Finding how difficult it is to earn money especially in these COVID times one starts to think about saving some as well. When it comes to saving the best strategy to begin is to try to decrease your recurring expenses. Like rent, energy consumption, phone and internet expenses that you have to pay monthly. Instead of saving once, you save 12 times a year. One of the expenses that many people tend to overlook (and I was no different) are the banking fees that we pay to our banks for our accounts and payment cards. Personally I used to pay over 50 € a month to the banks where I had my personal and business accounts just for the ability to receive and send money and to pay in the store or take cash out of the ATM. 50 € a month makes 600 € a year. That’s more than the price of a return flight to my favorite vacation destinations. However it’s over.
Searching for a free and feeless bank account I discovered a surprising opportunity - Rewire. Why surprising? Because Rewire is originally a money transfer platform similar to Transferwise or Paysend. Free and feeless Euro IBAN account is actually a side offer from Rewire. You need this account in order to be able to transfer the money to international recipients (as this is the original purpose of the platform). Moreover you can claim your free and feeless debit Mastercard that comes with the account, in order to be able to spend your money actually, not just transfer it ;-) You can use it immediately as a virtual card to pay online. Your physical card is going to be delivered right at your door within a week, again completely free. This makes a difference when compared to Transferwise or Paysend, who both provide free accounts as well as free debit cards for their clients, however they charge a delivery fee of around 6 to 8 € for standard delivery.
When you download the Rewire app (available both on Google play and App store) register with Rewire and you verify your identity by filling in your name and address, uploading a photo of your identification document and taking a video selfie, your account is automatically created and you can see your IBAN account number. IBAN number is what you need for the free and fast SEPA money transfers within the European economic area. If you want to claim your free Mastercard you can do it right away. The card comes with 0 annual fee, 0 ATM withdrawal fee and 0 commission for international withdrawals. Basically it means that when you take your cash from the ATM abroad in a foreign currency, Rewire will use the actual interbank exchange rate between € and the foreign currency. Everything of course has its limit also the Rewire debit cards has. It is your account balance, as Rewire card is a debit card.
Rewire platform provides customers with two UIs. Mobile app and web interface. Both are very simple and easy to use. They basically allow you to immediately charge your Rewire account by any credit or debit card, send money both in Europe and abroad, check your expenses and transaction history plus manage your account settings like transaction notifications preferences etc. That’s it, very simple. When it comes to user reviews they are generally positive across all review platforms (Google play, App store, Trustpilot), with some negative reviews concerned with the quality of customer support. The team seems to be responsive both on review platforms and social media and just recently announced an increase of the customer service staff by 50% in reaction to the complaints.
However Rewire is not only a virtual Bank providing modern online banking services, furthermore it has an interesting background story. The platform was originally created to serve the migrants from the third world countries residing in Europe for sending money back home to their families. They define themselves as “The first digital banking platform for migrants to serve migrants all over the world during their time abroad to a more secure future” Established in 2015 in Israel by three guys with fintech background Guy Kashtan, Saar Yahalom and Adi Ben Dayan started first money transfers to Philippines soon after receiving their first license. In 2016 it opened payment corridor to Southeast Asia and India in 2018 started to send money to Africa, in 2019 to China. In a meantime it has acquired Series A Investment Round $12mil led by Viola Fintech, launched a digital banking platform and issued its first international prepaid debit card. Rewire believes in complete transparency, effortlessness, and a fair banking system for everyone. Me too. That’s why I am banking with them.
Interested? You can order your free and feeless Euro IBAN account from Rewire right now. For a meantime Rewire offers 40 € cashback to everybody who refers their friends and they become active Rewire client.
Take care and watch your money 😉
Martin
If I trade I trade on Binance or Coinbase
If I pay I use my Crypto.com Visa card
If I hodl I use YouHodler
If I surf I use Brave
If I search I use Presearch
