| Revolut 08:45 - Aug 1 with 5538 views | Juzzie |
Going off on our hollibobs in a couple of weeks. Mrs Juzzie suggested putting our spending money into a Revolut card. Apparently you don’t get charged for using it abroad or if you need to do currency conversion.
Anyone here have any experience with it? Recommended/not recommend, pro’s/cons etc?
Any thoughts much appreciated :) |  | | |  |
| Revolut on 09:15 - Aug 1 with 4155 views | Landshark |
No experience with Revoult but we use the Halifax Clarity credit card when abroad. The exchange rate is much better than any other form of exchange. There might be better cards out there now but that was number 1 for years. |  | | |
| Revolut on 09:15 - Aug 1 with 4155 views | Jeff |
I use Monzo, which is basically the same thing, and i absolutely love it / swear by it. not sure of the specific features of Revolut, but Monzo does the following as standard:
1. No currency charges as you mention. they actually give you an initial indication of the exchange rate and cost and then confirm a day or so later using the best possible rate
2. immediate notification on all transactions - so you're always up to date on spendgin
3. virtual debit card - so you can create a 'dummy card' for transactions using your phone / apple pay so you can avoid using your actual card if you're worried about getting scammed
4. create shared pots for things - so you can create a pot called 'holiday spending' and you and mrs Juzzie can both use your respective monzo cards independently and allocate transactions to the holiday, and then it works out who owes what at the end - no need for excel spreadsheets! |  |
| |
| Revolut on 09:18 - Aug 1 with 4140 views | Northernr |
We used Revolut travelling around Greece in June and it was brilliant, would recommend. |  | | |
| Revolut on 09:18 - Aug 1 with 4133 views | robith |
Revolut was the early challenger bank, but they have been mostly outflanked by their competitors.
Currently Martin Lewis lists Chase and Starling as the best travel debit cards. Both have no limits on fee free travel spending (Revolut caps at 1k). Chase has ATM fee free limits of £500 a day and £1,500 a month, Starling £300 a day, Revolut is £200 a month. Plus Chase currently has 1% cashback on all your spending.
Personally, I've used Starling since the beginning and it's been excellent, but Chase is probably the best numbers wise |  | | |
| Revolut on 09:25 - Aug 1 with 4096 views | SydneyRs |
Use of the word 'holibobs'  | | | |
| Revolut on 09:26 - Aug 1 with 4097 views | BlackAndGoldRanger |
Another Monzo here, been to Europe twice this year and haven't used any currency. All on the card. Use it at home too, the rate is good, heard revolut is a tiny bit better for exchange rates. Also if you can get someone to recommend you I think you get a welcome gift, it was £60! Monzo is only a fiver.
My only issue with Monzo is if you did need to get cash out, you're limited to £200 a month abroad. Unless you have the higher spec versions. | | | |
| Revolut on 10:09 - Aug 1 with 3992 views | MrSheen |
Because I have a house in Ireland and Irish banks have such high fixed charges, I’ve got Revolut. It’s true about the cash machine fees, but the advantage over something like Starling is that you can have balances in any number of currencies and transfer between them without an exchange fee. Rather than taking euro out of the wall, you can move it from Sterling to Euro (or dollars, or zloty etc) and pay with your card. You’ll be charged whatever the local currency is fee free if it’s loaded in your account. At the end of the holiday, change the leftovers back, or keep them for subscriptions, one way tickets priced in Euro, etc.
One note of warning is that as a true online company, help is nearly non existent, but once you know the ropes, it’s great. Money out of my home bank account into Revolut, then switched from Sterling into Euro in two minutes.
PS One specific problem I had is that my main bank refused to take orders from the Revolut app to transfer Sterling to them, though they are happy to take it back. However once I set Revolut up on the bank app as a receiver of transfers, they were happy to “push” money to them on their app, even if they refuse to let it be “pulled”. Never found out why, but at least it works now. [Post edited 1 Aug 2022 10:25]
|  | | |
| Revolut on 10:10 - Aug 1 with 3988 views | stevec |
Are these cards operational worldwide? |  | | |
Login to get fewer ads
| Revolut on 10:24 - Aug 1 with 3953 views | dannyblue |
Not researched recently, but I've also been using halifax clarity and it's worked well for me. |  | | |
| Revolut on 10:29 - Aug 1 with 3934 views | MrSheen |
| Revolut on 10:10 - Aug 1 by stevec |
Are these cards operational worldwide? |
The Revolut card is a standard Visa, so anywhere that accepts Visa. Loads of currencies including Eastern Europe, the Gulf, Australia, South Africa, Brazil…and crypto! I’m not aware of any limits on the number of currency accounts, though there may be some. I have £ and €, as well as a small amount of $ and A$ I keep topped up for subscriptions. [Post edited 1 Aug 2022 10:31]
| | | |
| Revolut on 10:41 - Aug 1 with 3915 views | Phildo |
| Revolut on 10:09 - Aug 1 by MrSheen |
Because I have a house in Ireland and Irish banks have such high fixed charges, I’ve got Revolut. It’s true about the cash machine fees, but the advantage over something like Starling is that you can have balances in any number of currencies and transfer between them without an exchange fee. Rather than taking euro out of the wall, you can move it from Sterling to Euro (or dollars, or zloty etc) and pay with your card. You’ll be charged whatever the local currency is fee free if it’s loaded in your account. At the end of the holiday, change the leftovers back, or keep them for subscriptions, one way tickets priced in Euro, etc.
One note of warning is that as a true online company, help is nearly non existent, but once you know the ropes, it’s great. Money out of my home bank account into Revolut, then switched from Sterling into Euro in two minutes.
PS One specific problem I had is that my main bank refused to take orders from the Revolut app to transfer Sterling to them, though they are happy to take it back. However once I set Revolut up on the bank app as a receiver of transfers, they were happy to “push” money to them on their app, even if they refuse to let it be “pulled”. Never found out why, but at least it works now. [Post edited 1 Aug 2022 10:25]
|
Yep I use Revolut mostly in Ireland for the same reasons and found it to be very easy to use. I avoid having a large balance on it.
If you however just want to use your own account there is a card called curransea which acts like a debit card on your current account without the charges - they claim equivalent bank charges with a high street bank of about £50 cost about £7 with them |  | | |
| Revolut on 10:46 - Aug 1 with 3890 views | SimplyNico |
| Revolut on 09:15 - Aug 1 by Jeff |
I use Monzo, which is basically the same thing, and i absolutely love it / swear by it. not sure of the specific features of Revolut, but Monzo does the following as standard:
1. No currency charges as you mention. they actually give you an initial indication of the exchange rate and cost and then confirm a day or so later using the best possible rate
2. immediate notification on all transactions - so you're always up to date on spendgin
3. virtual debit card - so you can create a 'dummy card' for transactions using your phone / apple pay so you can avoid using your actual card if you're worried about getting scammed
4. create shared pots for things - so you can create a pot called 'holiday spending' and you and mrs Juzzie can both use your respective monzo cards independently and allocate transactions to the holiday, and then it works out who owes what at the end - no need for excel spreadsheets! |
This.
A mate of mine is one of the MDs at a big American bank where he runs forex for them. He said that the Revolut rate is the wholesale money market rate. He uses it. That's good enough for me. | | | |
| Revolut on 12:29 - Aug 1 with 3739 views | derbyhoop |
The OH has got Revolut.
Used extensively in Australia when we were visiting family in May.
Also used it in France, after transfers from UK account.
Nobody should use a high street bank for foreign exchange. Their rates are shockingly bad. |  |
| Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the Earth all one’s lifetime. (Mark Twain)
Find me on twitter @derbyhoop |
| |
| Revolut on 07:49 - Aug 2 with 3424 views | eastside_r |
Gonna check this out. I have not researched this market for a long time.
Used to use Travelex currency card for Euros until a particularly bad experience in Ibiza probably more down to the local banking / cash point system. Binned it.
Still use Caxton for US but for historical reasons. Cashpoint charges for your own money do my head in though but pretty universal in the USA, no? |  | | |
| Revolut on 09:39 - Aug 2 with 3321 views | daveB |
I used Monzo in florida last week, was fantastic and the app is very good showing what you have spent straight away and very easy to add more money if needed |  | | |
| Revolut on 09:57 - Aug 2 with 3263 views | 1MoreBrightonR |
Just a heads up, never accept the currency conversion! the rates are appalling.
I've used the Starling card...also offers a similar service, and I'm pretty sure the new Chase card has free usage abroad and pays 1.5% interest on its savings account. As mentioned above, have a look at the Money saving expert page on spending abroad.
One thing to note, even though the card issuer doesn't charge for withdrawals, a lot of banks abroad charge foreign card holders to withdraw money anyway. Very cheeky, and massively depends on what country (France was fine, Poland wasn't) but worth bearing in mind. | | | |
| Revolut on 10:17 - Aug 2 with 3219 views | swisscottage |
| Revolut on 10:09 - Aug 1 by MrSheen |
Because I have a house in Ireland and Irish banks have such high fixed charges, I’ve got Revolut. It’s true about the cash machine fees, but the advantage over something like Starling is that you can have balances in any number of currencies and transfer between them without an exchange fee. Rather than taking euro out of the wall, you can move it from Sterling to Euro (or dollars, or zloty etc) and pay with your card. You’ll be charged whatever the local currency is fee free if it’s loaded in your account. At the end of the holiday, change the leftovers back, or keep them for subscriptions, one way tickets priced in Euro, etc.
One note of warning is that as a true online company, help is nearly non existent, but once you know the ropes, it’s great. Money out of my home bank account into Revolut, then switched from Sterling into Euro in two minutes.
PS One specific problem I had is that my main bank refused to take orders from the Revolut app to transfer Sterling to them, though they are happy to take it back. However once I set Revolut up on the bank app as a receiver of transfers, they were happy to “push” money to them on their app, even if they refuse to let it be “pulled”. Never found out why, but at least it works now. [Post edited 1 Aug 2022 10:25]
|
The reason your bank won't allow Pull(request to pay- RTP) transaction is that these sort of online accounts that are relatively easy to setup are also highly susceptible fraudulent activity especially on RTP requests.
Online Push transactions to these accounts will always be be regarded as safer by the originating bank. | | | |
| Revolut on 10:32 - Aug 2 with 3203 views | danehoop |
| Revolut on 07:49 - Aug 2 by eastside_r |
Gonna check this out. I have not researched this market for a long time.
Used to use Travelex currency card for Euros until a particularly bad experience in Ibiza probably more down to the local banking / cash point system. Binned it.
Still use Caxton for US but for historical reasons. Cashpoint charges for your own money do my head in though but pretty universal in the USA, no? |
I have kept with the Caxton card as well. Has been pretty rock solid for me globally (and prior to Covid I did travel a lot). |  |
| Never knowingly understood |
| |
| Revolut on 10:42 - Aug 2 with 3173 views | Dixie_CT |
Another here for Starling and Monzo, don't use anything else now, even in UK.
Will check out Revoult as it sounds decent. |  | | |
| Revolut on 10:45 - Aug 2 with 3166 views | francisbowles |
Wow so many answers to your question, overwhelming.
I would say go with what Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert, currently suggests on his site. I did this and got a Chase card and account. It worked brilliantly on a boat trip around Croatia. It is an app based account and doesn't have any visible numbers on the card, so is much more difficult to clone.
It is a current account and debit card, linked to a savings account and you can move money between accounts instantly. You just need to ensure you have enough money in the current account for your spend at the time of purchased.
I should add, although it is a current account, you don't need to switch accounts or set up any direct debits or other regular payments. [Post edited 2 Aug 2022 10:54]
| | | |
| Revolut on 11:11 - Aug 2 with 3099 views | BklynRanger |
I like my travel but know nothing about any of this stuff.
So for our 2 weeks in Sweden, I would set up one of these 'Revolting' accounts, and transfer X amount of sterling from my Nationwide into there, specifying I want it in Krona? And then just use that as our visa debit card until it either ran out of funds or I transferred more in?
Is that basically it? With the benefit being the exchange rate they offer and the lack of charges?
And for whatever cash I want to take, I suppose I'd just get it in the foreign exchange, or do they have a system for that too? |  | | |
| Revolut on 12:01 - Aug 2 with 3029 views | robith |
| Revolut on 11:11 - Aug 2 by BklynRanger |
I like my travel but know nothing about any of this stuff.
So for our 2 weeks in Sweden, I would set up one of these 'Revolting' accounts, and transfer X amount of sterling from my Nationwide into there, specifying I want it in Krona? And then just use that as our visa debit card until it either ran out of funds or I transferred more in?
Is that basically it? With the benefit being the exchange rate they offer and the lack of charges?
And for whatever cash I want to take, I suppose I'd just get it in the foreign exchange, or do they have a system for that too? |
Basically, they don't charge fees and give it to you at near enough the real exchange rate.
As such, you're better off taking cash out from an ATM once you're there, though some of them have limits of how much of that you can do | | | |
| Revolut on 12:14 - Aug 2 with 2998 views | francisbowles |
| Revolut on 12:01 - Aug 2 by robith |
Basically, they don't charge fees and give it to you at near enough the real exchange rate.
As such, you're better off taking cash out from an ATM once you're there, though some of them have limits of how much of that you can do |
Many of them have charges too, so try not to need the cash urgently. Try and find an ATM that doesn't charge. My only problem was that a couple of restaurants said there card machines were down. I had to rush off to an ATM, leaving Mrs FB to face the washing up, if I didn't return. I suspected some sort of scam, in league with the ATM owner or maybe just wanted cash to avoid tax etc. | | | |
| Revolut on 14:53 - Aug 2 with 2895 views | robith |
| Revolut on 12:14 - Aug 2 by francisbowles |
Many of them have charges too, so try not to need the cash urgently. Try and find an ATM that doesn't charge. My only problem was that a couple of restaurants said there card machines were down. I had to rush off to an ATM, leaving Mrs FB to face the washing up, if I didn't return. I suspected some sort of scam, in league with the ATM owner or maybe just wanted cash to avoid tax etc. |
The ATM may charge, but the bank does not, which was my point | | | |
| Revolut on 14:58 - Aug 2 with 2889 views | BklynRanger |
OK thanks - I'll definitely look into this as the card option | | | |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
