Saving via Raisin: how it works, step by step

2 Oct 2026 · 4 min read · Spaarradar editorial team

Via Raisin you open savings accounts and deposits at banks across Europe with one account. Where your money is then held, which deposit guarantee applies, what to do about withholding tax and when going direct is easier.

Many offers in our comparison carry the label 'via Raisin'. Often these are banks that a Dutch resident cannot reach directly: a savings bank from Sweden, Italy or Estonia without a Dutch website. Raisin is the intermediary that makes it possible. This is what you need to know before you send money there.

What Raisin is, and what it is not

Raisin is a platform that lets you open savings accounts and deposits at banks across Europe with one account. Raisin handles the opening and the transfers. The rate is the bank's.

What matters is what Raisin is not: the place where your savings are held. Your money is held at the bank you choose, in your name. If you choose three deposits at three banks, you have three balances at three banks, and one place where you manage them.

It costs the saver nothing. Raisin is paid by the partner banks.

Step by step

1. Choose an offer. The page saving via Raisin lists all products from partner banks, sorted by what they earn on your amount.
2. Open an account with Raisin. You identify yourself once. After that, as a rule, you do not have to do it again for every bank.
3. Transfer money and choose the product. Raisin arranges the opening of the account at the bank and passes on your deposit.
4. Sort out the forms, if any are needed. Banks from some countries come with a form to avoid or reduce withholding tax. More on that below.
5. At the end of the term your money comes back, with the interest. You then choose again: withdraw, or a new product. Whether a deposit is renewed automatically is stated in the product's terms. Read them beforehand.

With a deposit your money is locked until the end date, just as with a deposit you open directly at a bank. Withdrawing early is usually not possible.

This table shows the highest one-year deposits from the whole comparison, so both direct and via Raisin. The label on each offer shows how you open it. The highest rate on a one-year deposit is now ….

Which deposit guarantee applies?

That of the country where the bank holds its licence. If you save at an Italian bank via Raisin, you fall under the Italian scheme. Raisin does not change that. In every country of the European Economic Area it is €100,000 per person per bank, interest included.

Three things to watch:

• The limit is per bank, not per product. Two deposits at the same bank count together. That also goes for two products with different names that are held at the same bank.
• The limit also applies across channels. If you already hold money at a bank directly and open another deposit at that same bank via Raisin, they count together.
• If a bank fails, the foreign scheme pays out. The cover is the same, but the handling may be in another language.

Each offer in the comparison states which scheme provides the guarantee. For more background, read is saving at a foreign bank safe.

Withholding tax: the real work

The Netherlands withholds no tax on savings interest. A number of other countries do, also from savers abroad. With the right form, the amount withheld from a Dutch resident becomes lower or zero, depending on the country. For that you often need a certificate of tax residence from the Dutch Tax Administration (Belastingdienst), and there is a deadline.

Raisin supplies the forms and the explanation per country. Filling them in and sending them on time remains your job. It is worked out per country in withholding tax on foreign savings interest. If you would rather not deal with it, choose from saving without withholding tax: it lists only offers from countries that withhold nothing.

Via Raisin or directly at the bank?

The deposit guarantee is the same. The difference is in convenience.

• Via Raisin you identify yourself once and manage everything in one place. Useful if you want to spread across banks, or build a deposit ladder with the highest rate for each term.
• Directly at the bank you have one point of contact and no intermediary. Pleasant if you are already a customer. Those offers are under saving directly with the bank.
• Some banks can only be reached from the Netherlands via Raisin. Then there is no choice.

Dutch tax on savings (box 3) depends on your total assets, not on where you save. You declare foreign savings in your tax return too. How that works out for you is explained by the Belastingdienst.

Not advice. Rates are gross and can change; the tables in this article show the position at the moment you open the page. How we calculate and check is described in the methodology.