The Bank Norwegian offers a Totally Free Visa credit card in Germany with no annual fee. Similar to the TF Bank, Barclays and Advanzia Bank. In some areas it offers even more benefits. In this guide, I share details about the Bank Norwegian credit card and provide information about the important conditions, advantages, and disadvantages.
Free Credit Card in Germany: Is it worth it?
About Norwegian Bank Credit Card
While still relatively new to the German market, this Norwegian-born bank has been shaking up the industry since its inception in 2007. Initially known for its partnership with Norwegian Air Shuttle, Bank Norwegian has since expanded to multiple countries across Europe, offering top-notch financial services to its customers. Now, let’s talk about what really matters
You get the Visa card from Bank Norwegian free of charge. So there are no monthly or annual fees, not in the first year and not in the following years. And You don’t have to meet any conditions to keep it free there is no minimum turnover or anything like that.
Advantages of the Norwegian Bank Credit Card
Free Starting credit with Bank Norwegian Credit Card
Bank Norwegian is currently running a starting credit campaign. You can receive a total of 30 euros. There is a credit of 15 euros on the card when you receive it, you will receive a further 15 euros if you make a deposit on the credit card account within 4 months of receipt or if you partially or fully settle an open balance. Ill mention in the video details if the starting bonus is still available or if the promotion changes.
A Real credit card
The Bank Norwegian credit card is a special kind of card called a revolving card. With this type of card, you can spend up to a certain amount of money each month, and then you’ll be billed for all your purchases at the end of the month. You can choose to pay off the entire amount you owe or just part of it. If you pay off everything you owe each month, you won’t have to pay any extra fees. But if you take longer to pay off what you owe, you’ll have to pay an interest. I’ll share details about the interest rate later in the video
Withdraw money worldwide for free
With the Bank Norwegian credit card, you can take out money from any ATM that has the Visa symbol on it for free, both in Germany and around the world. This means you can use more than 97% of all ATMs without having to pay extra fees. The Norwegian Bank doesn’t charge any fees for using your card in other countries, but sometimes the ATM owners might charge you a fee. Your bank can’t control this and won’t give you the money back if you’re charged. To avoid these fees, it’s better to pay with your card rather than taking out cash if you can. The limits for Cash withdrawals in Germany using this Credit Card are 500 euro per day and 1500 euro per week. For international cash withdrawals, the limit is 1000 euro per day or 3000 euro per week.
No minimum withdrawal amount
Usually, when you use a credit card to take out cash, you have to take out at least 50 euros. But with the Bank Norwegian credit card, you don’t have to take out that much. You can take out smaller amounts of money for free without any extra charges.
Card payments are free worldwide
When you use your Bank Norwegian credit card to pay for things, you won’t be charged any extra fees for using it in other countries or for using different currencies. This means you can use your card to pay for things anywhere in the world for free. Unlike some other types of cards, like debit cards, you can also use your Bank Norwegian credit card easily with car rental companies and hotels without any issues. Sometimes, other types of cards aren’t accepted in those places, but with the Bank Norwegian credit card, you won’t have that problem.
Interest-free payment period of up to 45 days
Every month, you’ll get a statement that shows all the money you’ve spent and taken out of your Bank Norwegian credit card. You’ll have two weeks to check it and make sure everything is correct. This means that you can borrow money from the Bank Norwegian credit card without paying any extra fees for up to 45 days from when you first used the card. After that, you’ll have to pay extra fees if you don’t pay back everything you owe.
Direct debit from Bank Norwegian
You can pay your Bank Norwegian invoices automatically using SEPA Direct Debit. Minimising your effort and the risk of forgetting to pay an invoice. This is probably the biggest distinguishing factor between Bank Norwegian and TF Bank or Advanzia bank.
to set up a direct debit mandate: Sign in to the app and select “Invoice” for the product you want to set up the direct debit mandate for. Select “Set up Direct Debit”.If you open the “How does the process work” link, you will get a detailed description of the procedure. Select “Open Tink”. Choose the bank you want to pay your bills from.Select the account to pay the bills from. Choose whether you want to pay the total amount of the outstanding invoice or the minimum amount. Then go to “Confirm”. Your direct debit mandate is now set up and future outstanding amounts will be automatically collected on the due date. Make sure that you have sufficient funds in your account by the due date which is 1st of each month.
Credit Card can be topped up
The maximum Credit limit with the Bank Norwegian Credit card is 10 thousand Euros but this limit varies. So If you are planning to spend more money on the card which exceeds your credit limit, you can easily transfer money to the card in advance and thus increase the credit limit. You can also keep your credit card in Plus balance as it is possible to transfer money to your Bank Norwegian credit card. This way you can even save on interest but I know you are smart and will set up a SEPA Direct Debit as soon as you get this credit card. Just like I know you will hit the like button and hit the bell icon to get all the latest video from Ahsan Finance. Jokes aside, A collective IBAN from Bank Norwegian can be used to initiate transfers to the credit card. This IBAN does not match the credit card number. And can be found in the Bank Norwegian app.
Also make sure that you do not transfer an amount which you never intend to use. As The is intended to speed up the purchase of goods. It is not intended to return the money from the credit card to a current account. For this reason, there is no standard process that deals with this type of transfer. However, it is possible to use other payment service providers like Paypal, TransferWise or Skrill which make it possible to send money from a credit card. Into a bank account.
Independent account and mobile payments
The Visa card is account-independent meaning You can use the Bank Norwegian credit card with any current account. That’s why Opening an account with Bank Norwegian is not necessary. Additionally, With the Visa card from Bank Norwegian you have a large selection of mobile payment options.
Here there is not only Apple Pay and Google Pay, but also Garmin Pay and Fitbit Pay.
So You can use practically any smartphone and smartwatch to pay.
No matter which of the payment services you use, it is free of charge for you!
The card is also equipped with an NFC chip, so you can also use it directly for contactless payment. No PIN or signature is required for card payments of up to 50 euros.
Free Insurance Packages
Free insurance package included
Similar to TF bank and Advanzia bank, The Bank Norwegian credit card comes with a package of free travel insurance.
Which include
- travel health insurance
- travel cancellation insurance
- luggage insurance
- baggage delay insurance and
- travel accident insurance
The insurances are activated if you have paid at least 50% of the trip with the Bank Norwegian credit card. The protection applies to you and your family or up to 3 fellow travellers and for trips of up to 90 days. There will be a deductible of 70 euros if insurance is claimed.
Disdvantages of the Norwegian Bank Credit Card
In addition to the many advantages, there are of course some disadvantages with the Bank Norwegian Visa card
High interest with the partial payment function
If you do not pay the balance from the monthly statement and decide to pay in instalments, an interest will be charged.
The current effective annual interest rate is 19.55%, and the borrowing rate is 17.99% pa. That’s why it’s always better to pay back in full in order to avoid paying interest.
No cryptocurrencies allowed
The purchase of cryptocurrencies is not possible with the Bank Norwegian credit card.
Deposits with the card on crypto exchanges are rejected. This is in the terms and conditions of the contract so please be aware and don’t try to bypass this condition.
Is the Bank Norwegian’s Visa credit card worth it?
So is The Bank Norwegian’s Visa credit card worth it? And what differentiates it from the credit cards from TF bank or Advanzia bank?
Well the Free Visa Credit Card from Bank Norwegian is among one of the best cards in Germany. With direct debit, credit top-up and a starting bonus makes it definitely worthwhile compared to other cards. But that said, TF bank has better insurance options while the Advanzia Bank Gebührenfrei credit card is probably the only option if you are a student or someone who doesn’t have a good credit rating in Germany.
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Disclaimer: None of the content in this article is meant to be considered as investment advice, as I am not a financial expert and am only sharing my experience with stock investing. The information is based on my own research and is only accurate at the time of posting this article but may not be accurate at the time you are reading it.