Denizen - borderless banking
 

Anyone using Denizen?

https://www.denizen.io/features/

I established an account, linked it to a U.S. checking acct, received the free $100 sign-on bonus, and will use the debit card for the first time when traveling in Europe in two months. I figure I'll mainly use it to withdraw cash when needed, and thereby reduce the amount of cash that I bring from home. Will be interesting to compare exchange rate with that of my other bank cards and commercial exchanges.

Interesting product. However, the stuff I've found online about them seems to imply that anyone who applies now would not be considered a "founding member", which could be a problem later on--especially since the site doesn't seem to mention what non-founding members lose out on and how much they'd need to pay.

Of course, it's possible that they extended the "founding member" period too.

(BTW it also took a fair bit of digging to find their FAQ, which I'm not sure really answers my questions.)

I also thought it was odd that they mention 'Founding Member' implying significant benefits but then not mention any details. If it's just about the $100, then I'd call it a 'limited-time new customer bonus'.

I'm still not sure I see a tremendous utility with this account/service. For dining and travel expenses, I'm still going to use a no-fee card to get points. For an ex-pat paying rent and utility bills, for example, it seems a local bank account would be used (if not even required). There's an argument that Denizen provides access to your cash at a competitive exchange rate, but I'm skeptical as to how significant of an issue that is for most folks.

I would think the fact that there's an IBAN number would allow bill payments in Europe, no? Then again, you'd likely be getting paid in local currency into a local bank account anyway as you said.

Anyway, one plus that I can see is that the debit card is contactless. However, based on the stuff in the FAQ I found, it behaves no differently than other US-issued debit cards when inserted--not to mention that you can just use a mobile wallet if you want to tap to pay for stuff with other US cards. (Though since this service is available in other countries too, I wonder if the stuff in there about the debit card is 100% accurate. I would think people elsewhere wouldn't be okay with having to sign for stuff.)

I've been trying to sign up, but I just get stuck in an endless loop where the "Get Started" button just redirects to the main page.

Back in the summer when I applied, it was mobile app only - the website is supposed to redirect you to your respective device's app store to download it and apply in the app.

With only a US address, I got a non-contactless Visa debit card without an IBAN account.

It's possible that contactless is a recent addition, but considering that FAQ mentions nothing about it and that PIN isn't used for "credit" transactions, I'm not sure this is likely. It's also an indication that the exact features you get depend on which bank your account ultimately ends up with--which should be made way more clear than it currently is.

(And if Americans are basically going to end up with something not much different than the Charles Schwab bank account/debit card anyway, I'm not sure what the point of signing up for this is. Maybe if it was guaranteed that you got an IBAN, if nothing else.)

In order to link accounts, Denizen wants user name and password. Haha no.

This part?

It sounds as if you could use a throwaway password during the verification step, and immediately change it.

Customer support just asked me:

I grabbed their account earlier in 2018, got the $100 bonus. It's great for using it for ATMs outside the US; I got rebated the withdrawal fees charged me in Mexico.

I haven't used it in Thailand yet (that's the acid test, FWIW Fidelity rebates ATM fees there on the Cash Management Account), but having another debit card option for using to get cash from ATMs outside the US with no fx fee/ATM fee is always handy. Between this, Fidelity and Capital One I think I'm set.