So, I’m pretty excited about a lot of these new digital banking apps. The new Revolut card was my first entry into this world of digital banking. I have to say; I am extremely impressed so far.
It was a tough decision whether to use Revolut or N26, but my decision came because of partner; She chose Revolut when she was going on holiday with her family. She declared it the best thing ever, so of course, I had to get it as well.
I’ve been using the Revolut Card & App for over a year now, and I think it’s a brilliant tool for travel, budgeting, secure transfers and keeping track of spending.
The main selling point of the Revolut card is its ability to convert currency at the best possible rates, transfer to international markets for nothing, and of course, spend money around the world with no fees. The planets best credit cards don’t offer this.
What is Revolut
Revolut is a new age digital banking and investment app that helps you easily manage your money and lets you spend internationally.
You’ll be given three tiers when you decide to sign up; standard, premium and metal. They each come with slightly different features which can incur extra costs and monthly fees.
When you sign up to Revolut it gives you a lot of the same features a bank does. You get a free IBAN which is registered as a UK account and bank card.
Revolut started as an excellent version of a travel card, and people quickly began to realise the benefits and cost savings. Friends could now transfer money to each other via phone number in seconds, you have zero transactions fees under a certain spend, free atm withdrawls, and you have the ability to spend in over 150 currencies.
They’ve even added features to help with budgeting, savings, cryptocurrency and stock exchanges.
The creator of Revolut has just been announced as a Billionaire. In our opinion it’s well deserved.
Traditional banks are sure to see Revolut as a threat due to fewer transaction fees moving forward.
Revolut is the future of digital banking.
What can you do with Revolut?
- Revolut is a UK business so you get a UK current account with sort code and European IBAN. It works the exact same as a current account. It allows your to withdraw cash from ATM’s, set up recurring payments, integrate with apps like Google and Apple pay.
- Hold a Currency in 16 different countries.
- Paying friends by your phone number and being able to split a restaurant bill.
- Visual Spending Analytics – I love this feature. The interface of Revolut is fantastic. It helps me identify spending patterns and keeps a great record of purchase habits I have.
- Change your password and CVV. It’s a small thing but if you ever misplaced your card you can change the pin or cvv for piece of mind.
- Making international payments has so easy since I bought a revolut card.
- Buy and Trade Cryptocurrencies.
- Buy and Sell Stock – this is a pretty new feature I’ve been playing around with.
- Set up a savings vault. You can put change from transaction into a savings vault if you wish. So if you spend €1.51 on something, you can take the round up change to the nearest euro. In this example €.49 would go into a savings vault. It really adds up at the end of the year. I’ll be buying Christmas presents this year.
What Fees due you pay with Revolut?
So, you really need to keep an eye on for fees. They have changed since Revolut started. You should get an email if they do change in the future.
These are current fee structures.
- You pay no monthly fees for a standard account, you’ll pay €7.99 for a premium account and €13.99 for a metal account.
- Cash withdrawals on a standard account are 2% if you go over your standard accounts €200 limit. Premium accounts give you a €400 limit, and a metal account gives you an €800 limit. So if you’re spending a lot, then a premium or metal account can be more beneficial.
- If you’re exchanging more than €1,000 in currency a month, you could have to pay a .5% fee that’s charged per month.
- Crypto and Stock trading can incur other fees, but you need to be sure to do your own due diligence on these features if you’re getting into the investment side of the app.
Revolut Junior Account – Prepaid Card for Kids
This is another fantastic feature revolut has brought out for it’s junior users. You can start teaching kids money skills from a very young age with a Revolut Junior Account.
Your kids could learn how to save money, spend money, and teach good money habits that will prepare them for adulthood.
The account is controlled by parents so you can monitor spending, set custom parental controls and you can freeze and unfreeze a card in seconds.
Some parents think this is an excellent emergency card if kids need cash in a flash.
Is Revolut Safe?
Yes, Revolut is a safe company to use for your digital banking. It’s a secure way to send money abroad due to the security features the app and card has.
Revolut is authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA for short) and therefore are subject to keeping the highest possible standards when it comes to financial security.
They’ve recently even brought in 3D secure or 3DS which adds an extra layer of security on to internet payments. This was done in order to comply with new security regulations in Europe.
Revolut News
Revolut Introduce New Desktop App – 02 Dec 2020
I’m a big fan of doing my online banking from a secure wifi and desktop network so this new Desktop app is perfect for ensuring your digital banking available to you no matter what device you’re on.
The new web app can allow you to view your transactions and balances, add money, freeze and unfreeze your card in case you ever lost your and give you access to 24/7 customer support chat.
Revolut Massive Growth in Staffing Costs Put Company in Operating Loss
Revolut’s latest annual report has shown operating losses double to €234 million due to the necessity of staff for their rapid growth into new markets and expanding the apps offerings.
Revolut FAQ’s
Yes, Revolut has expanded it’s apps offering to include buying and selling cryptocurrency within the app. You must agree to terms and conditions of trading crypto and after that Revolut have made the process of crypto investment very easy.
Revolut allow you to buy and sell the following cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Doge (DOGE), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), Stellar (XLM), EOS (EOS), OMG Network (OMG), 0x (ZRX), Tezos (XTZ), Bancor (BNT), Cardano (ADA), Filecoin (FIL), Loopring (LRC), Numerai (Numerai), Orchid (OXT), Synthetix (SNX), The Graph (GRT), Universal Market Access (UMA) and Uniswap (UNI), Yearn Finance (YFI), Cosmos (ATOM), New Kind of Network(NKN), Matic(Matic), Algorand (Algo), Celo (Celo), Band (Band), Chainlink (Link), Tellor (TRB), Aave (AAVE), Compound (COMP), Curve Finance(CRV), Sushi (SUSHI), 1inch (1inch), Mirror (MIR), Origin Protocol (OGN), Basic Attention Token (BAT), Enjin (ENJ), SKALE Network (SKL), Cartesi (CTSI), Storj (STORJ), iExec (RLC
Yes, at the moment (23/06/21) Revolut is cheaper to buy cryptocurrency than coinbase. Coinbase are chargin around 4% while revolut are charging 2.5%. This can change so be sure to do your own due diligence.