Which product you are really comparing
Providers sit under one category label, but the products behind it do different jobs. AXI Card Tarjeta y Credito is listed with an account kind of easy access, and XTB with easy access, yet one is built around a card and a revolving credit line while the other is built around cash you have not yet invested.
The AXI Card Tarjeta y Credito access terms revolve around borrowing: a revolving credit line that is cleared in full shortly after the start of the next month, or a minimum monthly payment set at a share of the total payable. XTB's terms revolve around cash instead. Money sitting uninvested earns interest, worked out day by day and settled monthly once the month closes, with no floor and no ceiling on the balance and withdrawals of any size going to your own bank account.
Skrill belongs in the same shopping list but not in the same column, because its cost shows up when money moves rather than while it sits. The Current and checking accounts ranking sets out the whole field, and it is worth settling the account type before you look at any fee.
Standing fees, and the account they apply to
A monthly fee is the easiest figure to compare, because it attaches to the account for as long as you keep it open rather than to a single payment. The monthly fee on the AXI Card Tarjeta y Credito account is €0, and the monthly fee at XTB is £0. Their pricing models are described in the same terms, no monthly fee and fixed rate at AXI Card Tarjeta y Credito and no monthly fee at XTB.
For context, monthly fees across the accounts in our data run €0 to €348.65, which is why a standing charge deserves a reason rather than a shrug. Read the rest of the account detail in the AXI Card Tarjeta y Credito review and the XTB review before deciding that a flat fee is the whole story.
What it costs to spend abroad and take out cash
Conversion is where current accounts quietly cost the most. Foreign exchange fees are 0% at AXI Card Tarjeta y Credito, 0.5% at XTB and 3.99% at Skrill, against a spread of 0% to 3.99% across the accounts in our data. Weight each figure by how the account would be used: the XTB rate applies to a cash balance you may hold for months, while Skrill is aimed at expats, travelers and business and prices a one-off movement of money.
Cash withdrawals are a separate line. The free ATM allowance on the AXI Card Tarjeta y Credito card is €0, and its listed features read free atm. The XTB account and fee information lists no cash machine allowance, so if you take notes out regularly, settle that question before opening rather than after.
For a service priced per transfer, the supporting figures matter as much. Skrill covers 47 currencies, against 1 to 200 across the accounts in our data, with delivery in 24 - 72 hours. The same fields are set out for other providers in the Wise review and the Varo Visa® Debit Card review, which lets you line accounts up like for like.
Who holds the money, and what protects it
Protection follows the legal entity, not the card in your hand. AXI Card Tarjeta y Credito is issued by Access Finance SL, based in ES, and deposits sit under EU DGS up to EUR 100,000. Skrill carries the same arrangement under EU DGS up to EUR 100,000. XTB is a different structure: XTB Limited, based in CY, with FSCS up to GBP 85,000.
XTB also lists references with the Financial Conduct Authority of FRN 522157, the Financial Services Commission of 6442514 and the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission of MiCA CASP 259400HM2TR4U3LF5D43. Compare the ceiling and the currency rather than the name of the scheme, since two labels can sit in different currencies and at different limits.
The age of the firm behind the account is worth a glance. Skrill was founded in 2001 and XTB in 2004, and if something goes wrong you will want to know who answers. Support runs through email, chat and phone at XTB and phone, email and help centre at AXI Card Tarjeta y Credito.
How the balance behaves
AXI Card Tarjeta y Credito lends rather than pays. The headline rate is 21.59%, the rate type is fixed, and the access terms let you clear the revolving line early in the following month or make a minimum monthly payment set as a share of what you owe. Count that as a borrowing cost, not income, and size any line you take against what you can actually repay.
XTB pays. The headline rate is 4% on a variable basis, worked out on a daily basis and settled once a month has closed, with a minimum deposit of £0 and neither a floor nor a ceiling on the balance. The familiar claim that you must keep money in an account to earn interest does not survive these terms, and withdrawals of any size go to your own bank account.
Deposits and withdrawals behave differently as well: deposits carry no fee of their own, while withdrawals are free above a stated threshold and carry a small charge below it. Someone who moves money in regularly and takes almost nothing out pays differently from someone doing the opposite, so the direction of your cash decides which figure matters.
Side by side, and what is still open
Put the figures together. AXI Card Tarjeta y Credito: monthly fee €0, conversion fee 0%, free ATM allowance €0, headline rate 21.59%, protection EU DGS up to EUR 100,000. XTB: monthly fee £0, conversion fee 0.5%, minimum deposit £0, headline rate 4%, protection FSCS up to GBP 85,000. Skrill: conversion fee 3.99%, currencies 47, delivery 24 - 72 hours.
Some questions stay open. The XTB rate is variable, so the figure you earn next month is not fixed by the headline number. And whichever way you lean, the account kind and the protection ceiling only make sense read together: a low fee under a lower ceiling is a different product from a low fee under a higher one. The Skrill review covers the transfer side if that is the part you need.