…trying not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value. (Albert E.)
Which Bank?
15 Aug 2008 « Go Back in Time ∞ Go Forward in Time » By: Andrei Neculau Filed under Education, Review, WhyAs every other student, I’m bumping into..
Decisions, decisions!
One of them now is which bank should I choose? KTH recommends Nordea, SEB, or if you stay longer than one year, Handelsbanken.
Now.. to summarize the information that KTH gives you..
Nordea gives you a private account (?! what’s that?), a Visa Electron card and Internet banking and you pay 36 SEK/month.
SEB gives you a private account, Maestro card and payment service by envelope1. They charge 15 SEK/month and 180 SEK/year.
Handelsbanken gives you a Mastro card, Internet banking and an ID card. 350 SEK for the ID and 150 SEK/year.
Now, the info that is nor written there is that Nordea had issues with their Internet banking, in terms of identity theft and financial leaks. Handelsbanken - so far, I heard only good things about them. The payment service by envelope is “smoked”, since if you have an Internet connection and an Internet banking service, you can do all your payments online.
And when it comes to money - Nordea: 432 SEK/year, SEB: 180 SEK/year, Handelsbanken: 150 SEK/year (plus 350 SEK for ID).
I’ll go with Handelsbanken, I guess.
You?
- You put your bill in a special envelope from the bank, you send it to them, and they extract they money from your account [↩]
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17 Responses to “Which Bank?”
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Andrei NECULAU is
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miki
August 16th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
already hv opened bank account with SEB.by the way they r also providing me Internet banking though at first they weren’t interested to provide ibanking to me as i dnt understand swedish.
well I wasnt aware of the handelsbanken’s offer. it seems a good one as they r willing to issue the id card which SEB doesnt(i mean for the international students).
abhinav gaurav
August 16th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
just to sound extremely stupid
, what exactly does the bank ID card entitle one to do, which one could not have done otherwise? 
miki
August 17th, 2008 at 12:53 am
@abhinav gaurav:
abhinav! the id card proves tht u r a registered resident in the country. hving the id card makes it easy to open a bank account or withdraw money from ur personal account in sweden.
as an example each time u visit the bank to withdraw money from ur account they will actually ask for ur id card.. if u dnt hv tht one u hv to tell them ur personnummer n show them ur passport(no photocopy).
i think carrying the id card is better than carrying the passport all the time.:)
Andrei Neculau
August 17th, 2008 at 12:57 am
@abhinav gaurav: It may be far from the best example, but it’s late and I’m really tired - when you use a Swedish credit card to pay, you may be asked to show ID, and your passport may not be sufficient. I’d have to ask, but it’s just something that it’s good to have - not vital I’d say though.
Dima
August 20th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Nordea is the only choice coz it is ABSOLUTELY free for them under 28. SEB is for them who will be satisfied with Maestro till th end of their days. Handelsbanken and Swebank is ONE BIG TROUBLE.
Andrei Neculau
August 20th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
@Dima: And again.. thanks for sharing
abhinav gaurav
August 21st, 2008 at 12:41 am
@dima/others-in-the-know :why do you criticize Handelsbanken? A far as I saw the websites they are the only ones who have Internet banking in English, not that I want to shy away from Swedish version at Nordea…any bad experiences you would care to share would be great…SEB had poor interface,but Nordea was pretty decent. and Handlesbanken replied to my mail for opening account within 24 hours…
also, if one is born in Jan 1980(=me)so <28 years does the Nordea rule of fee waiver apply?can you post the specific link.what is free the ID-kort?
Trevor
August 21st, 2008 at 11:41 am
Actually, SEB is free for students. You get a free debt card….online banking…and online bill pay all for free. You can also get a VISA card if you like VS. the Maestro. But for the most part the Mastercard is just as good as the VISA.
FYI for SEB to issue you an ID-Kort you have to be a customer with them for 6 months.
Dima
August 21st, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Nordea: Ask for Check-In package. DON’T MENTION ANYTHING LIKE “I’m international student” ETC. The only right answer for all questions: “I recently moved to Sweden”. Otherwise U will be offered always the worst alternative because no one bank is interested in clients who have accounts without incomes and forget to close it after moving from Sweden…
Nordea: All security things are in past. Now Nordea’s system for internetbanking is the most secure in Sweden. And most convenient Internetbank as well.
Handelsbanken: If you are at head office in Stockholm - everthing is OK. But when u will have a problem somewhere else - it become PROBLEM. Everything is working on paper, but nothing in real life.
SEB: Students discounts advertised by ALL banks are for SWEDISH students who GOT LOAN MONEY FROM CSN. Banks are interested to have such accounts and that’s why they offer to such students free services.
ID: At SEB it is ALMOST NOT REAL for foreigners. Same for card of higher level than Maestro. No credits, no loans, no insurances etc. You are always person of the second kind there. At Handelsbanken it will be offered to you after 6 month of PERMANENT incomes to your account. And one confirming your identity should be client of Handelsbanken. At Nordea it should be WELL-KNOWN client of PARTICULAR Nordea’s office - and depending on his/her “knowness” you can get ID after 3-6 month of permanent incomes to your account.
Dima
August 21st, 2008 at 12:39 pm
@abhinav gaurav: Free is the first year (further everything wih 50% discount) UNTIL you become 28.
Trevor
August 21st, 2008 at 10:37 pm
“SEB: Students discounts advertised by ALL banks are for SWEDISH students who GOT LOAN MONEY FROM CSN. Banks are interested to have such accounts and that’s why they offer to such students free services.
ID: At SEB it is ALMOST NOT REAL for foreigners. Same for card of higher level than Maestro. No credits, no loans, no insurances etc. You are always person of the second kind there.”
Both are not true at all….I got the student discounts….I got the VISA debt card coming after my maestro…and I can get insurance…which they did try and sell me. And I even told them I was putting in a one time deposit of 3000kr….
As far as the idea goes…they told me I could get it after about 6 months of being an account holder.
So, here I am, an example of someone with products and services you explicitly exclaim to not be possible….proving %50+ of what you just said is wrong…
So, while Dima is trying to help, I suggest everyone try everything themselves and see what happens.
Andrei Neculau
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:49 am
@Dima: On the KTH Bank Info document Handelsbanken is the only one that states ID card, as if it implies that as “on the spot!” I’ll just have to see it with my own eyes.
Dima
August 22nd, 2008 at 10:45 am
@Trevor: Sorry, just don’t believe you.
Even Andrei mentioned in his blog problems with that little card…
From SEB website: “Konto, internetbank, bankkort med mera avgiftsfritt, (värde 1.265 kronor). Vi hjälper dig hålla koll på din ekonomi, med både rådgivning och banktjänster, helt utan kostnad. Enda förutsättningen är att ditt studiemedel sätts in på ett privatkonto hos oss.”
Which insurance they’ve trying to sell you? I meant free one, which is included with the card. I haven’t heard about anyone used that at SEB. I don’t believe you already were issued Visa, just it is impossible in Sweden to get such card directly.
And about ID - tryyyyy
Dima
August 22nd, 2008 at 10:49 am
@Andrei Neculau: Come and ask them about it… Anyone can write whatever in advertisement. Last year here in Lund only those were recommended by me at my Nordea local contor have got their ID. And couple of hundreds other students/not-students just said to me that it is impossible to get ID at the bank.
Andrei Neculau
August 23rd, 2008 at 11:29 am
@Dima: I’m not dieing to see an advertisement badly written and “sheating” people, but to see the KTH info paper advertise an ID card that cannot be requested in the first place.
abhinav gaurav
August 27th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
@andrei:so what’s your final take on handelsbanken?
is it like cheap services, internet facility and debit/credit card and a Id card readily avaialble?sorry but, I am just a sucker for goodies that come cheap.
and shifting the topic, when’s the cheap supermarket section coming up….regards from a very very rainy göteborg!
Andrei Neculau
August 28th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
@abhinav gaurav: Handelsbanken so far is great. I like that they don’t give you a a real-life digipass. Their digipass is an application that you download onto your computer, and works with a password (not a pin-code). And if you’re at a public computer, you have this card with one-time use pin-codes.
They don’t have English interface, but their web-interface is really straight-forward (I have only the Nordea one to compare with).
And I’m waiting for my ID-card personbevis and then I’ll get the ID card as well.
PS: no cheap supermarket section. I’ll write a small comparison between the shops nearby ICA, COOP, and others but it’s not a priority right now.