Keeping money safe.

I like both Unicredit Bulbank and UBB.
Both are simple to use. But keep in mind that Unicredit require KYC frequently,but other than that you will be fine with both.

Thank you I am with UBB but I meant like a international sort of app. I have heard people use this also.

Kind of like starling uk version but Bulgarian if that makes any sense.

Do you mean something like icard?

Jules honestly no clue, some one I saw mentioned something most of the ex pats use. My minds boggling *hyperventilates* 

Or Wise? Formerly TransferWise?

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I've got the Bulbank app too for my BG account, it's OK.

I also have Revolut, which is one of the more popular international banking apps. I think a lot of expats have this. Good app, multicurrency, euro debit card, virtual cards, direct debits. I think one could use it instead of a local (BG or wherever) account, but I haven't committed to it sufficiently to try this. Similar would be N26, also very popular across Europe.

PayPal & Wise emoney, I use Wise a fair bit. But no apps (that I've seen anyway).

Just FYI: I think the fairly official terminology is "ebank" or "neobank" for online biz with real banking license, while "emoney" is similar, but without banking (but maybe have other type) license. So Starling, Monzo, N26 are ebanks. While Wise, PayPal, Revolut are emoney. Some of these new fintech outfits are pretty big now, so safety shouldn't be an issue. But, technically, protection for your funds provided by two different mechanisms (ebank, covered by national banking protection and emoney by "segregation" and insurance policy). These outfits might be app or web (or both), but don't have physical branches like the old school stuff. (Instead, they have access to ATM network for withdrawing cash, and maybe some specific arrangement with existing physical bank/post offices for paying in cash.)

I see your heading is "keeping money safe", which suggests you have a lot of it, lucky you! :-) If it's a few hundred or a few thousand (or your monthly salary deposit), I'd avoid the new Joe Bloggs Awesome Banking App, but any of these big names will be pretty safe for you. If you're thinking tens or hundreds of thousands, then I'd look more carefully at ebanks, and what the national banking protection covers (e.g. EU-wide deposit protection scheme up to 100,000 euros). Separately, deposit / savings interest rates are negative in Bulgaria (and many other countries), so while your money might be safe, you will be paying the bank for holding on to it, rather than them paying you. Hence, in Bulgaria, for instance, big rush to move savings into property thus fuelling house price inflation.

I use Wise.

Good points - useful for sending money overseas and moving money between currencies easily. It's like having bank accounts in all the major currencies but all on the one account, so it's easy ro receive and send money. They also have a card like a prepaid Mastercard that can be used in most currencies. Seems to use decent exchange rates and the fees are reasonable. You can put money in loads of different pots for different purposes, including investments that are like a share tracker account (it's a low-risk account, but the usual "your investment may go down in value as well as up" applies. So far, that is earning way more than the pitiful interest it was getting in a savings account.

Bad points - it was a huge PITB to set up (but partly my bad - my passport is in my single name still, my bank accounts are in my married name, so I triggered their possible fraud alarms). You need to be extra careful when you set up tranactions - it defaults to the highest fee method unless you change that for each transaction.

?? points - I haven't tried using the card in Bulgaria for lev transactions so I'm not sure whether it can be used easily. It should be, but as we know things don't always work as they should! I did read that at one point it was getting refused some places in some countries because the local system didn't work with the system Wise uses.

Money safety - there's no guarantee for a set amount on this as there is with a bank. There is some scheme where these financial services have to hold the same amount in investments in protected accounts and insurance as they do in customers' money so in theory they can pay everyone back if the business goes bust. I don't know if that works in theory!

I wouldn't put all my money in an account like this, but I am finding it useful.

Is N26 supported in Bulgaria? I got a message saying it wasn’t. As a business owner I’ve had more issues with e-banks like wise than I have with traditional banks in Eastern Europe. As an individual, it’s the opposite, probably like many people…

Also I don’t think Brits and Americans realise how advanced their domestic options are for neobanks, currency exchange, fintech in general. Even in Ireland it’s in the Stone Age in comparison. Banking outside the Anglosphere is definitely a bit different

Also re. risk with Wise- they're not a bank, so they are not governed by any FCA or EU deposit guarantee scheme. On the flip side, they don't supply lending instruments so they don't have the same risk profile as banks do. Make of that what you will.

For what it's worth, I have a nontrivial amount in there for working capital, and my wife's company uses it as their sole method of doing global payroll and they have an insane chunk of change in there... not sure I recommend that, but are regular banks better capitalised post-Lehman? You decide.

I'm using DSK for biz banking here, they seem alright, online/mobile setup is usable, staff in Plovdiv and Sofia & call centre seem helpful. Tried to open an account with Unicredit and their KYC seems to be insane, especially if you're self-employed... they freaked out about that. Managed to eventually open a personal Fibank account but haven't got internet banking set up and I'm not in the country this week, I think I need to visit a branch to move it forward. Nothing's simple, eh?

Thanks for everyone’s input I really appreciate it, I’ll go over the comments again slowly and try to work it out. I thought I had gotten over the initial hard work but I guess I’ll have to keep going 🤣🤣

There's always something new to deal with!