Frankfurt If you open a current account at a German bank, you often no longer receive a classic credit card. Instead, there is a so-called debit card. It looks confusingly similar to a credit card, but has less to offer.
Debit cards are tied to the financial framework of the checking account, so they do not grant credit. In contrast to a credit card, a debit card cannot usually be used to rent a car and also cannot be used to pay for it at some online dealers.
If the debit card is not enough for you, you can alternatively order a credit card without a bank account. Consumers therefore do not have to open a current account with the bank.
Instead, they can deposit any direct debit account. This promises flexibility and makes the cards particularly popular with consumers.
Exclusively for the Handelsblatt, FMH-Finanzberatung took a look at 16 free credit cards without account commitments from twelve providers. The result: three of the 16 free and account-independent credit cards promise “very good” value for money. The FMH experts rated four credit cards as “less good” overall.
Services for Travelers
As in the previous year, the Hanseatic Bank’s Genialcard was the best this year. With the awa7 and the Germany credit card Classic, two more credit cards will follow from Hanseatic.
All three offer users a lot of flexibility, especially when traveling, and do not collect any fees for withdrawing money abroad nor for card use in a foreign currency.
This service cannot be taken for granted. Tim Koniarski, managing director for cards and accounts at the comparison portal Check24, warns: “Many credit cards can become a cost trap abroad.” With LBB’s ADAC credit card, for example, consumers pay a fee of at least EUR 7.50 per withdrawal at international ATMs.
This is not the case with many credit cards. With the ADAC credit card, there are also transfer fees of 1.75 percent of the card transaction if the card is used in a foreign currency. “Often there are also extra annual fees for withdrawing or paying in a foreign currency,” explains Koniarski.
Consumers who travel a lot should pay attention. It is also a good idea for them to choose a credit card that comes with an insurance package. “Important aspects of a credit card are travel cancellation and luggage insurance,” says credit card expert Ania Scholz-Orfanidis from FMH-Finanzberatung.
Advanzia Bank, TF Bank and Bank Norwegian free credit cards already offer travel insurance. Anyone who owns the TF Bank Mastercard Gold or the fee-free Mastercard Gold can also have five percent of the costs for travel and rental cars reimbursed at certain partner companies.
In addition, for this year’s evaluation, the financial advisory service has focused on whether users can make transfers from the available credit card.
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Practical reason for this: “It is important for consumers to know whether the card is only used as a means of payment or as a small cushion of money in the event of a shortage of money,” explains Ania Scholz-Orfanidis. That is truer today than ever. “In times of uncertainty and inflation, such an emergency buffer becomes even more important,” she says.
With the demand, the supply increases. More and more credit card providers have the transfer option in their program. Of the 16 credit cards tested, eleven offer the service free of charge – including Hanseatic Bank’s Genialcard and Advanzia Bank’s WeCanHelp Mastercard. Barclays, Ikano Bank and Targobank allow wire transfer for a fee. LBB and American Express do not yet have a transfer function.
One thing you should know before you transfer money from your Visa or Mastercard: If you pay with a traditional credit card, you usually only pay interest after 30 days. It is usually different with the transfer emergency fund: “The transfers are often free of charge. But the debit interest on the transferred amount can be incurred immediately,” says Scholz-Orfanidis.
Mobile payments on the rise
The ranking also includes whether payments can be made easily with a smartphone and whether a credit card app is available. “Mobile payment is still not common with some credit card providers,” says FMH expert Scholz-Orfanidis. “On the one hand, there are banks that use excellent apps that consumers can use, for example, to pay out money directly.” These include Hanseatic Bank and Barclays. Three banks in the evaluation do not offer this option at all.
For customers, this should increasingly become an exclusion criterion. A recent study by the credit card company Visa and the opinion research institute Forsa shows that mobile banking is more popular than ever.
According to this, more and more Germans consider their smartphone to be more important than their wallet when it comes to paying. If they had to choose between smartphone and wallet, last year only 56 percent of people would have opted for their wallet – and 40 percent for the smartphone. In 2019, 67 percent still preferred to reach for their wallets.
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