Revolut Review

Apps with linked cards like Revolut are a great way to do more – more easily with your money. In this review, we will show you what Revolut can do (and can’t do) as well as make it clear where there are some good alternatives.

Quinn Askeland

Expat, Traveller and founder Transumo

Does mobile money and travel while avoiding the outrageous fees banks charge sound good to you?

You’re in the right place.

For some people, Revolut is a great way to manage money from prepaid debit cards, instant payments, and currency exchange – all via their app or other device.

But here’s the deal:

Revolut is great in many situations, but I am also going to uncover situations where Revolut is NOT your best option and point you in the right direction to who might be.

Revolut is one of the best alternatives to save lots of money and also do more.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here. This Review is for general information purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

1. Quick Take

On Trustpilot, Revolut is 4.3/5 with over 121,000+ reviews, which is considered “Excellent.” The reviews indicate that Revolut is a great alternative, for traveling, and offers fast transfers.

They say – “One app, All Things Money”.

Truth is they can do an awful lot – but not everything.

For example – getting paid, paying others (with a card or the app), saving money (through “vaults”) is all made possible through an app or online.

But each Plan (below) especially the “standard” option which has no monthly fees but there are extra fees once you hit these limits.

The paid option could be better for you – even cheaper, especially if you travel overseas, freelance, run a business or are just a frequent user.

The key is to do your homework – or rather just read ours – starting with the Pros and Cons. 🙂

Click here to see the options and pricing available in your country (opens a new tab so you can keep reading).

2. When Revolut Works (and When it Doesn’t)

2.1 When it Works

Manage money easily, inexpensively and with joy?

First check if Revolut is available for you here (personal) and here (business).

Revolut offers many money management options for individuals (both local and international). From receiving your salary, splitting bills to tracking all your accounts (even high street banks) and spending.

Revolut is pretty comprehensive.

But how can they help you?

For saving, you have the option to create saving vaults and make savings through cash back and discounts.

For spending, you can connect your card to tap and pay with your phone. You also get a prepaid debit card for travel, but the app is where it is at. You can freeze the card and even create single-use cards for safety online. You can also spend in 150+ currencies with low conversion fees.

For international people, getting paid and making payments in different currencies is both inexpensive and easy.

For parents, opening an account (with card) for your child on the back of your account is a welcome addition.

For businesses, Revolut offers payment gateways, payroll, and a multi currency account to pay and get paid like a local (as well as hold 30+ currencies).

2.2 When it Doesn’t Work

International Money Transfers

While Revolut does enable money transfers they can be limited by relatively expensive and complex fees. Also possible frozen accounts.

The reality is dedicated money transfer services can do better and save you more money.

The fees and limits vary based on the country where you live and the plan you have.

As they say, “fees include a variable transfer fee and a 0.5% fee on exchanges above your plan’s monthly allowance. “

The easy way to see what you will pay is to go to their calculator.

In addition to this, regulations can make money transfers relatively complex and as we discovered in the negative reviews (below) one of the biggest complaints people have is frozen accounts.

Fortunately they have a page dedicated to helping people who are locked out of Revolut.

However, if money transfers is important to you, we personally think you are better off choosing a money transfer service that has few restrictions, charges low fees for transfers and (possibly most importantly) has top ranked customer service to help guide you through any issues you might face (due to regulations).

Customer Service

While Revolut scores strongly when it comes to 3rd party reviews (below) this is a low cost service and that means they use an in-app chat box (instead of telephone service). In some situations, a human with specialised knowledge is something worth paying for – especially money transfers.

Specific Needs

Some folks need the ability to tailor solutions for money management and travel insurance. For example, loans and more travel insurance options.

3. Real Speeds (Including Transfer Speed) – Uncovered

Account Opening and Card Delivery

You can get your Revolut account up and running in a matter of minutes. It may take 7-9 days for you to receive your card. You may choose express delivery if you want your card earlier.

Local Transfers

Revolut to Revolut transfers are instant with no fees. Local transfers with 3rd party banks can take 2-3 days.

Transfers

Different payment methods and the currency selected affect your transfer speed.

Payments to other Revolut users and card payments are instant.

Transfers to cards typically take a few minutes but can take up to 30 minutes.

International transfers can take up to 2 to 5 business days to reach the recipient’s account. Generally this speed is more related to the receiving bank and the country where they operate.

4. Costs + Features (Real Costs)

Personal

Because of the many options you can choose with Revolut it helps to start with the right country:

For the UK use their latest price and feature comparison chart (opens new tab to keep reading).

For Europe – choose your country here

US residents click here (opens a new tab to keep reading) for pricing in USD dollars and different offerings.

Australian residents click here (opens a new tab to keep reading) for pricing in Aussie dollars and different offerings.

All other countries select your country here.

In it you will notice they ALL have the following:

• Standard (no-fee) account option
• Spend in over 140+ currencies at the interbank or mid-market exchange rate
• Exchange in 28+ fiat currencies
• No fee ATM withdrawals (Limits apply based on the plan, then fees apply. Third party providers may change a withdrawal fee)

There is a long list of additional benefits for Premium and Metal users. Like medical insurance, baggage and flight insurance, priority customer support, LoungeKey Pass (at airports) and fancy looking premium cards.

For money transfers here are the 7 cheapest international money transfers

Business

The business account also has different tiers and you can (check out the comparison chart here).

Generally for paid plans will get you:

• A multi currency account
• Local accounts in global currencies
• A global IBAN
• Physical and virtual cards
• Unlimited team members
• Payroll
• Bulk payments
• Payment Gateway
• Payment QR code

Revolut also offers affordable business accounts for Freelancers (with no-monthly-fee and paid options).

Check out the comparison table here.

Account Plans

Other Costs

• International transfers at the mid-market rate

• Mark-up of 0.5% on the exchange rate on weekends

• Small delivery cost for the first debit card and for the replacement cards.

• For out of network ATM withdrawals fair usage fee applies on amounts over limits based on Plan

International money transfer comparison is a good idea especially for larger amounts of if this is something you will be doing a lot of.

FX fees: Standard + Plus: Fair usage limits apply – Premium + Metal: unlimited and fee-free in 30+ currencies (as exotic currency mark-ups apply, and only fee-free on weekends)
All plans: Weekend mark-ups apply

5. How to Use Revolut

Everything right from registration to identity verification, authorization and funding happens online via their app.

Sign Up

Download the app, create a profile, and choose a personal or business plan that works for you. You can upgrade or downgrade your account anytime. You can also select the card as per your requirements.

Get Verified

Provide an ID for verification. The eKYC takes no longer than a few minutes. However, sometimes you may be asked for additional documents for verification.

Fund and Start Using

You can fund your Revolut account using any of the supported methods and start transacting.

5. What do Revolut Customers Say (including Negative Reviews)?

Revolut gets great reviews on most review sites.

On Trustpilot, Revolut are rated 4.3/5 on over 124,000 reviews, which is considered “Excellent”. We analysed 100s of reviews, and 85% gave 4 or 5 stars with a relatively low 10% giving 1 star. Compared to their peers this is very respectable especially given their size and low cost operation. Most high street banks score below 2/5.

But there’s a lot to be learned from the negative reviews.

7. Is Revolut Safe?

Revolut is not a full-fledged bank in many countries, so your money is not necessarily protected under the deposit guarantee scheme.

However customers in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden is a real bank.

Regardless of the country where you are a customer of Revolut they do protect money in “Saving Vaults” and other ways.

For example, in the UK they partner with banks that are part of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). This means that, if you are eligible, your Savings Vaults deposits are protected up to £85,000 per user.

In the Europe, it is the Deposit Guarantee Scheme (DGS) which means protected up to €100,000 per person.

In the USA, Savings Vaults are held by Sutton Bank, which means your funds are fully insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) up to $250,000 USD.

And so on.

Each country has their own rules and amounts which you are insured for.

Compliance Issues

Recently revolut has been in the media for a possible lapse in compliance. Reports indicate the FCA is involved, which could be seen as a good thing long term as they no doubt face further scrutiny and (if required) will pull their socks up. Important to note that the compliance issue relates to prevention of financial crime and not security. Revolut from what we can tell is fully secure.

Active Security

The app gives you complete control over your card and transactions. For example, you can freeze and unfreeze your card instantly. The app also lets you turn on and off features such as swipe payments, ATM withdrawals and contactless payments. It comes with GPS based security, which means, if your card is used in a different location from your current smart phone location, the card will be blocked.

Bottom Line

Verdict

Revolut is a modern, convenient way to manage money from an app. You get a prepaid debit card/s, can make instant payments and exchange currencies.

It has various plans for individual and business users. You can use the one that suits your needs the best.

Click here to see the options and pricing available in your country (opens a new tab so you can keep reading).

But as we discussed above in our section on When Revolut Works (and When it Doesn’t) it might be better for you to use specialised services for insurance and other services they offer.

We think it is also important to use specialist money transfer services where things can get complex due to regulations in different countries. Using a service geared towards money transfers can mean less chance there are any hold ups.

Check out our reviews for Wise (was TransferWise) for smaller transfers below £4000 GBP / $7000 USD or OFX for larger money transfers.

Happy Money!