominable JoMan

Bristol Helpless Stapler wrote: »

The issue is with the direct debit auto top up which can only be set up with Irish Bank accounts instead of any sepa one

Tried topping up my leap card at a Luas stop about 2 or 3 weeks ago and it wouldn't accept the card. Seems it's not only the direct debit.

Also Supervalu didn't accept it the other day.

Bob24

Abominable JoMan wrote: »

Tried topping up my leap card at a Luas stop about 2 or 3 weeks ago and it wouldn't accept the card. Seems it's not only the direct debit.

Also Supervalu didn't accept it the other day.

Now that's an other issue and a big one if it wasn't just temporary. Unless this is a recurring issue you have noticed and N26 haven't been able to help, I would tend to think it was bad luck that day or there is something wrong with your specific card/account.

I am regularly topping-up my leap card with a French Visa card (a debit card but technically issued as a regular visa credit card) and never had any issue. So it is not the same as DDs whereby they have a clear policy not to accepts foreign IBANs.

nsa0bupkd3948x

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

Good Luck, keep us update (either here or on your nice blog).

I love it when other people are also pestering these people living in the stone ages like I do.

Received two emails today.

First one said from Leap Card said.

Thank you for your contact.

Leap Card does allow you to set up Auto top up from a European bank account.

I replied asking how to set it up and haven't heard back.

The second one was from the Nationaltransport.ie

Thanks for your email.

I understand that you may want to set up Auto Top-up from a European bank account, however there have been a number of issues in verifying non-Irish bank accounts that have stopped this becoming implemented.

Under EU law Irish bank account holders are permitted to sign up electronically to direct debits; however, non-Irish bank account holders must complete and sign a paper mandate in order to sign up to auto top-up.

The challenge is that the Leap Card signup process includes a bank account verification step where we send a credit to the nominated bank account and the customer can then enter this verification code online to complete the setup. This is not currently possible where the original signup was not online.

Furthermore, even if we could arrange a workaround for the online signup aspect, the NTA cannot guarantee that all non-Irish bank account holders will be able to see the required sign up code and therefore it is possible that many non-Irish bank account holders may not be able to successfully complete the authentication process.

The NTA has been investigating how we could implement this with our suppliers for some time now and originally had hoped to have a solution in place by now. Unfortunately the solutions proposed have not been acceptable from a financial integrity standpoint. However, we have not exhausted all avenues and will continue to investigate possible solutions.

While it is not possible at the moment, I hope that you are satisfied that we are working on making Auto Top-up available to all customers.

I haven't decided on my response yet. Even if they can't guarantee I'll see the code I'd like them to try as I'd be very confident I could see it..

Bob24

Same excuses as before ... in short they are telling you they are in breach with SEPA regulations but don't care as it would be too hard from them to change their processes.

Keeps us posted!

Yggr of Asgard

Left Hand vs Right Hand

But it's interesting that Leap card now says that you can use a SEPA account, let's see what they come back to as the process.

The NTA is the same as usual with the exception of an added excuse why so far it has not happened.

ED E

Am I correct in saying that a SEPA transfer should have registered with N26 within one banking day?

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

ED E

Suspect BOI put a hold on all new payees despite the two factor confirmation. No hurry just stupid considering that's thr point of SEPA.

dalta5billion

In my experience BOI took ~2-3 days to transfer to N26. I wouldn't worry yet

cefh17

PTSB to N26 takes 2-3 days to transfer I find. N26 the other direction is always next day and once was same day

Bob24

For me it is one working day. I initiated a transfer from BoI to N26 on Friday afternoon, and it was lodged on my N26 account this morning around 9AM.

fritzelly

ED E wrote: »

Am I correct in saying that a SEPA transfer should have registered with N26 within one banking day?

Theoretically if in before 3pm (some banks have different cut off times) then usually there the next day, after 3pm then 2 days later (excepting weekends)

All transfers with Ulster Bank have been 2 days but that was because the transfer was after 3pm, so exactly as it should be

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

bertie4evr

It's always come through at 12:30 on the dot for me with AIB.

ED E

Just remembered I turned on alerts for incoming funds but no email or push though the funds have arrived. Hmmm.

jester77

ED E wrote: »

Just remembered I turned on alerts for incoming funds but no email or push though the funds have arrived. Hmmm.

It has been like that for the last 2 months, direct debit pushes have not been working, everything else is ok

ED E

jester77 wrote: »

It has been like that for the last 2 months, direct debit pushes have not been working, everything else is ok

Well this would have been a credit transfer not a debit, but I assume thats what you mean.

jester77

ED E wrote: »

Well this would have been a credit transfer not a debit, but I assume thats what you mean.

ah right, credit transfers had been working ok for me, maybe yesterdays update broke something.

ED E

Seems the setting didnt save, I do remember seeing a server timeout at some point.

It looks like the update broke fingerprint recognition for me. It was a little picky before but now from what I can tell is entirely non functional.

Update:
Not alone

nikos tsiolis
Fingerprint login does not work on the latest update. Device OnePlus Two

Otherwise account opening and debit card activation went smoothly, but after fingerprint login setup it just doesn't log in and goes back to phone's main screen. Fix the login feature! In comparison, other apps on the same device log in with fingerprint with no issues.

Super bank. Jedoch macht mir der Login mit Fingerabdruck auf meinem Handy Probleme. Der Fingerabdruck ist oft einfach deaktiviert oder wird nicht erkannt. Auf Dauer mit dem Passwort anmelden ist echt ätzend... Bitte die Probleme beheben. (Google Pixel XL)

pasquale83

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

The German in me wants to provide a Radio Jerewan answer to that.

In principle you are right, however you could use a different e-mail and mobile phone number and it might go through.

Also giving that N26 is this ever evolving beast, nobody knows if in a couple of month they do not find a way to allow the same data set to be used again.

Right now, anybody who had an account while they used wirecard can now open an account with the same data set because they finally stop using the wirecard data set.

Honestly I really don't get why a bank shouldn't allow a previous customer to open an account again if he/she changed his/her mind. It is just business. Technical difficulties like mobile phone/e-mail contacts can be sorted out. For me this is just nonsense

jester77

pasquale83 wrote: »

Honestly I really don't get why a bank shouldn't allow a previous customer to open an account again if he/she changed his/her mind. It is just business. Technical difficulties like mobile phone/e-mail contacts can be sorted out. For me this is just nonsense

That's standard Bank conditions in Germany, once you leave a bank, you leave it for good. I've no issues with this, I've closed accounts here, always for a good reason and I don't plan going back to those banks again.

pasquale83

jester77 wrote: »

That's standard Bank conditions in Germany, once you leave a bank, you leave it for good. I've no issues with this, I've closed accounts here, always for a good reason and I don't plan going back to those banks again.

OK, I have a different perspective. I go where it is convinient at a specific time. So mayne N26 will not be convenient for me now but it will be again in the future.

Anyway that't the way it is thanks for the reply!

Bob24

jester77 wrote: »

That's standard Bank conditions in Germany, once you leave a bank, you leave it for good. I've no issues with this, I've closed accounts here, always for a good reason and I don't plan going back to those banks again.

Is this really standard accepted policy with no-way to go around it??

Regardless of what people think of it and whether they accept it, this seems like something the EU could see as anti-competitive behaviour. Telling customers that if they leave they will never be able to come back seems like a way to artificially force them to stay and not go to the competition.

Red Silurian

Bob24 wrote: »

Argh ... it is a saving account I am waiting for, not the opposite! I must be the wrong kind of customer ;-) (but I understand that with the crazy low interest rates of the ECB, from a profitability perspective credits make more sense to them than saving accounts)

Credit union account is your friend in this situation I'd say

Bob24

colmtheperson wrote: »

Credit union account is your friend in this situation I'd say

The reason I would be interested in putting some of my savings specifically with N26 is that the money would be in Germany and not in Ireland. i.e. the money would become new Deutsche Marks if one day the eurozone collapses (which I believe would appreciate compared to the new Irish Pounds) and it would be guaranteed by the German depositor guarantee system which a I see as more reliable than the Irish one (and in any case it always seems like a good idea not to put all your eggs - or euros - in the same basket - or country)

But yeah, besides that point I don't expect better interest rates from them than what I would get from an Irish financial institution (possible even lower rates).

Yggr of Asgard

Bob24 wrote: »

Is this really standard accepted policy with no-way to go around it??

Regardless of what people think of it and whether they accept it, this seems like something the EU could see as anti-competitive behaviour. Telling customers that if they leave they will never be able to come back seems like a way to artificially force them to stay and not go to the competition.

It's still standard practice, that one you leave your Hausbank (your main bank) that you won't take you back unless there is some manual intervention in the branch.

That does note effect the local sparkasse which has to take you if you live in their catchment area.

In addition if you don't have a bank account you can request a standard bank account under EU rules with any bank, but it's just that a standard bank account with a German Bank Card (maestro or vpay). The bank does not need to give you full blown account back.

N26 does seam to take customers back if they left during the wirecard times, but that does not mean that if you leave now they will take you back in future.

Bob24

OK so this is more complicated than just if you leave any bank they will never take you back, which I think is what a few of us here originally understood.

jester77

Bob24 wrote: »

OK so this is more complicated than just if you leave any bank they will never take you back, which I think is what a few of us here originally understood.

Sparkasse are a special case, they are more like a credit union than a bank. Even if every bank refuses to give you an account, they can't.

Yggr of Asgard

The German banking system is full of fun and divided into private and government sector.

The private banks are free to reject you for what ever reason they want, offer you a limited fee heavy account or only a savings account. It depends on your Schufa (credit register) which has loads of data about you. The EU basic account means that they will open you an account if you do not already have an account but it's limited in function and cost money. There is a large market for non schufa accounts in Germany, in fact N26 started up as such. Those banks usually don't take you back.

Then there are the government run banks (both local sparkasse and regional banks) which must open you an account if you live in their catchment area but again it might be restricted to the card type and cost you fees. Those usually take you back but you need to live in their catchment area. There are some exceptions where the public regional bank runs a direct bank like DKB or 1822 (Frankfurt sparkasse) they also decline accounts they don't want and don't take you back. They act more like private banks but offer superior products.

So yes, it's as simple as "we don't take you back" for accounts that a non resident would like to have. It's a business after all, so they can deceide who they want.

Keep in mind for example that your interest on loans, cards etc will depend on your credit score, it's not everybody get's the same, it depends on your Schufa and if there is anything negative in it (like you did not pay your cable bill) you will see your bank acting on it.

It's way stricter than here.

ED E

So Ive tried to use my new card twice now, both times in Tesco and both times it caused the card terminal to become unresponsive

Savman

ED E wrote: »

So Ive tried to use my new card twice now, both times in Tesco and both times it caused the card terminal to become unresponsive

Did you activate it in an ATM beforehand?

ED E

Savman wrote: »

Did you activate it in an ATM beforehand?

That would explain it. Dont remember any instruction to do so being displayed and the slip it came on was blank.

Zagato

I thought it just needs to be an online terminal you use in first? Would have thought the Tesco ones are, although they work very quickly, so maybe not?

Yggr of Asgard

Online terminal is not what is required, what is required is that the terminal tries to validate the PIN online (Enciphered PIN verified online) which is what is required for first use.

The terminal might be online but not support that function at the time so it's trying to verify offline which fails (Plaintext PIN verification performed by ICC). This is possible because the card allows offline transactions.

If you go to an ATM it always will require to validate the PIN online which is why N26 tells you to use an ATM before usage.

Yggr of Asgard

They finally managed to get their Irish Compliance in order:

Notice for our Irish Customers: N26 Bank GmbH, trading as N26 Bank, is licensed by the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht in Germany and the European Central Bank and is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland for conduct of business rules.

That means one can now complain to the Central Bank if there is some problem with N26 as they have to comply with Irish Business Rules.

ED E

Fingerprint readers still broken. No reply from N26. Even BOI write back.