I remember that my last bank accounts in Holland were free as well, no crazy stuff in terms of costs when using the account either. Then I moved to Spain and was already a bit disappointed about some costs but nothing too crazy. Budapest is where I was shocked to find out that the bank charges every fart (so the speak, lol). Even more so if you add a Euro account, my gosh, even without using it they charged like 6 euros monthly. Biggest mistake ever, that's what made me start using Revolut and in Budapest it was the best choice for sure.

Here in Spain, I still use my Revolut while my boyfriend needed an actual Spanish account for tax purposes (they flat out refuse you otherwise!) and the cost here was a mandatory insurance if you don't have a NIE number yet (he opened it with a passport) costs: 200 euros a year! FFS.. Anyway, banks suck, HBD rocks (for now).

!PIMP