Neon Metal - First Impressions?

Looks like neon bank has a new metal offering: neon metal

Has anyone tried it? What’s been your experience?

I personally don’t think paying 15 CHF/mt is very mustachian and would not be considering this. But happy to hear counter points!

Be aware that the the shopping, cyber and travel insurance aren’t automatically included with the subscription. They need to “unlocked” by prior spending.

From shopping to travelling - we got you covered

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Neon Metal isn‘t that new. I think it‘s atleast 6 months old already.

Imo neon Metal isn‘t worth it as it encourages unnecessary spending. Also CHF 15.-/month is way too much for a simple banking package for us plebs.

I’ve had neon metal for about 5-6 months now. My main reason for getting it is the travel insurance package (activated after 15K of lifetime spending, as pointed out by @San_Francisco). Indeed, as I travel a fair amount (for leisure and for work), and always get supplemental travel insurance (i.e. on top of the mandatory LAMal coverage of twice the domestic amount), I calculated that for an average year, it would be cost-neutral at least, probably even beneficial.

Since I never take trip cancelation, flight delay of baggage insurance though, I did not take those into account in the cost analysis, though they are “nice to have” since also included. What tipped the balance in the end is that the travel insurance coverage extends to people living in the same household as the cardholder, including a cohabiting partner (I’m not married).

I realize that a lot of people might not travel enough to justify the expense, or more likely are not as keen as I am on taking supplemental travel insurance when going abroad (I often need/want the search and rescue coverage as well when trekking). But since you were looking for counterpoints, I thought I’d offer at least one :slight_smile:

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I usually follow an old rule of using different specialized products and services than adding them to a single product as bundled products such as credit card+insurance are usually mediocre.
I got a Revolut metal card because of one feature (exchange to foreign currency) but I’ve never looked at other benefits. Similarly, I have travel insurance with smile but not, e. g. liability insurance, because I found a better deal with another provider.

It may be convenient to add a benefit to a service you already use. But you usually have to pay all or most costs associated with a trip with that card to benefit from the coverage. With an “payment-agnostic” provider like a classic insurance company, that’s not the case.
A short internet search will give you a good look at costs and the “fine print” between the two options.

Cheers, J.

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Totally agree with your “old rule” @Johnny_B , I think we’re always better off being free to investigate the most advantageous specialized product (especially when it comes to insurance). That’s why I’m also not a fan of loyalty programs, or membership cards where you accumulated points or whatever, unless it is truly a side benefit that does not weigh into your decision to use the service at all. Otherwise we end up paying more.

I realize though that above I said that my main reason to get the neon metal was the travel package. I suppose that’s true, but, before that, my main reason for going with Neon was for how great the card is for payments in foreign currencies or withdrawals abroad (hence for travel). After that, I realized that the travel package was actually very good (after re-reading the actual policy multiple times), and that I could not really find a (significantly) better deal elsewhere (even at smile, for two non-married people who regularly travel to North America at least ;). Hence the decision to try metal for a while.

But a discussion about travel (health) insurance would surely belong in a separate thread now :slight_smile:

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