N26 charges – The snags of the free account

N26 is a free payment account with Mastercard and Maestro debit card. Ideal for online purchases and for travelling. N26’s free account can save you a lot of money. But what are the catches? How does N26 make money? And what are the additional costs of the free N26 account?

This costs the free N26 bill

Do you want to apply for N26? N26 is currently still free. If you close an account now, you will avoid paying the regular rate of €34.80 per year in the future. Open an account, or view all possibilities of N26 for free here.

Account and internet banking
The account and internet banking (via the app) are completely free.

Pay with your card
All your purchases online and in stores are free. Both in euros and in other currencies.

Withdraw money
ATM withdrawals are the only thing that cost you money.

For cash withdrawals in euros, the first 5 per month are free, after that you pay €2 per withdrawal. With cash withdrawals in foreign currency, you always pay 1.7% of the withdrawn amount. Also rate surcharge named.

Is it worth upgrading to N26 Smart or N26 You?

In addition to the free N26 account, there is also N26 Smart and N26 You. A premium account that costs €9.90 per month. In exchange for the monthly costs, you no longer pay costs for ATM withdrawals. No price surcharge, no transaction costs, nothing.

N26 You cost

N26 You is only interesting for frequent travelers and digital nomads with relatively high monthly cash withdrawals.

When does N26 You pay?

How much do you have to spend for the cost of N26 to earn back? Let’s do a little calculation:

N26 You costs €9.90 per month. The normal N26 account is free.

The advantage of N26 You is that you do not pay a surcharge of 1.7% on cash withdrawals.

For those €9.90 to earn back with the fact that N26 You has no transaction costs, you must withdraw at least € 582.35 per month at ATMs.

Because: €9.90 / 0.017% = €582.35

So are you going backpacking for a few months in South America, Africa or (south-east) Asia? There is a good chance that you will be cheaper with N26 You. In those kinds of countries you can hardly use a debit card anywhere. Your hostel, transport, restaurants, markets, you pay for everything with cash. Popular travel destinations such as Thailand, Vietnam, Peru, Colombia are all third world: everything works with cash. Only more expensive hotels and restaurants in larger cities accept card, but everything else is cash, cash, cash.

Road tripping through Europe, USA or backpacking in Australia? Then N26 You is probably overkill. In those countries you pay 90% with your card, just pin. And that also costs you nothing with the free account of N26.

Travel and accident insurance with N26 You

In addition to the fact that you do not pay a rate surcharge with N26 You, the paid account has one other advantage. Although you shouldn’t expect too much from it… You get free comprehensive worldwide travel and accident insurance through Allianz.

Unfortunately, there is another catch that N26 hides in their fine print: You are only insured for the first 90 days of your trip. Are you going longer than 3 months? Then you still need your own travel insurance and accident insurance.

With great disappointment and anger from some users, understandable by the way. It’s so neat to communicate that well. For example, N26 You already became one called scam.

N26 You is not worth it. Take N26 for free

My advice..

Do not take N26 You, but choose the free N26 account.

N26 You just isn’t worth it.

Your subscription starts as soon as you request N26 You. Suppose you apply for your card 2 months in advance, it took me 3.5 weeks before I received my card… Then you already pay for 2 months while you do not use your card. If you go backpacking for 3 months, you pay for 2 + 3 months: €49.50.

Suppose you spend € 1300 per month on a trip, with the free N26 account it would only cost you € 66.30 in exchange rate surcharge. That is a little € 17 more expensive, but you can always keep your N26 on. At N26 You you have to stop the bill after your trip, otherwise you will continue to pay.

Or take an account with Knab. With them you only pay 0.5% exchange rate surcharge. So if you travel for 3 months and withdraw € 1300 every month at ATMs, it will only cost you € 19.50 with Knab.

A lot cheaper than the €66.30 of N26 free. And also cheaper than the monthly costs of N26 You.

The disadvantage of Knab is that it is only a Maestro card. So if you still want a credit card (or debit card), you have to take out that separately.

What about the free travel insurance?

No, it’s not worth it either.

The travel insurance is only valid for the first 3 months and works retroactively. If you break your leg in the mountains, you have to go to the hospital with a trauma helicopter and you will be told that you have to undergo an expensive operation immediately. Then you will only hear afterwards whether they reimburse it, after you have sent them the bill.

With my current travel insurance with IZZ, I have a Dutch-speaking service employee on the phone within 30 seconds who can tell me immediately what they reimburse and how that process works. So a lot more pleasant.

In short, so just go for N26 free. The N26 You fees do not outweigh the transaction costs of their free account. And most importantly… if you don’t use the account when you are in the Netherlands, for example, N26 free will cost you absolutely nothing. So you can always keep the card for free.

N26 is currently still free. If you close an account now, you will avoid paying the regular rate of €34.80 per year in the future. Open your account here, or read my N26 review to find out everything about the account.