Hey everyone! I recently came to Belgium from Ukraine and I need an advice from someone familiar with local banks.
I need to open a banking account in one of the local banks to make things like paying rent and bills easier. I can’t use my Ukrainian account for that, because it’s not possible to make transfers to Belgian IBANs directly (only through RIA, WesternUnion etc, which is stupidly expensive). So I’ll have to withdraw my money at ATM and then deposit them to the local account and use it to pay for things.
I’ve spent about half a day googling but still can’t decide which bank to chose. I don’t need any fancy stuff, just some pretty basic features (deposit, withdraw, transfer money; use my card for online purchases; in future – receive salary once I find a job here). And it’s very important to me that they have a decent mobile app, so I don’t have to go to a branch for every minor thing. And a customer service in English is preferable, since I have no idea how long it would take me to learn Dutch (I live in Antwerpen).
I’ve read a lot of articles and most of them list ING, KBC, Argenta and BNP Paribas as the best banks in the country, so I decided to go with one of them. But then I googled them separately and all of them have absolutely dreadful reviews wherever I look.
[Here](https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.ing.be), for example, ING has 1.2/5 rating and there are countless reviews that call it “worst bank in existence”, some people complain that their account got blocked for no apparent reason (as you can imagine, I’m not in a situation, where I can afford to be locked out of my account for weeks) and things like that. And it’s like that for basically every popular bank, on any platform that has ratings. On Google Maps bank branches have 3/5 on average. Is it really that bad or are there only reviews from people who love bitching about things?
In addition to everything above, I have two more questions:
Can I deposit money directly through an ATM machine in any bank or is it not that common and I’ll have to go to the counter every time?
What is Bancontact? Is it an alternative to a VISA/MasterCard or is it something completely different? And if it is an alternative, do other EU countries accept it or is it exclusively a Benelux thing?
17 comments
I’d recommend Belfius which is a large local bank, has plenty of branches and a very good app.
I’m fairly confident you’ll be able to deposit cash at (some) ATM in branches ; I doubt they would collect cash at the counter nowadays.
Bancontact is indeed the local network for debit cards. Usually banks provide cards that do Bancontact and one of Visa/Mastercard debit, which helps when going abroad.
If you want a bank in Flanders that accepts cash deposits and that officially supports English, your only options are ING Belgium, BNP Paribas Fortis and KBC. Those are three of Belgium’s four biggest banks and they charge higher fees and for more stuff than smaller banks (English not officially supported) or online-only banks (no cash deposits). Though most of that is through home mortgages and investment stuff, that’s where they really fleece you over the long term. If you only need a bank for daily banking stuff then none of them are terrible.
KBC has a “free” [basic account](https://www.kbc.be/retail/en/products/payments/current-accounts/gratis-zichtrekening-openen.html) that comes with a debit card that supports Bancontact (needed in Belgium) and Maestro (mostly needed in the Netherlands). Cash withdrawals at KBC are free if you only use their own ATMs.
Argenta doesn’t officially support English and I don’t think you can deposit cash at their ATMs. They’re a low-fee bank but they are mostly independent branch operators who will pretty openly admit that they only want clients who are good prospects for selling them home mortgages or investment schemes. At least if you go with the big banks they are less reluctant about taking clients whose life circumstances are unstable.
Avoid doing anything at the counter at any bank, they’ll charge obscene fees for whatever you ask them to do.
Online reviews, of banks or anything else, are a form of literary art written by insane people. You shouldn’t rely on it too much. Though ING Belgium has a reputation for being hard to reach by phone so I guess that may be why their clients are especially enraged.
I use ING for 4 years. There is an English option. The application is good. You can deposit from everywhere. Every branch speaks English. Some of my friends had trouble with Belfius when they tried to speak English with them. I don’t know about your legal status but sometimes things can be slow at the beginning. ( They will ask for a lot of documents if you don’t have an ID number aka Rijkregistersnummer) Once you are settled everything goes smoothly, no worries.
Just don’t think too much pick one and start the journey.
Every bank In my experience attracts the worst of worst reviews online. Something about banks just really draws out the bad reviews. I have KBC, it’s definitely got a great app, large branch network, generally have received very nice service, and full English support. I have also heard good things about Belfius.
I have heard particularly bad things about ING and BNP. And argenta really does not have good English imo. So I would roll with KBC or Belfius.
Argenta allows for cash deposits (see their green package for the cheapest option). They push their clients to the online app, so I am guessing they have a decent app.
They are pretty decentralised, so whether or not the English is good might depend on the local Argenta office.
They are also among the more ethical banks in Belgium
Bank contact is a payment system, pretty much universal in Belgium. you will need it if you want to make any payments.
I don’t think you should pay too much attention to the online reviews. Do people post online reviews when things go well? Not usually. But when things go wrong, they do.
My wife also doesn’t speak Dutch and she is really happy with the KBC app. It even includes some extras to make it easier to buy train and bus tickets
Might be good to know that the four big banks – BNP, Belfius, KBC, ING – are rolling out a unified ATM system, making it easier to find an ATM to withdraw money without costs.
Been with ING for over 10 years now, no problem. They have a free account, but that’s only an online account, so no service at the desk. I believe it’s called a lion account. But if it’s only for the simpele things, I don’t see any problem with that.
They allow cash deposit at the atm’s.
English is an option in the app
Bancontact is a local payment scheme that is more accepted than Mastercard/VISA. Most Bancontact cards are co-branded with Maestro (brand of Mastercard) so you can also use them in neighboring countries.
You need a Bancontact card to shop in Belgium, but you get this at every bank.
If a good mobile app is important to you, the only options you have imo are KBC and Belfius. These are the digital frontrunners in the market.
KBC also has a virtual office which you can call at any time, so you’re not restricted to annoying office hours to do banking stuff.
My advice: go to KBC, with Belfius as backup.
Argenta if you don’t care for the digital part and more about costs.
Stay away from BNP Paribas.
I use ING for Business and personal. Yes it costs but this is made up for the fact that the site and app are in English, payments are instant and don’t cost extra and err.. well that’s about it. My local branch is good and speaks English too so really for me, it’s about convenience (location) and ease (language). I also use BNP for example. They’re local to me but app is not in English and same day transfers cost extra.
P.s welcome to Belgium!
Welcome to Belgium!
You should take a look at [wise.com](https://wise.com) You can sign up for free, and it allows you to transfer money internationally at a much cheaper rate than WesternUnion etc.
Feel free to DM me for questions or advice. I also live in Antwerpen so I’m happy to help out with any non-bank related questions or issues as well.
I’m extremely pleased with the KBC app and customer service. Don’t know the other apps though.
Hi, i’ve recently switched from Belfius to KBC for house loan purposes, and i must say i really like the KBC app a lot more.
While the Belfius app was fine, the kbc app has next to just money things also options to pay for car parking, bus tickets etc, and also comes with cashbacks on some things, which is a nice bonus imo. They also have spending analysis which i find quite interesting.
Welcome in Belgium. Bancontact is equivalent to Visa Debit. With Visa being better for online purchases. As for the banks: Ing is in my experience the most expensive and Argenta the least (together with the internet-only accounts). If English is mandatory it is indeed only guaranteed with the larger banks or with internet banks like Revolut, as others wrote.
KBC I can very much recommend. My wife didn’t speak any Dutch when she opened her account and they were extremely helpful.
ING I’ve heard is shit. BNP Paribas Fortis is eh (that’s the bank I use). Only upside with BNP really is you get a Visa debit over a maestro card making it 10000% more useful internationally.
FYI, BNP is probably the more expensive option (not that it’ll cost you a lot like American banks) but has banks/subsidiary in UA, should you ever go back (UKRSIBBANK) it might make it easier.