According to a study, recently conducted by the independent danish bank advisor mybanker.dk, only 48% of the danish population is a customer in more than one bank. Historically, the danish bank customers are very loyal too. 60% of them have been a customer in their current bank, for more than 10 years.
It probably comes as no surprise to my readers that I’m not part of those 60%. I have accounts in 5 different banks (6 if you count Revolut as a bank), and I regularly switch bank (according to my wife, I switch bank as often as I switch my underwear and my job. That’s not entirely accurate, but it’s close! 😛 ).
When I told my sister-in-law about this, she immediately asked the obvious question: BUT WHY?! (she obviously only has 1 bank, and she’s been with that bank for more than 10 years)
The short answer(s)
The short answer to that question is: BECAUSE I CAN!
The next question is then (typically): But isn’t it a huge hassle?!
The short answer to THAT question is: No, not really…(they all have Apps these days)
So there you have it, folks! – Get more banks. – It’s hassle free! See you for my next monthly update! HAHA.
OK, just kidding (you guys know me well enough by now, that you know it’s physically impossible for me, to write a blog post in less than 1000 words. Oh geez, Nick – couldn’t you just for once keep it short this time?! HA! Fat chance!)
The long answer(s)
It’s quite simple really; whenever I need something that my current bank isn’t offering/want to offer – I look for a bank that will! It’s not like there’s not plenty to choose from 😉 The same rules apply to our insurance, cell- and Internet providers by the way (but that’s for another post!).
Here’s my current bank-list, which outlines what I (currently) use each individual bank for:
Bank | Purpose/Usage |
1 | Main account (salary goes in here). Includes 1 free MasterCard |
2 | Family bank (shared accounts goes here – my wife only has this one bank!) |
3 | “High interest” savings bank (Savings account) |
4 | Corporate/company bank (I invest in properties via a special company structure – which requires a company bank account) |
5 | Free MasterCard bank (we wanted another free MasterCard to use for Stoozing – I already had one with my bank and the Family bank didnt offer free MasterCards) |
6 | Revolut (not technically a bank – but I use it to make international money transfers) |
It goes without saying that I do not PAY to have any of these accounts, and I cannot fathom the people, who willingly PAY to have a bank account (Most company bank accounts currently have negative interest rates though, but mine doesn’t). If you pay a monthly/quarterly/yearly fee in your current bank, JUST to have a salary or a savings account with them, FIRE that bank immediately.
It is technically possible, to merge my Bank #1-5 into one single bank, which is what most people do. But by doing so, they forfeit the possibility of having “the best of both worlds” on all their account types. At one point, we only had 1 bank (the Family bank), but they offered 0% on our savings, and charged us for having a MasterCard. FUCK that – new bank! 😛 And that’s how we ended up with 5 different banks!
Bank 1 and 2
In Denmark, we can only have one main bank account, where our salary goes to (dubbed the “NemKonto” – directly translates to EasyAccount). If we get any sort of payouts from the government (say we get some TAX back – that would be something!), it’s automatically paid out to this account. Most banks will require you to have your entire engagement with them, in order to provide you with some of those free benefits, mentioned in the list above. I found a little loop-hole in the Family banks terms of service though, so as long as ONE in the family has their main bank account (NemKonto) with this bank, the other can still have free accounts here. Check. I then setup automatic transfers at the end of each month from Bank #1 (My main bank) to Bank #2 (Family bank).
Bank 3
The “high interest” savings bank (I use Norwegian Bank for this) is currently empty, due to my latest “spending spree“. Eventually, money will be flowing back to that account though (it will also be automated)! 😉
Bank 4
I opened an account with a new bank for my Corporate/company account (my VSO account), because they offered to lend me 100% (!) of the amount that was required to purchase my Property #1, at a 4.5% interest rate. I opted not to use that credit option for Property #1 – but it’s nice to know that the option is there…
What if Property #2 suddenly appear, and I need to act fast? – It’s nice to have a bank, who are open to such ideas (my current bank 1 at the time immediately threw the towel in the ring, when I presented the idea of Property #1 to them. So naturally, they also got replaced immediately, because – well, you know: because I could).
Bank 5
The latest addition to the roster was only added, because I got the idea to start Stoozing. So we got another (free) MasterCard from this bank, without opening any other account with them – no questions asked. Why would they do this you ask? – Well, it turned out that the “default setting” for this MasterCard, was only to settle 20% of the used credit on the card each month (this was not clear during the signup process, but we discovered it by reading the fine print. Always remember that part, kids! 😉 ). This mean that we would pay an exorbitant interest rate on the remaining 80% (this was obviously the caveat). However, changing it from 20% to 100% was possible – but the process wasn’t automated (it’s not supposed to be easy to do this, obviously!), but it only took 1 e-mail to the bank, and a few days later, they confirmed the change.
The amount of credit that you get for free typically range between €2000-€6000. Our cards have €4000, but I’m fairly sure Bank 5 would have offered us €6000, had we asked…
An idea is now brewing in my head…How many free MasterCards can one have?…
How many banks do you have?! 😎
That’s optimization right there, Nick! 🙂
While it’s a bit too much hassle for me personally, I admire that you do it. Most people don’t realize how much you can negotiate with your banks regarding everything – as long as you are an interesting customer in their eyes.
Everything happens with digital signature these days, so it’s really no hassle to open up an account in another bank. If you’re happy and satisfied with the bank that you have, obviously there’s no point in opening accounts with other banks – but I like multiple banks for three reasons: 1. It always gives you an edge when you negotiate loan deals, because the bank knows you have other options. 2. Each bank typically only offer loans from 1 real kredit company (because they either own it, or have a kickback deal with them), and I like to be able to pick deals from more than one real kredit company (you can always contact them directly, but I think that’s generally frowned upon by the banks). 3. I work in the industry, and I’m a geek, so I really like to follow the progress of the netbank/mobile bank solutions from each bank central (Danske bank and Nordea have their own, but the rest are shared between 3 different bank centrals, meaning you only have 5 different netbank/mobilebank solutions to pick from in Denmark – and I have access to 3 of them 😛 )