RalphChamp- Edited
I've been reading a lot of posts and information sheets because I'm trying to figure out whether this card is for me. As it is a bit of work going through all info out there, I figured sharing might be appreciated.
On the appearance of the card...
- The front side is metal, specifically a whiteish stainless steel look.
- The backside is plastic with a small bunqification (rainbow-colored edge).
- Check out the card here on Instagram (thanks to another bunq user)
On the costs of the card...
- Membership (or owning the card even when you have premium) is €99/year.
- If you currently have a Travel Card, you can upgrade it to Green Card. Edited. Thanks twice to @JeroenE#146236
- Besides the above, there is a 0,5% fee for any top-up over €500/month. I figured it might be free when topping up with your bunq account within the app, but can't anything about that anywhere so I have to assume these are extra (hidden) costs.
- If you use a non-EU card, the top-up fee is 2,5% for any amount over €500/month.
What features do you get...
- A true Mastercard CREDIT CARD, accepted as a full credit card by the world, but limited to what you have PREPAID. (Offline payments up to €250 are allowed, however.) This means that it functions as a credit card, but you have to make sure money is there before you spend it. (Edited after comment by @Nadine-Violet-Falcon#146235)
- Contactless payments (Source)
- One tree planted by an organisation named Eden Reforestation Projects for every €100 you spend.
- In case you are a premium member, you get a second tree planted for every €100.
- Purchase protection & extended warranty on all purchases
- 10x money withdrawal at any ATM (global) at no extra cost, approx €1 per withdrawal after that. (In line with what you would expect from Bunq.)
- No currency exchange fees (called ZeroFX) as in line with what you would expect from Bunq. (Source)
- As this is a PREPAID card, you top up the card with money, then pay with the card. As I understand it, you can't automagically assign spendings to one specific bunq-account the way you do with a debit card, or even top-up based on the spendings. You have to do the administration manually. (Back to the 00's!)
- Instant push notifications & Insight into your spending after installing the app on your phone. But Premium users already have all this, of course.
EDIT: In the comments, @JeroenE#146236 mentions that the Green Card can be used as any regular card when you have Bunq Premium. I'll try to find out for sure and edit this later..
On the Eden Reforestation Projects website, you can find that "the general cost to plant trees in ... is 10 cents per tree". The ability to choose a specific target where the tree goes is a bit more expensive (10-33 cents), but I'm sure Bunq just opted for the first option. I'm also assuming they mean dollar-cents, not euro-cents...
My considerations
- I love the idea of an exclusive card! I'm really drawn to it, but I'm way to dutch to just jump in.
- Realize that €100 will buy you a nice metal jacket protector for any card for €20, and 800 (!!) trees for €80 when donating directly to Eden Reforestation Projects. EACH YEAR!
- For the first €500 spent each month you can earn 5 trees planted. Above that, you pay a transaction fee of €0,50 per €100 just to top up and have the ability to spend this €100 with your green card. So considering the whole idea is planting trees: that would mean you get one tree (or two for premium users), where you could have gotten 5 by donating the €0,50 directly. EDIT: I can't find this 'officially', but according to the comments it seems that you can link the card to one of your premium accounts as well. This would mean there is no need for topping up.
- The Mastercard isn't very useful in my country. That is obviously not an argument for every customer, but still relevant. I can't do my day-to-day shopping with it, so it would mostly be for my online purchases, or for lavish spending when eating out for example. :-)
- My first attempt to justify getting the card was the tree planting. Unfortunately, it seems that not that much money goes to tree planting, even when you consider that any Mastercard Credit Card always comes at a price. (approx prices: Bunq €36/year, ING €18/year, Mastercard classic €20/year, Skrill prepaid €10/year) So no justification here...
- My second attempt to justify getting the card was the idea of tallying up my major expenses where I would actually be able to use the card. These include buying online stuff, paying for electronics, phones, computer etc, and most car payments such as fuel and shop cost. I was able to move around €400/month (on average) to my card. But to get that done, I would have to forget about the beautiful bunq-setup I have now where I use various accounts for budgetting.
My conclusion (for now)
I haven't seen it in real life, but I'm a bit underwhelmed by the reports of a plastic back side. I also feel dissapointed about the tree-planting thing (number of trees versus the cost of the card). The green card somehow feels wrong, I don't have the impression that it is anything other than a cash cow. Although it really frustrates me, it seems that this product is something I have to pass on even though (a better version of) it might be really useful to me. Hopefully it will lead to many more initiatives and features like it, but at a more reasonable pricepoint.
Please add other facts/pros/cons that I've missed or got wrong. I'd love to hear some REAL user experiences for example! EDIT: I understand they haven't been delivered to anyone yet.. anxiously awaiting the first reaction! Open invite also to Bunq employees, to publish the actual breakdown of costs for the card program so I (and the community) can get a feel for why this seems so un-bunqish.
Thanks for reading! Hopefully it helps in your decision. :)
