With Euro 2023 finally poised to begin, football fans have many reasons to be cheerful. Stadiums are gradually opening their gates, even if with less than the total capacity. Yet, many devoted supporters have suffered a double blow with the games planned to play out in front of limited capacity crowds. Not only did their tickets get cancelled without much prior notice, but they have also received a substantially less amount as refunds. What happened there? The usual suspect is the continuously changing exchange rate. When the football fans from the UK shores bought their tickets, they converted their currencies from pounds to euros. By the time they received their refunds, the currency pairs had fluctuated in value, with the Pounds stronger against Euros by 4% year-on-year.
It is exciting news in the sense that you will receive more Euros for your Pounds at the current rates than what you could get a year ago. On the flip side, you will get fewer pounds when converted from Euros. That’s what caused the nightmare of football fans even worse, with them seemingly paying a fine for wanting to support their teams live! In situations like this, you realise how great it would have been if the UK were still an EU nation. As the reality is different, the focus should be on finding a solution to mitigate all these currency conversion fiascos. Opening a Euro Bank account with debit cards certainly offers a good one.
Euro bank account with debit cards
As popular perception may dictate, a euro bank account with debit cards is similar to any traditional bank account. It’s the banks that operate slightly differently. They primarily focus on the online experience, offer revolutionary services, and hold multiple currencies like pounds and euros in one account. In short, they are like any standard bank account, except that you can store Euros just like a native. Many traditional and challenger banks and some other Fintech financial institutions now offer UK citizens to have this account. Many of them also provide it with a debit card or two. With a euro bank account, you can hold, send, and receive money directly in Euros without converting them into Pounds. Likewise, you can pay, withdraw, and make online transactions in Euros just like a local with your linked debit cards, without spending a dime in fees.
Why should you have such accounts?
Even before Brexit, the UK customers and businesses used to pay and receive money in both Pounds and Euros. That was the nature of the economy anyways. So, what changed? Why should you have a Euro bank account now? Well, the reasons are plentiful. Due to Brexit, Great Britain is no longer a part of the European Central Bank. It means the banks in the UK are now foreign to them, leading to multiple steps of additional paperwork for financial transactions. It not only crepes up the processing times but also makes the process expensive. Inevitably, the banks and FX conversion organisations can’t help but charge a high mark-up for each conversion. The fee structure is pretty much shady as always, anyways. As a euro bank account will not need you to convert your Euros, in the first place, you can skip this entire procedure in one shot!
If you are a freelancer, shopper, small business owner, or even a globetrotting football fan, you can benefit greatly from having a euro bank account with debit cards. Aside from the savings in currency conversations, the debit card will allow you to withdraw money in the EU without paying any fees. You can do the same in the UK by choosing Pounds as your preferred currency. Digital payments are never an issue either, with some providers offering the chance to set up direct debits right in the app. A similarly convenient user experience applies to every time you want to send or receive money across the borders. Not to mention the features such as geo-blocking, personal budgeting, expenditure limits, etc., that you can expect to be available in the same app. So, whether you are travelling the world or need to manage your money globally, this may be the one-stop solution for your needs.
Be thoughtful while choosing your euro bank
With the Fintech entrepreneurs leading the charge for convenient banking experience, some traditional banks are now also following suits. It means more options for the consumers, with the chance of getting more competitive rates and advanced features. As sometimes quality comes at a price, it is probably best to put some thinking into choosing the bank to open your Euro account. Are they reliable? Do they have a clearly explained fee structure? How many currencies can you hold in one account? Is there a fee for using a euro debit card? What about the annual fees for the debit cards? How feature-rich and convenient are their online services? Do they provide live notification for every transaction? Asking all these one by one would lead you to the best provider for a euro bank account with debit cards. To get more information, please visit finecobank.co.uk. As there are also banks that merge trading accounts with a regular multi-currency account, make sure you look into that. You may even discover a Fintech treasure to solve all your worries related to managing finances.
Final words
Like most things in financial matters, your circumstances and personal goals are the things that will decide whether you need a euro bank account with or without debit cards. But it is always good to have convenient options at hand, significantly when it can also save you some money. As we head slowly and steadily toward a genuinely cosmopolitan world, at least in the webspace, having a multi-currency account can make a huge difference. There won’t be any hassle to shop from European retailers. You won’t have to put up with a similar financial loss that the football fans suffered, either.
