ING Germany review

Monthly fees of €0 to €4.90 cover the account range, so the entry tier is free and the upper tier adds a small charge. That range puts ING Germany at 1 of 379 on the monthly fee measure. Monzo Flex, Wise and Bitpanda each list £0, £0 and €0.

The currency conversion fee is 2.2%, against a median of 1% across the cards compared. Travel is listed as a feature, so the card suits trips, but conversion is where the cost bites for a spender abroad. Paying in euros locally avoids the charge altogether.

The free ATM allowance is €0, so withdrawals are not covered without a cost and the card sits at 38 on that measure. The account is built for everyday euro spending, and the Visa debit card covers routine purchases instead of cash.

It is a debit card on the Visa network, so spending draws straight from the current account balance rather than a credit line. Debit cards account for 73.4% of the cards compared. The card is aimed at students and kids, with travel named as the feature to know about.

The stated audience is students and kids, so it targets younger customers and parents opening a first account. Anyone outside that group still gets a plain euro current account with a Visa debit card. It suits people who bank in Germany rather than across several markets.

The account belongs to ING-DiBa AG, a bank registered in Germany. It is supervised by the Bundesanstalt fuer Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin) and the European Central Bank. Deposits sit with a licensed bank rather than an exchange balance, which is the first thing to check when weighing safety of the money.

The overall score stands at 4.3 and the cost part matches it at 4.3. Its strength is the monthly fee, where the account sits at the front of the ranking, and its weakness is currency conversion, where it falls in the lower part of the field.