Revolut Review: Is this the Best Challenger Bank?

The financial landscape is changing fast, and new services are becoming available each day. Revolut is a relatively new virtual bank with millions of users. It can be considered the “alternative to traditional banks” as it offers free and instant financial services for people who travel internationally or want to have a global lifestyle.

While the global banking system has remained unchanged over the centuries, Revolut is bringing about positive change that allows you to avoid all the cumbersome and bureaucratic bottlenecks of conventional banking. With Revolut, you get access to financial flexibility that allows you to be in control of your finances.

What is Revolut

Revolut is a banking app designed to offer worldwide spend and transfer capabilities in real-time. Revolut has two banking licenses, one in Lithuania and another in Australia. Because Lithuania is part of the EU, Revolut’s banking license covers the whole of Europe. However, Revolut only operates as a bank in Poland, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Cyprus, Greece, Latvia, Malta, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. The company is currently working on securing U.K. and U.S. banking licenses.

Founded in July 2015 by Nikolay Storonsky (a former trader at Credit Suisse), Revolut aims at providing mobile and online banking, thus allowing clients to avoid the excessive fees of conventional banks. The platform features a pre-paid card that users can top up via bank transfers or with an existing credit/debit card.

Users are also able to send money instantly or request payments from their contacts within the Revolut application. More recently, Revolut also allows its users to invest in cryptocurrencies.

Is Revolut Safe?

Well, although Revolut operates as a bank in the above-mentioned countries, you should use multiple layers of security to keep your funds safe while using its platform. There are many issues associated with online banking, and even though Revolut is legitimate and secure, customer data breaches continue to be an ongoing risk factor.

With this in mind, Revolut has boosted its security features to include fingerprint identification on your account’s log-in attempts. Revolut also gives its users easy customization, thus allowing them to turn off certain features that increase the risk of phishing attacks.

Other Revolut’s safety features include:

• The “Revolut Security” app is available for both Android and iOS users. This app provides protection against malware that tries to gain access to the device.
• The app can also be used as a safety net if you lose your phone or get it stolen. The feature allows you to ring, lock and wipe your account remotely just by using Revolut’s official software.
• The “Revolut Vault” app will allow you to encrypt your data so that only you have access to it. It can be used on a wide range of devices, but you will have to download the app from Revolut’s website.
• The Revolut vault app provides four layers of protection: pin & password, 2-factor authentication, fingerprint, and face recognition.
• You also have the option of using Revolut’s virtual cards that can be used to make online payments once and destroyed right after. This makes it impossible for hackers to later use your card number to access your account.

Platform & Features

Revolut app

The Revolut App offers a better alternative to the regular banking system when it comes to services such as customer support and privacy protection. The app has an easy-to-use user interface that is designed to be convenient for all users.

The app also supports trading a range of top cryptocurrencies and ensures that you get the best cryptocurrency exchange rates as it has access to the largest liquidity pool in Europe. Along with Bitcoin, other digital currencies such as Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin are supported on Revolut. The company promises to add more digital currencies soon.

Revolut does not charge any maintenance fees as its cryptocurrency trading platform. This means that you can buy crypto coins or tokens instantly without having to worry about bank charges.

Some other key features on the Revolut app include:

• Availability on both iOS and Android platforms
• You can transfer funds globally 24/7 using the app and send money to friends, family, or merchants at a low cost of only 0.5 percent.
• Users can carry out free international transfers, get real-time exchange rates, and have free unlimited ATM withdrawals as well as free worldwide virtual cards.

Revolut Card

Revolut also offers its clients the Revolut card, which allows its users to make purchases worldwide. The card makes it easy to make purchases in more than 30 national currencies at 0% commission fees. This is a great feature for making real-time overseas spending without going through expensive brokerage firms that charge unreasonable exchange rates.

The card also makes it easy to buy cryptocurrencies. You can swap Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin with any of the 30 supported national currencies at the best cryptocurrency exchange rates on Revolut.

The Revolut card works like a standard bank card and is available either as Visa or Mastercard. However, it features subtle differences as it strives to give customers the best level of flexibility possible, allowing users to make payments and transfers in both traditional currencies as well as for cryptocurrencies.

Key features of the Revolut Card:

• The card is accepted at more than 3 million locations across the world and works just like a bank card. However, you will only pay a standard fee for ATM withdrawals in foreign currencies (1.5%, which is usually waived for free by the bank).
• Revolut charges zero foreign transaction and cash withdrawal fees, regardless of where you are in the world. This makes it easy to avoid pricey banking fees that would otherwise eat into your local spending power. The card can also be used as a replacement for travel cards as it is available as VISA and Mastercard.
• Transactions are in real-time, so you will never have to worry about the bank working on a settlement after your business trip is over. Ease of access means that you do not need to queue at foreign ATMs and spend unnecessary time waiting for cash withdrawal.
• If you lose your card, the company will issue a replacement without any bank charges or fees to ensure that your travels are not disrupted by any unfortunate event. If your card is lost or stolen, you can also report it to Revolut so that they can lock your card from use in case someone tries to use it.

How to Send Money with Revolut

Sending money to other Revolut users or to bank accounts is simple and only takes a few seconds. Check out the videos below to see how to do it.

Revolut Business

Besides commercial users, Revolut also offers business accounts.

Pros:

• You can apply for a Revolut Business loan
• Freeze card when it is stolen or lost
• Free purchases
• Competitive exchange rate
• Secure
• Easy to apply
• Ability to issue a card to employees
• Flexible account options
• Mobile App

Cons:

• Currently unable to earn interest
• You can’t add funds to the account automatically
• Not yet a fully-fledged bank
• Direct debits are only available for EUR accounts
• Does not accept cheque or cash deposits
• 2% fee on cash withdrawal

Features

There are many excellent featured you get with the Revolut business account. Some of those features include:

• Payment approval – Paid business accounts receive notifications when there is a need for approval for payments.
• 24/7 support – Paid business users get the help of 24/7 support
• Perks – Paid business accounts can get additional perks with Zipcar, Slack, Google Ads, Expensify, Deliveroo, and Apple.
• Mobile app – Owners of cards have a mobile app that they can use to track the spending of their business.
• Payroll – You can use simple tools to manage the payroll for your workforce. We need to mention that this feature is only available for paid business accounts and isn’t included in the free plan.

Fees

With Revolut business, you can choose between two types of plans, including a basic free plan or subscription plan. The free plan doesn’t include any monthly fees, but you only get limited features.

On the other hand, with the subscription plans, you get a higher number of free transactions for the monthly fee you pay. The top-tier plan is called Enterprise, and in order to get pricing for your business, you will need to contact Revolut. With Enterprise, you get unlimited free transfers. The Scale plan is $100 per month, and you get 1,000 free transfers, while the Grow plan is $25 per month, and you get 100 free transfers.

When Should You Use It?

Revolut business currently supports the following types of businesses: unlimited companies, limited liability partnerships (LLC), public limited partnerships (PLC), freelancers and sole traders, partnerships, and private limited companies (LTD). Currently, Revolut doesn’t support charities, public sector organizations, foundations, and support cooperatives.

Revolut business accounts are available for companies who are physically located in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the United States. The current list of eligible countries includes Jersey, Belgium, Bulgaria, Sweden, Ireland, Lithuania, Portugal, Martinique, Czech Republic, Svalbard And Jan Mayen Islands, the United States of America, Croatia, Malta, Netherlands, Iceland, Isle of Man, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Spain, Slovenia, Finland, Reunion, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, United Kingdom, French Guiana, Luxembourg, Estonia, Latvia, Greece, Austria, Republic of Cyprus, Mayotte, Aland Islands, Denmark, Gibraltar, France, Guernsey, Slovakia, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Romania, and Norway.

Fees & Commissions

Revolut standard accounts come with the following fees:

• 0.5 % to 1 % foreign exchange fee per transaction depending on the currency
• 2.5 % exchange fee for buying or selling cryptos
• 2.7 5% ATM withdrawal fee (min £3, max £6.50)

Economy accounts come with the following fees:

• 1 % foreign exchange per transaction
• 3.5 % cash withdrawal fee (min £4, max £13)

Premium accounts come with the following fees:

• 0.5 %-1 % foreign exchange fee per transaction depending on the currency
• 3.5 % cash withdrawal fee (min £3, max £10)

It is important to note that Revolut limits the amount you spend per transaction depending on your account type:

• Free plan users cannot spend more than 2500 EUR/GBP per month.
• Basic plan will charge 1 % foreign exchange on transactions above 2500 EUR/GBP per month
• Premium plan users cannot spend more than 5000 EUR/GBP per month. If you go over this limit, there is no foreign exchange charge but a 3% fee that applies on top of any withdrawal fees. The company does not charge any loading fees or monthly charges to the account. As a plus, the monthly limit can rise to 10,000 EUR/GBP (£10K) depending on your account activity and average daily balance.

Coins Supported on Revolut

Revolut supports several top cryptocurrencies. Some of the most popular ones on its list include:

• Bitcoin BTC
• Bitcoin Cash BCH
• Doge
• Ethereum ETH
• Litecoin
• Cardano
• Ripple
• OMG Network
• Uniswap (UNI)

How to Open an Account

To open an account, head to the Revolut site and enter the required information. Enter your mobile number (Revolut will send you a verification code.)

Once that is done, it is time to choose which account type you want;

• Basic: free for transactions and global transfers from 27 European countries (excluding the U.K.) and comes with a 1% foreign exchange fee and £3 withdrawal charge. The monthly limit is 2500 EUR/GBP (excluding the U.K.).
• Free Plan: comes with a 0 % foreign exchange fee on transactions but has a maximum spend per transaction of £250 and a monthly limit of £2500 + VAT. All international ATM withdrawals are also free. The monthly limit is £250 (excluding the U.K.).
• Premium: comes with 0.5 %-1 % foreign exchange fee on transactions and no ATM charge. The maximum spend per transaction is £5000 + VAT, and there are no monthly charges to the account.

You can top up your Revolut account via bank transfer, salary, and other methods like Google Pay and Apple Pay. You can also set up automatic payment if you don’t want to worry about topping your balance in high-cash scenarios.

How to Trade Crypto on Revolut

Revolut users can trade on the app’s built-in exchange via cryptocurrencies. You need to register and verify your identity in a process that takes up to 5 working days at most. Once verified and signed into your account, you can start trading. The app offers a variety of cryptocurrencies that you can swap with various fiat currencies, including:

• Bitcoin
• Ethereum
• Ripple
• Litecoin
• Bitcoin Cash

Revolut Customer Support

The customer support team of Revolut is quite good. There is a dedicated customer support team available at your disposal, and you can easily reach them through the mobile application or website in a chat. The in-app chat works 24/7, and they also offer an automated phone line to help you block your card.

Conclusion

Revolut is a great app service for people who are always on the go and need to manage their money in real-time. The best thing about it is its ease of use, highly responsive customer support, and you can even open an account within 10 minutes or less by going through the registration process online. If you travel often, you will love Revolut as it lets you spend anywhere in the world with negligible foreign exchange fees. However, it can’t be used for large transactions over £5000 due to monthly transfer limits. You can check out this article to see how Revolut compares with other crypto exchange services.