Revolut Card

[BillyBeckers]

I recently set up a Revolut account (Standard Option) with the specific intention of using the Card for purchases on upcoming trip to France & Portugal. I received the Card today. I've transferred some initial funds from my UK current account and can see them in the online Revolut account. They are showing in Sterling.

I've seen in other posts on the Forum that one of the benefits of the Revolut account is that it is possible to purchase Euros when the Exchange Rate is beneficial. When logged in to my Revolut account, I can't see how I either purchase Euros or convert part of my Sterling balance to Euros. Can any existing Revolut customers advise on how I do this.

 

[kevenh]

First point, At the weekend Revolut exchanges have a cost.
I’d wait until Monday until making an exchange.

It’s because they don’t know the state of the market and charge to cover losses if the exchange rate moved so much they’ve made a loss

 

[kevenh]

Exchanges are easy to make in the Revolut app.

Have you got an “account” for each currency?
You add currency accounts with this “v”:

I have £ € & $ areas:

To get to “exchange” click on the … : -

Then choose “exchange”: -

Another key point is that you do not need a Euros balance to use your revolut card to purchase in Euros.
Revolut will use the “best” account.
Not in a special way. Maybe an example or two: -
If I have £20 & €20 available, and while in the EU try to buy good worth €16 the Revolut transaction will be to remove €16 from the € area.
Balance = £20 & €4 available for the next transaction.

If I realise I need another of those €16 things and use my card, the Revolut transaction will be to, on the fly, convert ~£14.11 to €16 and then pay for the goods.
Now my card balance = £5.89 & €4 available for the next transaction.

OK? Hope that helps. Looks like more info than you asked for.

 

[BillyBeckers]

Exchanges are easy to make in the Revolut app.

Have you got an “account” for each currency?
You add currency accounts with this “v”:
View attachment 731522

I have £ € & $ areas:
View attachment 731523

To get to “exchange” click on the … : -
View attachment 731525
Then choose “exchange”: -
View attachment 731524

Another key point is that you do not need a Euros balance to use your revolut card to purchase in Euros.
Revolut will use the “best” account.
Not in a special way. Maybe an example or two: -
If I have £20 & €20 available, and while in the EU try to buy good worth €16 the Revolut transaction will be to remove €16 from the € area.
Balance = £20 & €4 available for the next transaction.

If I realise I need another of those €16 things and use my card, the Revolut transaction will be to, on the fly, convert ~£14.11 to €16 and then pay for the goods.
Now my card balance = £5.89 & €4 available for the next transaction.

OK? Hope that helps. Looks like more info than you asked for.

Hi Kevinh

When I click on the 'v' as identified in your first step above I don't get the option to add an account - see below

 

[Sue and Rick]

I have heard off Martin Lewis that a Chase account is a very good alternative

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[Riverbankannie]

After you have got to the step shown above, you should have an add button

 

[Riverbankannie]

As someone said above, don’t transfer money when markets are closed.

 

[DT]

HSBC now has a very similar card with their Global Account.

 

[BillyBeckers]

As someone said above, don’t transfer money when markets are closed.

Noted. Thanks.

 

[BillyBeckers]

After you have got to the step shown above, you should have an add button
View attachment 731590

Unfortunately, when I get the stage above I don't have the option +New. I've tried to resolve it with the Chatbot but no joy. It seems that I only the single account in GB Pounds

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[BillyBeckers]

Unfortunately, when I get the stage above I don't have the option +New. I've tried to resolve it with the Chatbot but no joy. It seems that I only the single account in GB Pounds

I think I may have resolved it. I was trying to do it on my Web account on the PC. I suspect I have to do it on the Mobile app.

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

I have found the back up to be very good with Revolut, had an issue with something I bought not being as described went to their online chat and they sorted it.
Recently for some reason my account was upgraded from standard to premium, online chat and 5 minutes later my account had the money back in and they offered me 10% off of my next months purchases.

The Revolut is the only cars I use now, have it on my phone so it’s easy to use.

 

[BillyBeckers]

I think I may have resolved it. I was trying to do it on my Web account on the PC. I suspect I have to do it on the Mobile app.

Resolved. I managed to add the Euro account on the mobile app.
Thanks for the responses.

 

[Shrimp]

On an iPhone open the Revolut app.
Across top there are some options.
Below that is amount of money you have to use on card either £ or € With a small arrow that gives you different currencies. Use GBP.
Below that is several buttons, one is exchange-press it, that will give you the exchange page with the current exchange rate just under ‘Sell GBP’ enter amount you want to change and follow instructions.
To add money, from first page when you open app is a button that allows you to add money to the app.
Once you get the hang of it, it’s easy!
Good luck.

 

[kevenh]

Resolved. I managed to add the Euro account on the mobile app.
Thanks for the responses.

oops. Soz. I hadn’t checked the Desktop UI
Tbf I’m almost exclusively using the Revolut smartphone app to operate the account. yy

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[Madcaravanner]

Actually you don't need to worry

Use your card
tell the shop person you want to pay in Euros and Revolut (Or Chase ) do the rest

Neither charge you (Except at weekends)

 

[Riverbankannie]

Resolved. I managed to add the Euro account on the mobile app.
Thanks for the responses.

It is very useful to have the mobile app on your phone. You get instant notifications of transactions, before you are out of the door of the shop. It also will want to verify it is you if you try and take out cash from different machines on same day. If you don’t have the phone to hand it will lock the card until you get in the app and approve transaction.
I was using it to withdraw small amounts of €20 euros to get small denomination notes.

 

[Parrot Face]

I think you are also limited to conversions of £1000 a month before you incur charges. Also when abroad there are limits to withdraw cash before you are charged. We only draw 200 euros a month each from bank machines and again look for the banks that are not charging, the list is getting shorter. Love my Revolut account and used it everywhere in NZ . Great when stopping in Dubai and Brisbane airports when we didn't have cash and for drinks and snacks the conversion was automatically made from our GBP.

 

[gus-lopez]

I think I may have resolved it. I was trying to do it on my Web account on the PC. I suspect I have to do it on the Mobile app.

yes you do

 

[Littlewheels]

Actually you don't need to worry

Use your card
tell the shop person you want to pay in Euros and Revolut (Or Chase ) do the rest

Neither charge you (Except at weekends)

Not my experience, on a sterling card the choice of £/€ is offered,however,if your Revolut card has a €uro balance your purchase is done automatically In €uros

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[EuroTrotters]

One point to mention, if you intend to use it a lot, look at Metal plan.

Metal costs £13 a month but comes with some good benefits. One of them is free. VIP lounges if your flight is delayed. It’s called “SMART DELAY”. At most airports, if you are delayed for more than one hour, you get 4 free lounge tickets.

I also save on FX costs as I use Revolut for £,€,$ and ¥

 

[Noots]

Starling works well for us. Great app and easy to use with Apple Pay. Business accounts good also

 

[Mr David]

I have a basic Revolut account and can exchange up to and including £1000/month without exchange fees (£ to €) After the £1000 I pay about 0.5% The exchange rate is always close to mid price rate. Don't do exchanges at weekends because there will be a surchange.

 

[liamharry]

Have to say currently travelling around Europe - France, Portugal and in the main Spain.

Just before we left had a Chase, Halifax and Revolut card set up as they don’t charge fees for use.

However since having been here only used the Revolut card. So easy.

Easy to transfer funds in from our UK account (NatWest) and then exchange to Euros as we need them in Revolut and/or when exchange rates are favourable.

Easy to set-up a basic account. As others have said, just don’t exchange on weekends as there is a small charge, but you are usually talking a couple of quid.

Also there is a limit on the basic account of only £1K per month from memory without a charge and then again if you go over it is a minor ‘fair use’ fee.

Then pulled euros out of cash machine in Portugal and France free of charge. Again there is a weekly limit I think of €200 per week or something similar.

However have a physical card, iPhone and watch app and have found in general most places accept contactless.

Keep usually between €1K to €1,500 in the account. Have been here 7 weeks now and of the original €300 I took out of the cash machine on day one, still have about €180 left.

Used mainly in smaller venues, the odd campsite (we mainly free camp) and local restaurants as most places as mentioned earlier take contactless.

Have managed to jump in when I have seen the rates go up, very good rates on Revolut without any charges if sensible and haven’t used any other payment system.

Well done Revolut.

Oh one thing, France and Portugal had no charges for taking money out of ATM’s. Spain on the other hand normally want to charge €7 per transaction for pulling cash out of ATM’s. Their bank charges NOT Revolut. So you may want to take a few hundred euros out to keep in you pocket before you get to Spain if you are going in that direction. Either that or limit the number of withdrawals to a couple of bigger ones.

 

[engelside]

Used Revolut for a few years now. Last year we were in Norway for a couple of months and used it all the time. Did have a Euro account as well as Norwegian Krone but in the end it was just as easy to use sterling and it transferred as necessary. As far as I could tell (and I didn't spend much time checking) exchange rates were such that it didn't seem to make much difference what currency it was stored in. We spent around £6k over that period of time (expensive place Norway ) but didnt get any charges for that amount.

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[kevenh]

Used Revolut for a few years now. Last year we were in Norway for a couple of months and used it all the time. Did have a Euro account as well as Norwegian Krone but in the end it was just as easy to use sterling and it transferred as necessary. As far as I could tell (and I didn't spend much time checking) exchange rates were such that it didn't seem to make much difference what currency it was stored in. We spent around £6k over that period of time (expensive place Norway ) but didnt get any charges for that amount.

If you have the time & skill, getting a local currency in your account helps if you've bought at a good exchange rate. There's a chance you could buy & the rate changes would've saved you more.

So, for the ease of use, just relying on Revolut's commission free spot rates is OK.

One use case for preloading with a local currency could be when you know you've a weekend spend due

 

[carolyn]

We’ve had Revolut since the early days and find it easy but you can only withdraw 200 euros fee free per month so we have Starling as well which is unlimited still. Also have Monzo which is limited to 200euros. We were surprised in Italy last year how many restaurants would have quite liked us to pay cash, we’d got so used to everywhere wanting card payments. It wasn’t a problem paying by card I hasten to add but I think there may have been some flexible accounting going on!

I got the Starling card when I went to America just before Covid as they really did like cash for tips, no idea what it’s like now.

 

[bigtwin]

you can only withdraw 200 euros fee free per month

For this reason my wife and I have our own Revolut accounts and we alternate who withdraws cash (€100 each time).

Ian

 

[carolyn]

For this reason my wife and I have our own Revolut accounts and we alternate who withdraws cash (€100 each time).

Ian

Nick has one as well. He is allowed! I travel abroad with daughter sometimes so it’s me who needs the extra money. Strangely her cards don’t seem to work except in clothes shops when we travel together.