Banking Without Borders

Trading 212 is ending its card cashback on 3 December , and Jan and I dig into why, what the card is still good for, and which UK and EU alternatives are actually worth switching to. Why Trading 212 pulled it: what the card earned in its 2025 accounts against its marketing spend How the offer was cut back in stages through 2026 before the plug was pulled Is the 212 Card still worth keeping as a tr...

In this episode, we run through the best UK savings rates for November 2026 . What we cover: • The Budget — tax on savings interest outside an ISA rises by four percentage points from April 2027, and the Cash ISA cut is scrapped • The Bank of England — base rate still 3.75%, inflation at 3.5%, and why fixed rates have already moved • Switch offers — Santander's £240 is back, Barclays' IS...

In this episode, Jonny and Jan ask whether you should ever take out a personal loan. We checked 22 UK lenders and found advertised rates that only just over half of borrowers have to get, price lists that reward borrowing more, and banks that charge you for paying off early, plus where Revolut’s new loans fit in. Then we cover the cheaper ways to borrow, and what to do if a loan really is your onl...

In this episode, we rank the ten best cashback cards in the UK, debit and credit, by what each one actually pays on £1,000 a month over two years, after fees. From Chase’s 2% and Amex’s new welcome offer to Trading 212’s invested cashback and the year-two cliffs nobody mentions, they cover the catches, then reveal the two-card stack that beats any single card. How we ranked them: one model spender...

In this episode, Jonny and Jan dig into Revolut’s latest price rise, the second in three years, and whether the new perks justify paying more. We break down what Premium, Metal and Ultra now cost, why bundles like these are built on breakage, and which alternatives might suit you better. What’s changed: Premium up £1, Metal up £2, Ultra up £5 to £60 a month The new perks rated: Duolingo, Flo, Lova...

In this episode, Jonny and Jan rank the ten best paid bank accounts in the UK by what a household actually gets back: cashback and insurance, minus the fee. The winner costs £12.50 a month — and the £595-a-year Revolut Ultra didn’t make the ten. What we cover: How we scored every account the same way: a model household, insurance priced at average market quotes, perks shown but not counted Revolut...

In this episode, we run through the best UK savings rates for October 2026. What we cover: Why fixed rates have jumped — three Bank of England members want a hike, and banks have moved first Switch offers — Barclays' new £300, Lloyds' £200 for three Direct Debits, and two deadlines this week Easy access — Starling's new 5% and why it's one to be careful with, LemFi, and the bes...

Revolut has just had the worst month in its history: two customer data breaches, one of them a months-long con run from a hijacked Italian government email account, and a facial-recognition payments launch in the middle of it all. Jonny was caught up in one of the breaches himself, so this one's personal. In this episode: How hackers used a stolen Ministry of the Interior email account and fo...

In this episode, Jan and Jonny put Monzo's new £15-a-month credit card, Aura, under the microscope — what you actually get for the fee, how much you'd need to spend or invest to break even, and whether it holds up against the cashback cards you can get for nothing. What we discuss: 1% cashback on groceries, 0.5% on everything else — and which supermarkets actually count The break-even ma...

In this episode, Jan and Jonny dig into Revolut's conditional approval to build a bank in America — what it actually got, what's still outstanding, and whether the US is a masterstroke or the most expensive mistake in its history. What we discuss: What the regulator said yes to, and the March 2028 deadline What Revolut already has in the US — three partner banks, a million customers, and...

In this episode, we tell the full story of Monzo's near-death experience — and the extraordinary turnaround that followed. In July 2020, Monzo's own accounts warned there was "significant doubt" it could survive twelve months. Five years and roughly £539m of losses later, it's Britain's seventh-largest bank with £1.7bn of revenue and three consecutive years of profit....

In this episode, we run through the best UK savings rates for September 2026 . What we cover: Premium Bonds' rise to 4.35% — why that's not an interest rate, and the only people they genuinely suit Switch offers up to £500 — plus the bank now paying switchers in toothbrush Easy-access at 5% — a brand-new NatWest brand, the best no-cliff rate, and the small-balance account that quietly be...

In this episode, we look at why Starling Bank — which has one of the best free current accounts in Britain — is seeing its revenue fall while Monzo and Revolut race ahead. Why the free account is as good as it is, and how Starling pays for it The liability-led model that makes an investment product bad business for them Starling £17.6m vs Monzo £150m vs Revolut half a billion — the marketing gap E...

In this episode, we dig into a strange thirty days at Revolut: a flagship airport lounge announced for Copenhagen while WeWork access quietly shrank and Perplexity Pro was swapped for a cheaper, ad-supported ChatGPT — no email, no announcement. We think these changes are all connected, and one number in Revolut's accounts explains the lot. Revolut's Copenhagen lounge: what's actuall...

In this episode we rank the four worst bank accounts in the UK — accounts marketed at people who think a high street bank won't take them, then quietly charged for almost everything. We break down CardOneMoney, Monese, Pockit and Suits Me, from £1.49 just to receive your wages to a £5 fee that only fires when your account is empty. Then we get to the part almost nobody knows: everything these...

In this episode we pull apart five cards advertising up to 10% cashback — Krak, Nexo, Wirex, Plutus and Bybit — to see what those headline rates actually cost you. We're not recommending any of them ; this is a discussion of where the numbers fall apart once you read the tiers. Krak (Kraken) — up to 2%: the only card here with real EMI protection, but 2% needs £50k parked on the platform. The...

In this episode, Jonny and Jan run through the best UK savings rates for August 2026 — where to actually put your money now the Bank of England has held the base rate at 3.75%. From 8% regular savers to 5% fixed bonds and a market-leading cash ISA, we cut past the headline rates to the catches that decide what you really earn. What we cover: Switch offers worth up to £600 — and which are genuinely...

IHG has brought out its first UK cards in three years — two Revolut debit cards dangling instant hotel status, boosted points and a 30,000-point welcome bonus. Jonny and Jan run the real maths on the free Essential and the £18-a-month Elite to work out whether £216 a year is a genuine bargain or a shiny trap. Essential (free) vs Elite (£18/month, £216/year) — status, welcome bonuses and metal card...

In this episode, we compare four stocks and shares ISA providers — XTB, Trading 212, IG and eToro — and work out which ones actually deserve your money. What we cover: DIY, managed and advised — and why the fees only make sense inside their category What you can actually invest in at each provider, and why eToro is the weakest despite being the nicest app to use FX fees, interest on idle cash, and...

Revolut's new light-up Dogecoin card promises "no exchange fees" — so we put £25 through it and tracked every penny. What we found was a £16.16 Amazon purchase actually cost £18.05, and a tax headache behind every tap.  In this episode: What the Doge card actually is The  test: buying DOGE, spending it at Amazon, and where £2.54 went in 35 minutes The hidden markup: how a "fee-...

Summer 2026 is officially here, and so are the hidden fees waiting to ambush your holiday budget! In this episode of Banking Without Borders , we pull back the curtain on international spending to ensure your next vacation is as fee-free as possible. We break down the exact anatomy of a perfect travel card, expose the legacy banks secretly draining your wallet, and dive into why the most popular f...

In this episode we cover the best UK savings rates for July 2026 — including a new headline regular saver rate from Santander, fixed bonds pushing to 4.90%, and the latest switch bonuses with some deadlines coming up fast. We also cover the Halifax rebrand to Lloyds and what it means for existing customers. In this episode: Switch offers up to £600, including HSBC standard at £220 — best accessibl...

In this episode of Banking Without Borders , Jonny and Jan go head-to-head on two of the most talked-about premium cards in the UK — Amex Platinum and Revolut Ultra. One's a credit card, the other's a debit subscription, and yet they keep ending up in the same conversation. So we're doing the thing everyone actually wants. Not "it depends" — but if you had to pick one and...

We pit the four biggest UK digital banks head-to-head to crown a winner. Spoiler alert: there's no single answer—it depends what matters to you. From cashback and travel rewards to customer service and credit cards, we break down exactly what each bank gets right and where they fall short. Plus, which one has the worst app but the best banking fundamentals, and why Revolut's new banking...

In this episode, we make the case for Trade Republic being the best bank account in Europe — then try our hardest to poke holes in it. What we cover: Why it's not Revolut or Wise — and why we keep recommending Trade Republic instead The full ECB deposit rate passed straight to you (recently bumped to 2.25%) The 3% promotional rate for new customers — and who's locked out of it How "...