Revolut - Ultracheap FX (prepaid Mastercard)

The Ayatolla

Why not just use Revolut to pay for the bar transactions?

I find the amount of times I have to use an ATM on holidays to be few and far between. Heck, even most cabs now take card (in addition to Hailo / Uber). My partner also has a Revolut so that lets us take out €400 with the new limits. Cash is dying, and it's great.

coylemj

The Ayatolla wrote: »

Why not just use Revolut to pay for the bar transactions?

Because I'd have to preload the card i.e. pay for my holiday jar in advance (instead of several weeks after coming home) and risk running out of money and having the card rejected - just to save 0.25% - no thanks.

The Ayatolla wrote: »

I find the amount of times I have to use an ATM on holidays to be few and far between. Heck, even most cabs now take card (in addition to Hailo / Uber). My partner also has a Revolut so that lets us take out €400 with the new limits. Cash is dying, and it's great.

You can preload a regular credit card before going on holidays to cover cash ATM withdrawals and avoid interest. For everything else, use the credit card and pay up to 6 weeks later.

The Ayatolla

coylemj wrote: »

Because I'd have to preload the card i.e. pay for my holiday jar in advance (instead of several weeks after coming home) and risk running out of money and having the card rejected - just to save 0.25% - no thanks.

I've been to New York, Vegas, multiple UK cities, Thailand, Australia, South Africa. Revolut hasn't been declined once (in shops and ATMs). I guess I'm just really careful when it comes to putting in my PIN.

coylemj wrote: »

You can preload a regular credit card before going on holidays to cover cash ATM withdrawals and avoid interest. For everything else, use the credit card and pay up to 6 weeks later.

But Revolut gives a better exchange rate, especially if I shop in Sterling/Dollars while in the UK/USA. I'd rather not use my credit card and let the bank do the conversion, risking them charging whatever they want.

Jayop

Also it's not 0.25% savings on cash withdrawals. It's 0.25% for anything above £200. Personally I'd never use a lot of cash when I'm abroad. I use the card to pay for all meals, all attractions, all shopping and a lot of the bar tabs in places that will let you run a tab (most places). Cash for me is for Taxi's, tipping, drinks where I'm getting only 1/2 drinks and buying stuff from street vendors. I'd never spend anything more than £100 per day cash I'd say averaged over the holiday.

edit because I'm a gimp

coylemj

The Ayatolla wrote: »

I've been to New York, Vegas, multiple UK cities, Thailand, Australia, South Africa. Revolut hasn't been declined once (in shops and ATMs). I guess I'm just really careful when it comes to putting in my PIN.

I don't know what the PIN has to do with it. My point is that with the Revolut card, when your money runs out, the card will be rejected so you have to plan in advance how much you will spend and stick to that limit. Which doesn't make for fun if you're in a restaurant towards the end of the holiday and you're not sure if you can risk flashing the card in case its rejected.

The Ayatolla wrote: »

But Revolut gives a better exchange rate, especially if I shop in Sterling/Dollars while in the UK/USA. I'd rather not use my credit card and let the bank do the conversion, risking them charging whatever they want.

Well if Revolut are going to start charging 2% for ATM withdrawals, they won't be long doing the same on purchases and currency movement.

I'm aware that the Revolut card has a big fan club but payment in advance and having that as a limit on spending is a major show-stopper for me.

Jayop

coylemj wrote: »

I don't know what the PIN has to do with it. My point is that with the Revolut card, when your money runs out, the card will be rejected so you have to plan in advance how much you will spend and stick to that limit. Which doesn't make for fun if you're in a restaurant towards the end of the holiday and you're not sure if you can risk flashing the card in case its rejected.



Well if Revolut are going to start charging 2% for ATM withdrawals, they won't be long doing the same on purchases and currency movement.

I realise that the Revolut card has a big fan club but payment in advance and having that as a limit on spending is a major show-stopper for me.

Ah here. It takes all of two seconds to check your balance on the app to see how much money you have left, and all of 10 seconds to add some more if you are short.

If you need to pull out 1000 sterling over your holiday, on revolut you will pay 2% of £800 and your credit card is 2.25% of £1000.

Revolut costs £16
Credit Card costs £22.5

For those of us who use Revolut to save on small amounts like this that banks charge us, I think most would prefer to see the £6.50 in our own pocket.

coylemj

Jayop wrote: »

If you need to pull out 1000 sterling over your holiday .....

You'd have a regular credit card, possibly Mastercard Platinum with a €10,000 limit. Please don't kid me that someone who spends £1,000 cash while on holiday in the UK is going to go to the hassle of front loading a credit card to save €6.50 as in your example.

Tony

Not sure why you refer to topping up as hassle, it takes seconds. Its also a hell of a lot quicker than logging into your bank account if like me you do not have or want a credit card

coylemj wrote: »

is going to go to the hassle of front loading a credit card to save €6.50 as in your example.

Jayop

coylemj wrote: »

You'd have a regular credit card, possibly Mastercard Platinum with a €10,000 limit. Please don't kid me that someone who spends £1,000 cash while on holiday in the UK is going to go to the hassle of front loading a credit card to save €6.50 as in your example.

What hassle? It takes seconds and you can much better monitor your spending, and the exchange rates with a Revolut card than with a credit card. I would spend a lot of time in the north and in England and I'd be spending a lot while I'm there and I always use my Revolut rather than any other card.

1. The Mastercard Platinum has a annual charge of €76.18. (from BOI site)
2. Cross border handling fee applies to non-euro transactions. (from BOI site)
3. Right now with AIB they sell sterling at 0.8355 while Revolut sell it at 0.8526. That's another 2% on all money changed saved.

Taking the first two charges out of it and just looking at the exchange rates and the withdrawal charges above you now get to a difference of £34.50 on changing £1000.

Now if you have £34.50 that you're happy to hand over to the AIB then more power to you, but for the sake of taking 10 seconds to top up your revolut card I'd prefer to save the money myself and have a meal or something.

Yggr of Asgard

Since when does a excessive credit card limit means that a person does not want to save money?

Just because some banks thinks I'm worth xxxxxx€ credit limit does not mean that I won't go and save me some money, especially if it means that I have greater control due to for example real time notification about spending or locking in a good conversion rate.

I rather spend the saved money on me than giving it to an outdated institution that charges me extra money for something that in reality is way cheaper to them.

And it all racks up, when saving 25% on an Amazon Pantry order compared to an Irish supermarket any additional saving is just making the 3 day wait so much better.

cromelex

coylemj wrote: »

Well if Revolut are going to start charging 2% for ATM withdrawals, they won't be long doing the same on purchases and currency movement.

You're getting it wrong. The issue with ATM withdrawals is that currently they didn't get paid for them - they might even cost them money.

However, whenever you pay with your card, the merchant/shop always pay a fee, part of which goes to Revolut (as it would go to your bank if you paid with your regular card). So they don't really have a need to charge you for it - they are already making money on it.

Yggr of Asgard

cromelex wrote: »

You're getting it wrong. The issue with ATM withdrawals is that currently they didn't get paid for them - they might even cost them money.

However, whenever you pay with your card, the merchant/shop always pay a fee, part of which goes to Revolut (as it would go to your bank if you paid with your regular card). So they don't really have a need to charge you for it - they are already making money on it.

Well they get 0.3% of the card spending due to the EU capping regulations on the interchange fee for spending in the EEA, for transactions outside the EEA that they get between 0.5% and 0.75% of the value.

These rates used to be way higher (up to 3%) which is why it was possible for them to absorb other cost, but with the EU regulations capping the rates that method has stopped, hence now they (and all of the other banks) need to find other ways to limit cost or charge the customer.

Now when it comes to ATM withdraws it's the opposite, instead of getting money for the transaction they have to pay Mastercard and the ATM network money for you using the card which is why they limit the amount you can get. I don't know which scheme Revolut is part of, but the cost can be anywhere from 1.95€ to 5.00€ per transaction which they have to pay.

So like everybody else in the fintech they might have under-estimate how many people are trying to get cash and they can't absorb the high cost of it which is why they (and others) are limiting the cash amount so severely.

On top of that I'm sure several people use a credit card to top of the revolut account for the small 1% fee and than withdraw the amount in cash (to avoid their credit card's cash advance fee). Those people cost them a lot of money and hence they limit the withdraws.

I think we will see loads of more restrictions coming with Revolut and the other fintechs.

Chimichangas

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

Further ATM restrictions on the way as of 5th February 2017(immediately for new users):

Headline: To cover our costs, we are introducing a monthly free usage limit of £200, with a small 2% fee thereafter.

http://revolutapp.tumblr.com/post/153954103252/fair-usage-policy-update

Thats a ridiculous atm limit. Near pointless!
This is where the advantages of revolut decline in value.:(

soirish

Most boardies here are early adopters (first 5000 customers), they should give us better conditions.

irishgeo

2 questions

has anyone managed to get a contactless card instead of the normal card? Revoult support told me i already had one. I dont. desipte me arguring i didnt the support person insisited i did. i tired a contactless transactions and nothing. If i could get a contactless version the 200 atm withdrawal limit wouldnt bother me so much.

second question is it 200 per day or month?

Lucas Hood

irishgeo wrote: »

2 questions

has anyone managed to get a contactless card instead of the normal card? Revoult support told me i already had one. I dont. desipte me arguring i didnt the support person insisited i did. i tired a contactless transactions and nothing. If i could get a contactless version the 200 atm withdrawal limit wouldnt bother me so much.

second question is it 200 per day or month?

I lost my card recently and got a contactles one as a replacement.

Cost 8 euro for the postage.

maximoose

I have a contactless card, cost €7 to get - requested it via support chat.

It has the contactless symbol in the top right of the physical card, and on the right hand side of the card in the 'My Card' part of the app.

My ATM limit is €650 per month

Yggr of Asgard

irishgeo wrote: »

2 questions

has anyone managed to get a contactless card instead of the normal card? Revoult support told me i already had one. I dont. desipte me arguring i didnt the support person insisited i did. i tired a contactless transactions and nothing. If i could get a contactless version the 200 atm withdrawal limit wouldnt bother me so much.

second question is it 200 per day or month?

200€ Limit is per month, after that it's the 2% fee. That is as of February, currently it's still 650€.

NFC cards will not be issued to existing customers (unless you pay for a replacement) until they have migrated to Lithuania with their own license. Paysafe won't give them new cards which is why they have suspended new customers.

irishgeo

200 euro a month is crazy?

looks like its back to the anpost card so for the cash.

seems its on the slide already.

Whats the story with Christmas and the sterling rate, will it be fixed for the whole of Christmas liek it is at the weekends.

Arbie

My card chip became faulty, only working maybe 50% of the time. After a bit of back and forth with support they told me to order a new card, pay the 7 euro and they would credit it back to me when I had the new card. They did as promised and the new card is contactless.

Jayop

Arbie wrote: »

My card chip became faulty, only working maybe 50% of the time. After a bit of back and forth with support they told me to order a new card, pay the 7 euro and they would credit it back to me when I had the new card. They did as promised and the new card is contactless.

What did you tell them was wrong with it in case a man wanted to erm....have the same problem with his card???

Arbie

Jayop wrote: »

What did you tell them was wrong with it in case a man wanted to erm....have the same problem with his card???

I explained that the card was not recognised by the machine half of the time and that the problem was getting worse, causing me to have to resort to other cards. They told me I had damaged it, etc. but I sent photos of the card and chip, which showed no damage. I had the card less than a year at that stage so it should not have been failing. I had spent quite a bit on the card, which probably helped my argument.

Quackster

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

200€ Limit is per month, after that it's the 2% fee. That is as of February, currently it's still 650€.

NFC cards will not be issued to existing customers (unless you pay for a replacement) until they have migrated to Lithuania with their own license. Paysafe won't give them new cards which is why they have suspended new customers.

When they migrate, will we all have to be issued with new cards (like in the case of N26) or will they be able to take the Paysafe-issued card numbers with them?

CollyFlower

If your Rovlout card is cloned/stolen can it be used to access your account you top up from ?

soirish

CollyFlower wrote: »

If your Rovlout card is cloned/stolen can it be used to access your account you top up from ?

Not really. Certainly a bigger risk is losing your phone. Revolut can be accessed using forgotten pin which is sent as a text/email to the very same phone. Then top up is possible and cc # is also available within the app.

Jayop

soirish wrote: »

Not really. Certainly a bigger risk is losing your phone. Revolut can be accessed using forgotten pin which is sent as a text/email to the very same phone. Then top up is possible and cc # is also available within the app.

Never thought of that before. :eek:

The Ayatolla

Just put a lock code on your phone? :-/

Jayop

The Ayatolla wrote: »

Just put a lock code on your phone? :-/

I have it fingerprint protected with a back up code. I might make my code more complicated now though as it was a real basic one.

CollyFlower

Where in the app is the cc code? Can't find it in mine.

EagererBeaver

Click on your card. CCC is in the top right corner of the image of the card.