BNF Bank review

The monthly fee for the debit card is €0, so keeping it open costs nothing each month. The card is issued by BNF Bank plc and pays out on the mastercard network, so it behaves like an ordinary bank card at the till.

It is a debit card, so money leaves your BNF Bank account balance as you spend rather than coming off a separate prepaid balance. Card spending and account balance stay in one place, which keeps the everyday picture simple.

Payments run on mastercard, so acceptance follows that network's usual reach in shops and online. Because the card is a debit card, purchases settle straight from your account and there is no separate card balance to top up.

The bank behind the card is BNF Bank plc, headquartered in Malta and founded in 2008. It is a bank in its own right rather than a card programme run by a platform, and the debit card comes with that Malta savings account.

BNF Bank charges a monthly fee of €0, and Monzo Flex (£0), Wise (£0) and BMW Card von American Express ($0) sit in the same place on price. On monthly fee alone, none of them has the edge, so the choice turns on what the account does for you.

BNF Bank issues a debit card from a Malta savings account, so the card is a spending tool for your bank balance rather than a way to hold or pay with crypto. If you were looking for crypto rewards or crypto balances, the debit setup is the wrong shape for you.

Among the cards compared here, BNF Bank holds position 1 on monthly fee, drawn from 379 cards ranked on that measure. The site's overall score for BNF Bank is 6, so the free monthly fee is one strong point rather than the whole story.

It suits people in Malta who bank with BNF Bank plc and want a debit card for ordinary spending with a monthly fee of €0. It is a good fit if you have no need for crypto linked features and would rather keep spending in one bank account.