Money on the road: cash withdrawals, exchange costs and why you want two banks

On the road you pay with the same card as at home, but the rules change at every border. Within the EU, a payment or withdrawal in euros costs no more than in the Netherlands, and your bank must announce exchange costs in advance. Outside the EU, only your own bank's terms apply. And your account itself is not always secure if you live nowhere. Anyone travelling for a long time therefore wants two accounts at two banks, each with its own card.

Three things to know in advance:

• Within the EU, the EU protects you against extra costs for payments in euros.
• Outside it, your bank decides what withdrawing cash and paying costs.
• A basic payment account is a right as long as you stay in the EU, even without a fixed address.

May my bank keep my account if I live nowhere?

For an ordinary current account, that is your bank's policy, not the law. So ask your bank in writing, before you deregister, what it does if you no longer have an address in the Netherlands. How to keep your account and your DigiD intact is explained in keeping your bank account and DigiD.

For the basic payment account (basisbetaalrekening) there is a law. It is a simple account with a card and online banking that a bank in the Netherlands may not simply refuse. The Financial Supervision Act (Wft) gives that right to anyone staying "lawfully in the European Union". And article 4:71f, paragraph 2, says this also covers anyone who "stays in the European Union" and has "no fixed address". So if you travel through Europe without a fixed home, you keep that right.

Article 4:71i lists when the bank may terminate a basic payment account. For travellers, three count:

• You no longer stay lawfully in the EU. Whether that already applies when you travel outside Europe, the law does not say. Ask your bank.
• You have a second current account at another bank in the Netherlands. That is a reason to terminate a basic payment account. If you have one, ask your bank what it does before you open a second account.
• You have done nothing with the account for more than 24 months in a row.

In those three cases, the bank must tell you two months in advance that it is terminating the account.

Why two accounts and two cards?

Because on the road one card is your only line to your money. A card gets lost, swallowed by a machine, or blocked by the bank after a payment it does not trust. Then you don't want to wait for a new card to reach you in another country.

What helps:

• Two accounts at two banks, each with enough money for a few weeks.
• Keeping the cards apart. One in your wallet, one in your luggage.
• Your bank's codes on a number you receive on the road. Keep your Dutch mobile number, or add a number your bank knows.
• Knowing what your bank does in case of fraud. Within the EU, according to Your Europe, you "never" pay more than 50 euros if your card is misused. If you did not know the card was gone, you pay nothing.

What does withdrawing cash and paying cost on the road?

That depends on where you are and in which currency you pay.

Where and in which currency	What applies
In the EU, in euros	Your bank may not charge more than for a payment in the Netherlands. This applies to cash withdrawals, card payments and transfers
In the EU, in another currency (as in Sweden or Poland)	Your bank may charge exchange costs, but must announce them in advance, in an app or on a website
Outside the EU	No EU rule: your bank's rates and terms

Outside the EU, a bank may charge a fixed amount per withdrawal, a mark-up on the exchange rate, or both. Before you leave, check in your bank's rates what withdrawing cash and paying outside Europe costs. Also ask whether your card works in all the countries on your route, and whether you have to switch that on yourself.