Revolut - Ultracheap FX (prepaid Mastercard)

OU812

Little tip for anyone with either a MasterCard OR a Visa card.

Following the problems with both networks in the last few weeks, I got onto customer support and ordered a Visa card on the account to accompany my existing MasterCard.

It’s highly unlikely both networks will go down on the one day so it’s worth having a second competitor card.

Easy to order & fast to arrive.

Dardania

OU812 wrote: »

Little tip for anyone with either a MasterCard OR a Visa card.

Following the problems with both networks in the last few weeks, I got onto customer support and ordered a Visa card on the account to accompany my existing MasterCard.

It’s highly unlikely both networks will go down on the one day so it’s worth having a second competitor card.

Easy to order & fast to arrive.

I adopt a similar setup. I have N26 on my watch with MasterCard and carry my revolut Visa. And have MasterCard revolut at home.

J_A_F_A

OU812 wrote: »

Little tip for anyone with either a MasterCard OR a Visa card.

Following the problems with both networks in the last few weeks, I got onto customer support and ordered a Visa card on the account to accompany my existing MasterCard.

It’s highly unlikely both networks will go down on the one day so it’s worth having a second competitor card.

Easy to order & fast to arrive.

Did they charge you for the card?

Doodah7

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Yeah, I think that's the point of revolut.
Top up in € and spend wherever, and always refuse offers to exchange currency.

So ask to spend in local currency, and revolut will convert automatically. From your € account.

Right?

The point is that you should convert when the exchange rate is good. For example I changed euro to dollars earlier in the year at €1=$1.20. It is now $1.16 but I don’t care because I locked in at the good rate.

Converting on the fly will get you a marginally better rate than a normal credit card but converting in advance at the right time can be a big money saver.

OU812

J_A_F_A wrote: »

Did they charge you for the card?

No, not at all. I explained he reason why I wanted it & had it five days later

killbillvol2

Doodah7 wrote: »

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Yeah, I think that's the point of revolut.
Top up in € and spend wherever, and always refuse offers to exchange currency.

So ask to spend in local currency, and revolut will convert automatically. From your € account.

Right?

The point is that you should convert when the exchange rate is good. For example I changed euro to dollars earlier in the year at €1=$1.20. It is now $1.16 but I don’t care because I locked in at the good rate.

Converting on the fly will get you a marginally better rate than a normal credit card but converting in advance at the right time can be a big money saver.

Or a big money loser.

J_A_F_A

Doodah7 wrote: »

The point is that you should convert when the exchange rate is good. For example I changed euro to dollars earlier in the year at €1=$1.20. It is now $1.16 but I don’t care because I locked in at the good rate.

Converting on the fly will get you a marginally better rate than a normal credit card but converting in advance at the right time can be a big money saver.

With forward planning and looking at substantial amounts of FX you could consider "Dollar cost averaging" (Google it.)

bren2002

Might be an obvious question
I've just been on an easyjet flight where the £ price was better than the € price.
I didn't use the card because I figured that being a prepaid card it would need to be able to validate and I assume the inflight machines aren't online.

Has anyone any experience of this situation, so I know in future?

paddy19

killbillvol2 wrote: »

Or a big money loser.

Dead right.
This is simply gambling.

If you have a known need for a currency in the future then it may make sence to fix the cost.

Other than that it's the same as putting money on a horse.

lenoude

bren2002 wrote: »

Might be an obvious question
I've just been on an easyjet flight where the £ price was better than the € price.
I didn't use the card because I figured that being a prepaid card it would need to be able to validate and I assume the inflight machines aren't online.

Has anyone any experience of this situation, so I know in future?

I used mine a couple of times on Norwegian Air without issue.

Dardania

bren2002 wrote: »

Might be an obvious question
I've just been on an easyjet flight where the £ price was better than the € price.
I didn't use the card because I figured that being a prepaid card it would need to be able to validate and I assume the inflight machines aren't online.

Has anyone any experience of this situation, so I know in future?

firstly, when going on a flight, it's a good idea to switch off the location security for the card. Learned that lesson on a train where the address for the credit card machine was in the country's capital, and the train was going away from it pretty fast! Security failed when I went for the second pint! Thankfully there was wifi on board so I could address.

For the topic of price being better in one currency or another, yeah you have to be careful about that. I thought I was smart one day getting some trinkets in St. Petersburg in a duty free shop at the train station. They priced everything in €, but I said to convert to Ruble. They converted the € price to ruble using a crappy exchange rate, and I paid that

Grassey

Had a weird instance today where buying something in dublin the terminal asked did I want to charge euro or stg using the card.

Clearly the stg amount was more than the euro equivalent based on whatever conversion rate they were using. Odd all the same as I was only half paying attention going to put in my pin.

TheChizler

That'll always happen if the retailer has set up a facility to provide a conversion service. Most department stores and shops with large numbers of tourists coming in would have this. You declined right?

msmx5

Grassey wrote: »

....the terminal asked did I want to charge euro or stg using the card.

Its called Dynamic Currency Conversion and should be avoided as for the "convenience" of paying in what the merchant thinks is your home currency (a lot of revolut cards are coded as Sterling") you are normally charged a hefty conversion premium.

Rule of thumb for revolut. Always pay in local currency!! That goes for topping up - top up in the local currency of your debit card (Euro for those of us in Ireland) and choose to pay local currency when paying for items abroad.

Dardania

msmx5 wrote: »

Grassey wrote: »

....the terminal asked did I want to charge euro or stg using the card.

Its called Dynamic Currency Conversion and should be avoided as for the "convenience" of paying in what the merchant thinks is your home currency (a lot of revolut cards are coded as Sterling") you are normally charged a hefty conversion premium.

Rule of thumb for revolut. Always pay in local currency!! That goes for topping up - top up in the local currency of your debit card (Euro for those of us in Ireland) and choose to pay local currency when paying for items abroad.

Any idea why the cards are all coded in Sterling? Why not code it in the home currency of The account holder? It would remove a new hassle factor for using revolut at home.

irishgeo

Dardania wrote: »

Any idea why the cards are all coded in Sterling? Why not code it in the home currency of The account holder? It would remove a new hassle factor for using revolut at home.

Probably because they are based in the UK.

msmx5

Dardania wrote: »

Any idea why the cards are all coded in Sterling? Why not code it in the home currency of The account holder? It would remove a new hassle factor for using revolut at home.

Revolut originally used WIRECARD for issuing their cards and subsequently changed to issuing their own I believe. The WIRECARD cards were coded as ROMANIAN and EURO I believe while the later VISA cards were coded as UK/Sterling. I guess the logistics of having multiple countries and currency codings might be prohibitive and more costly for them issuing cards.

Check out the first six digits of your card in a BIN database and report back.

(Also see this post )

Dardania

msmx5 wrote: »

Dardania wrote: »

Any idea why the cards are all coded in Sterling? Why not code it in the home currency of The account holder? It would remove a new hassle factor for using revolut at home.

Revolut originally used WIRECARD for issuing their cards and subsequently changed to issuing their own I believe. The WIRECARD cards were coded as ROMANIAN and EURO I believe while the later VISA cards were coded as UK/Sterling. I guess the logistics of having multiple countries and currency codings might be prohibitive and more costly for them issuing cards.

Check out the first six digits of your card in a BIN database and report back.

(Also see  this post )

Nice link. My MasterCard say wirecard for banks website, and my visa says nothing for banks website (however both of them say United Kingdom for country)

dulux99

Dardania wrote: »

bren2002 wrote: »

Might be an obvious question
I've just been on an easyjet flight where the £ price was better than the € price.
I didn't use the card because I figured that being a prepaid card it would need to be able to validate and I assume the inflight machines aren't online.

Has anyone any experience of this situation, so I know in future?

firstly, when going on a flight, it's a good idea to switch off the location security for the card. Learned that lesson on a train where the address for the credit card machine was in the country's capital, and the train was going away from it pretty fast! Security failed when I went for the second pint! Thankfully there was wifi on board so I could address.

For the topic of price being better in one currency or another, yeah you have to be careful about that. I thought I was smart one day getting some trinkets in St. Petersburg in a duty free shop at the train station. They priced everything in €, but I said to convert to Ruble. They converted the € price to ruble using a crappy exchange rate, and I paid that

How do you turn off location security? I feel the location security has caused me a lot of hassle. A good few times recently my card has been declined in stores and I get a revolut notification on my phone to say "Location does not match merchants" and it's very, very annoying

EagererBeaver

dulux99 wrote: »

Dardania wrote: »

bren2002 wrote: »

Might be an obvious question
I've just been on an easyjet flight where the £ price was better than the € price.
I didn't use the card because I figured that being a prepaid card it would need to be able to validate and I assume the inflight machines aren't online.

Has anyone any experience of this situation, so I know in future?

firstly, when going on a flight, it's a good idea to switch off the location security for the card. Learned that lesson on a train where the address for the credit card machine was in the country's capital, and the train was going away from it pretty fast! Security failed when I went for the second pint! Thankfully there was wifi on board so I could address.

For the topic of price being better in one currency or another, yeah you have to be careful about that. I thought I was smart one day getting some trinkets in St. Petersburg in a duty free shop at the train station. They priced everything in €, but I said to convert to Ruble. They converted the € price to ruble using a crappy exchange rate, and I paid that

How do you turn off location security? I feel the location security has caused me a lot of hassle. A good few times recently my card has been declined in stores and I get a revolut notification on my phone to say "Location does not match merchants" and it's very, very annoying

Cards > Security settings

5star02707

dulux99 wrote: »

How do you turn off location security? I feel the location security has caused me a lot of hassle. A good few times recently my card has been declined in stores and I get a revolut notification on my phone to say "Location does not match merchants" and it's very, very annoying

go to cards and it's under "Security" just disable location based security

srsly78

Go to security options in app.

yosser hughes

Hello. Sorry if it's been asked before,but I can't seem to get the card setup for android pay. When I try to complete the setup, I get the following message:
"This card can't be setup to pay in stores'

"This feature isn't supported by your bank......etc"
My revolut card is Visa and I have checked all the card settings.

The high horse brigade

yosser hughes wrote: »

Hello. Sorry if it's been asked before,but I can't seem to get the card setup for android pay. When I try to complete the setup, I get the following message:
"This card can't be setup to pay in stores'

"This feature isn't supported by your bank......etc"
My revolution card is Visa and I have chi all the card settings.

I think you have to add the card as a payment option in the play store first

yosser hughes

The high horse brigade wrote: »

I think you have to add the card as a payment option in the play store first

Yeah,I've done that already.

maximoose

The visa card doesn't work yet, only Mastercard.

yosser hughes

maximoose wrote: »

The visa card doesn't work yet, only Mastercard.

That explains it. Thanks maximoose.
Can you get either Visa or MasterCard ,as in can you express a preference?

maximoose

I don't think so, I think all standard cards they issue now are Visa (whereas it used to be mastercard)

I think you can only get a mastercard now by ordering a premium card.

yosser hughes

maximoose wrote: »

I don't think so, I think all standard cards they issue now are Visa (whereas it used to be mastercard)

I think you can only get a mastercard now by ordering a premium card.

Thanks again. Much appreciated.

MarkY91

My ones is MasterCard. The Post office wouldn't accept it. Should I order a new one for the visa?

I recently starting using Google pay linked with revolut. It's great. No need for a wallet half the time! And I have spare change automatically going into my vault. My spare change funding is €39.85 so far. Real handy way of saving spare change without even noticing. I'd recommend everyone to try it out (located in the vault section).