Revolut bank account

Hi all, as the STW massive is officially the fountain of all knowledge…

Does anyone have experience of using Revolut  banking or similar banking apps? I’m from the Uk, been working in Norway for the last 12 years and will be moving to Malaysia where I’ll be paid in USD so having the ability to have different currencies is attractive from a convenience standpoint but does it make a difference financially? Or to put it another way is the only selling point for Revolut convenience as any bank account lets you withdraw local currency via atm’s.

Thanks!

As a casual user on trips home to Ireland,  I find it useful to avoid being stung by erratic exchange rates and fees. I believe there are charges once start using functions more, but I find it good.

Revolut is a bit different to a normal bank because you’ll have a GBP balance, a Norwegian Kronor balance and a Malaysian Ringgit balance (+ any others that you might use). You can shift between those currencies at the (competitive) exchange rate shown in the app, so you know exactly what you’re getting.

Compared to paying with your UK bank card in Malaysia with no real idea how much will come out of the bank once it’s converted to GBP I much prefer it. Avoids you getting hit with poor exchange rates and foreign currency charges with every transaction you make.

I also like the virtual/disposable debit cards for online transactions – no worries about an online retailer doing something dodgy with your card details – just cancel and generate new card details without having to wait for a physical card to be issued.

Use Wise to convert USD to HSBC UK £ account then into local currency on their Global card. I think other banks offer the same type of thing now.

I was drawn to Revolut because of visiting other countries on my travels to and from work.

I can easily add another currency account, transfer a few quid across without fees, and use that to pay for stuff contactless.

It doesn’t have every currency in the world available, but all the major ones are there.

Also, options of upgrading your account to premium services is good for someone who travels a lot.

AIUI Revolut still aren’t a fully licensed UK bank, so some normal banking features and protections may not be in place. But we’ve been using it for travel for years with no issues – it was one of the first to offer a more flexible approach to foreign currency spending but I think plenty of others have caught up since.

Edit – banking license update

https://www.revolut.com/news/revolut_receives_uk_banking_licence/

HSBC Global Money account also does the same thing as Revolut. Probably equally evil so it’s a toss-up.

I’ve never had a Revolut card transaction be declined even in dodgy places, including for cash withdrawals. It’s exceptionally reliable and if I were going out in the back of beyond with only one card, it would be the Revolut. Nationwide Visa credit card is 2nd, HSBC Global Money 3rd, Curve 4th, American Express 999999th.

Just be careful for it not to be your only card – the chip is the wrong end of the card and the strip is too close to the edge for the French pay at pump fuel stations. I had to use my regular bank card for those.

I know nothing about Revolut, so I’m not passing comment on them. But just to say that I use a Starling account to do what you seem to be looking for. I’ve found the Starling account very easy to work with. I have one account, but a sterling and a euro ‘space’ and I can transfer between them. I use my Starling account to pay for all my bills in France. I guess I’m just saying that there might be more than one option. I can’t attest as to whether the currency costs with the Starling account are less, but it’s certainly less hassle.

I have had a Revolut card for a few years now, find it really useful for holiday spends and multiple currencies. But I don’t think I would use it as an everyday bank account. My wife has a Currensea card, but again that’s more a holiday thing, she raves about it, it might be worth a look.

I’m in Ireland, where the bank situation is dire (3 bank oligopoly, monthly fees on every bank account), so a lot of folk use Revolut as their main account. It just works, tbh; I travel a bunch in the UK as well, and never any issues.

They offer fee-free forex up to a point (€1k a month, on weekdays only), and then add a small fee (0.25%?) on top at weekends and when you’re past that €1k mark. One issue to note is that in some countries local banks don’t recognise Revolut as a valid recipient bank account – so if you go to pay your Revolut account from your local bank, you may find it says “bank not recognised” or similar. Worth checking in the countries you may be using it.

As someone else said, Wise is also very good – very reliable and just works.

Another Revolut for travel user here due to the multi currency functionality and ease of use.  My wife has one too and we then have a child account for our 2 teens.   I also have a US stock account (for work) and it is a good way of reducing the fees for USD to GBP conversion (as the account pays out in USD).

Was really useful in Corfu this summer to pay a taverna owner for our meal when his card machine was not working due to wifi issues (they also had a Revolut account so was a 2 min job to pay direct to another Revolut user).

It doesn’t have a full UK banking licence. It has a weird cult like online following. Most of its functions are available with normal banks. The app is a labyrinth.  It’s premium offerings are hilariously bad value.  The virtual and disposable cards are pretty cool.  The kids’ allowance (and requesting money) works very smoothly. Your requirements are pretty niche but surely your main income should be going into a USD bank account and no doubt one which lets you get at the money as easily/cheaply as revolut exists?  You can pay the taverna with a broken machine without putting all your salary in revolut!

Your requirements are pretty niche but surely your main income should be going into a USD bank account and no doubt one which lets you get at the money as easily/cheaply as revolut exists?  You can pay the taverna with a broken machine without putting all your salary in revolut!

If this is aimed at me I’m not sure what you’re getting at, my main income / salary is in GBP which goes into my normal UK account with a high st bank, I use Revolut on an ad hoc basis as it suits me well for travel whereby I just load up what I need to my Revolut card and can then spend in the local currency (personal travel, I use a corporate card for work expenses) and the odd transaction in USD if I need to draw money from my US based stock account (US based as I work for a US company who dictates the account provider) in USD and then convert to GBP for transfer into my UK based accounts.  For this it works great.

Worth takin a look at Wise as well. HAve used that successfully to get paid in USD and convert to GBP. Also easy to use for other currencies on the card when travelling.

Revolut is good if you end up having to exchange money between the various major currencies, their fx rates are very competitive, and the app and card work well. I use it primarly to send/receive euros to euro bank accounts, with the odd cash withdrawal from euro atms. I also have a few euro direct debits set up to take money from the euro account, it’s easier and cheaper than getting a bank account with a traditional bank in Europe.

I’d be wary about keeping a large amount of money in there as they are not yet a fully fledged bank, so the fca deposit protection scheme doesn’t apply yet. However they are in the process of getting their banking licence.

Just be careful for it not to be your only card – the chip is the wrong end of the card and the strip is too close to the edge for the French pay at pump fuel stations. I had to use my regular bank card for those.

Ahh. Slightly OT but I had the same issue with a Chase debit card this year. Well, at least now I know what the issue was.

Back on topic I’ve got a Wise and a Revolut and both seem fine to me.

Revolut user for years, it’s always worked well. Originally just for travel, but it’s my main cardless purchase method now and we also set up a Revolut business account for our company (which had foreign earnings). As mentioned, not a proper bank, don’t leave too much money with them. Having said that our business account had 50k paid in (in Swedish kroner) and we left it there for yonks.

Revolut had (have?) questionable ownership and hiring / business practices when they first started – it was in the press and may even have been discussed on here.

I still use them.

Re the banking licence – they aren’t a full UK bank yet, but getting there. Be interesting to see how they handle the e-mi designation in other countries when they get the full licence. Don’t know the rules on how that works.

In theory, your money is “safeguarded” by their own protections but it’s not FSCS protected.

To answer the OPs more specific case –

If you’re getting paid USD in Malaysia, I’d expect a Malasian entity to be able to offer you a USD account? I wouldn’t use Revolut as your main account.

If you’re getting paid USD to a US account, good luck to you the US banking space is about 2 decades behind the rest of the world 😉

Thanks for the replies all. It’s good to understand that most experiences are positive but also that it’s not really another option to replace a normal current account but rather an add on to it. I hadn’t really understood that from the Revolut webpage and blurb.
Cheers again to all those that have replied!

We probably all assumed you already have a normal bank account, but yeah Revolut can be a little limited so I’m not about to shut all my other accounts.

We did close the “normal” businesses account a while back as we realised Revolut did everything we needed for the business, cheaper and easier. But we had fairly limited requirements there, just accepting foreign deposits and buying stuff on demand really.

i knew id seen a warning about using them on here previously, a quick google and i find out it was a thread i actually started a while ago 😀

Revolut payment – hold my hand? 😀