Travel Money: Revolut
After putting up our last installment on managing you travel money we were made aware of Revolut, a nifty little banking application that helps you making payments in multiple currencies.
After putting up our last installment on managing you travel money we were made aware of Revolut, a nifty little banking application that helps you making payments in multiple currencies.
It is basically a gives you multi-currency bank accounts and credit card for payments and cash withdrawals.
We’ve already signed up and will use it for our next travel.
How it works
Revolut can only be used via a smarthphone app.
Inside the app you can have virtual accounts for any number of currencies, and you can exchange money between them. You can top up via bank transfer, credit card and Apple Pay (on an iOS device) in any currency. You can also make outgoing transfers and credit card payments in any currency.
The basic offer is free, but there are “premium” levels with a monthly or yearly fee. If you want a physical plastic credit card you’ll pay €5.99 for delivery.
Cash withdrawals are free up to €200 per month, after that it’s a 2% fee. Currency exchange (including currency conversions for the credit card) is at the interbank exchange rate for most currencies. There are no fees for the first €6000 per month, and 0.5% after that. Money exchange on weekends are at Friday’s interbank rate plus a 0.5%-2% markup, depending on the currency.
The Good
- Base version free of charge
- You can exchange currencies at the interbank exchange rate
- Top up via credit card, bank transfer or Apple Pay
- Currency exchange independent of credit card use
- Free bank transfers, incoming and outgoing in any currency
The Bad
- 0.5-1.5% markup on currency exchange on weekends
- Low withdrawal limits
- The “premium” versions are on the expensive side, as are the insurance products in the app
- No Apple Pay at this point, no contactless card for “base” accounts
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