Revolut - Ultracheap FX (prepaid Mastercard)

Kenny Logins · 18-10-2018 2:03pm

Philster wrote: »

This is what I'm still a bit confused about from reading this thread and other support pages.

So, I should go in to the app and set up a sterling account and pay money I already have in Revolut in my Euro account or transfer from my bank in to the sterling account? And then when I pay on Amazon, the money deducts from the sterling part of my Revolut account?

Top up in Euros, and then convert to whatever in the app when required. It's really that simple.

maximoose · 18-10-2018 2:05pm

Philster wrote: »

So, I should go in to the app and set up a sterling account and pay money I already have in Revolut in my Euro account or transfer from my bank in to the sterling account? And then when I pay on Amazon, the money deducts from the sterling part of my Revolut account?

No, just decline any conversion Amazon offer and pay in Sterling. It will come out of your euro balance, you don't need to convert ahead of purchase.

Philster · 18-10-2018 2:07pm

maximoose wrote: »

No, just decline any conversion Amazon offer and pay in Sterling. It will come out of your euro balance, you don't need to convert ahead of purchase.

That's what I did-previously paying with my Irish card I'd see the amount to be removed in Euro/ sterling but this time I only ever saw amounts in sterling in the payment section on Amazon. I added Revolut as a card on Amazon and had the amount deducted from it directly. So I am doing it the most cost effective way?

Edit: just realised I needed to change a setting and that's why I wasn't seeing the option to convert to another currency. Thanks for the help.

Kenny Logins · 18-10-2018 2:15pm

maximoose wrote: »

No, just decline any conversion Amazon offer and pay in Sterling. It will come out of your euro balance, you don't need to convert ahead of purchase.

Doh. I didn't know that. I always convert just before making a purchase. Only takes a second anyway.

xckjoo · 18-10-2018 2:19pm

Philster wrote: »

That's what I did-previously paying with my Irish card I'd see the amount to be removed in Euro/ sterling but this time I only ever saw amounts in sterling in the payment section on Amazon. I added Revolut as a card on Amazon and had the amount deducted from it directly. So I am doing it the most cost effective way?

Edit: just realised I needed to change a setting and that's why I wasn't seeing the option to convert to another currency. Thanks for the help.

Was the setting on the Amazon page? They seem to go out of their way to hide it from you and it seems to revert fairly regularly so keep a watch out

. Make sure to convert it to Sterling on the Revolut app first too. I don't think it can do auto convert so at least if your Euro balance is empty you can't accidentally pay in Euros.

Edit: Just saw maximooses (maximoosi? :pac:) post. I guess you don't need to convert with Revolut first anymore! TIL

Philster · 18-10-2018 2:43pm

xckjoo wrote: »

Was the setting on the Amazon page? They seem to go out of their way to hide it from you and it seems to revert fairly regularly so keep a watch out . Make sure to convert it to Sterling on the Revolut app first too. I don't think it can do auto convert so at least if your Euro balance is empty you can't accidentally pay in Euros.

Edit: Just saw maximooses (maximoosi? :pac:) post. I guess you don't need to convert with Revolut first anymore! TIL

No the option to convert to sterling on the Revolut app- needed to change the contacts setting. Then I had the option to convert to sterling. In fairness I did save about €3 this morning which is better in my pocket than someone elses

:cool:

TheChizler · 18-10-2018 3:55pm

Philster wrote: »

This is what I'm still a bit confused about from reading this thread and other support pages.

So, I should go in to the app and set up a sterling account and pay money I already have in Revolut in my Euro account or transfer from my bank in to the sterling account? And then when I pay on Amazon, the money deducts from the sterling part of my Revolut account?

You get a notification in € if it takes it from your € balance, either cause it was charged in € or you had nothing in £ and it converted it from your €. If you look at the £ balance in the app is Amazon listed?

Philster · 18-10-2018 4:19pm

TheChizler wrote: »

You get a notification in € if it takes it from your € balance, either cause it was charged in € or you had nothing in £ and it converted it from your €. If you look at the £ balance in the app is Amazon listed?

No it's not listed but I hadn't that set up at that stage. The notification came in €.

So despite using the Revolut and it having a UK IBAN/ BIC it's best to convert money to sterling then? I had euro money in Revolut, but because I thought that was all I had to do, at that time this morning, I didn't convert it to sterling.Sorry, that sounds a bit garbled

Edit: I'm going to the US in February, so to use the card then in shops etc. am I best to have money converted in to USD in the app before a transaction, rather than the money been taken from the euro portion of my account? (I'll get there eventually with all this).

J_A_F_A · 18-10-2018 4:39pm

Philster wrote: »

No it's not listed but I hadn't that set up at that stage. The notification came in €.

So despite using the Revolut and it having a UK IBAN/ BIC it's best to convert money to sterling then? I had euro money in Revolut, but because I thought that was all I had to do, at that time this morning, I didn't convert it to sterling.Sorry, that sounds a bit garbled

Edit: I'm going to the US in February, so to use the card then in shops etc. am I best to have money converted in to USD in the app before a transaction, rather than the money been taken from the euro portion of my account? (I'll get there eventually with all this).

No need to convert ahead of time except if you're planning on spending on weekends. Then they add a markup to cover themselves.
See here for the details: https://www.revolut.com/ie/help/getting-started/exchanging-currencies/what-foreign-exchange-rate-will-i-get

threein99 · 18-10-2018 4:44pm

seannash wrote: »

Long time user here with what is perhaps a silly question but can you top up a revolut card with another revolut card?

Trying to figure out how to have something close to a joint account without having a joint account. If we could top each other up we could just send the balance of our accounts to each other when needed.

I just ordered a second card for my Revolut account and use that as a joint account, we can both top up the Revolut account from our own Bank Accounts then

DivingDuck · 18-10-2018 5:13pm

Can anyone tell me if the Revolut card will auto pay in local currency when you're abroad?

If I have €50 and $40 on my card, and I use the card in the US, will it deduct the balance in dollars automatically, or in euros?

TheChizler · 18-10-2018 5:43pm

DivingDuck wrote: »

Can anyone tell me if the Revolut card will auto pay in local currency when you're abroad?

If I have €50 and $40 on my card, and I use the card in the US, will it deduct the balance in dollars automatically, or in euros?

Yes but a lot of terminals will try to convert to £ for you, always decline this and opt to be charged in the local currency.

As an aside, any debit card/bank will pay in the currency it's asked to pay in and the bank will do the conversion for you there and then, with Revolut you just have the option of converting in advance and maintaining balances in different currencies, and you get a better rate.

19-10-2018 10:35am

Just on the topic of the convert or not before purchases.

I'm using the card for about 6 months now and I think its excellet, its basically my most used card now even in Ireland. I have been travelling outside the eurozone quite a bit recently and I have saved a nice bit of money thanks to revolut but there is one feature I really feel needs to be added (or imo its an issue that needs to be resolved). This is the inability of the card to to take money from your euro balance automatically if you dont have enough of a balance in your other currency to complete a transaction.

The fact is that as many are saying you dont need to convert in advance but if you want to maximise savings you do need to convert on a friday for weekend spending due to the surcharge for weekends, you may also want to convert if there is a particularly good exchange rate etc. It has annoyed me on a few occasions now where you convert over a decent chunk for the weekend and then come monday you have some money remaining in say your dollar account you then either have to convert that back to euro (I've found I will always lose out on this back conversion) or else continue to transfer money over to the other currency.

I much prefer just spending from my euro balance mon - fri and converting on the fly as I always keep a good balance and don't want to have to predict how many more dollars I will need during this stay etc. There are also some other small issues that might go unnoticed. For instance if you have a vault setup and are spending in dollars it does a dollar to euro conversion to your vault every-time you make a purchase from your dollar account (thus costing you in exchange, its only small but still) but if you do an on the fly conversion from your euro account then euros are added as normal. Now I'd be happy if you could pause your vault even when you are making a transaction from your dollar account but you cant, you have to close it and withdraw. Also when splitting bills if you do it from your dollar account the payment goes to your dollar account so again here its better to work from your euro account so you aren't adding dollar near the end of a trip etc.

Anyway TLDR - if you have insufficient balance in say your dollar/sterling account the card should be able to automatically take from you euro account to make up the difference and its an issue that is probably the only complaint I have about on an otherwise excellent card/account.

irishgeo · 20-10-2018 9:34am

You shouldn't convert before you purchase on week days as you will get the live market rate. Probably best to convert money over on Friday if you plan to purchase something on the weekend.

TheChizler · 20-10-2018 11:00am

irishgeo wrote: »

You shouldn't convert before you purchase on week days as you will get the live market rate. Probably best to convert money over on Friday if you plan to purchase something on the weekend.

And the benefit of this is marginal really so not the end of the world if you don't.

20-10-2018 3:14pm

irishgeo wrote: »

You shouldn't convert before you purchase on week days as you will get the live market rate. Probably best to convert money over on Friday if you plan to purchase something on the weekend.

This works fine if it’s purchasing something in particular but if you are away and using the card multiple times per day and where your spending amounts are not known in advance then it’s not so straight forward. This will usually result in money still in your account in Monday so you either need to move that back to euro and lose out or continue converting over which may also mean you lose out plus it’s annoying for things like the vault as I said in my post.

What I’d like to see is if say you are buying something for 30 dollars and you have 15 in your dollar account then you simply pay for your item and the 15 is taken from the dollar account and the rest (15 dollars in this case) is converted on the fly from your euro account. You the have your dollar account empty and you can content to use your euro account for the rest of the week. To me it looks a very obvious thing to do and I even tried a purchase like this to really make sure it wouldn’t work and it was declined. It also doesn’t really look like something that would be difficult to implement.

long_b · 20-10-2018 5:12pm

When topping up its all of a sudden asking for the security code for my bank card.
Have I inadvertently turned something on/off?

iamtony · 20-10-2018 5:22pm

No started doing that for me too.

Fann Linn · 20-10-2018 6:02pm

long_b wrote: »

When topping up its all of a sudden asking for the security code for my bank card.
Have I inadvertently turned something on/off?

Is that not just verified by visa?

long_b · 20-10-2018 8:28pm

Fann Linn wrote: »

Is that not just verified by visa?

Never had to do it before

Fann Linn · 20-10-2018 8:30pm

long_b wrote: »

Never had to do it before

Same here. Last forthnight just getting sms messages with passwords when topping up to Revolut.

J_A_F_A · 21-10-2018 5:32am

long_b wrote: »

When topping up its all of a sudden asking for the security code for my bank card.
Have I inadvertently turned something on/off?

Same. It looks as if they're increasing their security.

testtech05 · 21-10-2018 5:29pm

Just got message to say my card is frozen due to a suspect transaction. Seems someone tried to purchase something in Japan!!
Has anyone else been through this with the revolut and maybe know how best to proceed is it to order a new card?

UsedToWait · 21-10-2018 6:11pm

testtech05 wrote: »

Just got message to say my card is frozen due to a suspect transaction. Seems someone tried to purchase something in Japan!!
Has anyone else been through this with the revolut and maybe know how best to proceed is it to order a new card?

Just had a fraudulent transaction myself - freeze your card immediately, and get onto support - they'll cancel your card and send you a new one.

I tried to contact the merchant (marvin.ie), but they say they can't reverse the transaction.

It's still showing as pending in the app - when it completes, Revolut said they'll send a claim form to get it back..

john_doe. · 21-10-2018 10:26pm

If buying frequently from Amazon is this worth is?

Can see from my last transactions with AIb fees of €2, €0.96 applied as FX Fee when purchasing in Sterling from Amazon.

The high horse brigade · 21-10-2018 10:29pm

john_doe. wrote: »

If buying frequently from Amazon is this worth is?

Can see from my last transactions with AIb fees of €2, €0.96 applied as FX Fee when purchasing in Sterling from Amazon.

Yes, your bank screw you if you pay in sterling, Amazon screw you if you pay in Euro. With Revolut you lodge in Euro and pay in sterling and get the exact exchange rate no fee

john_doe. · 21-10-2018 10:39pm

The high horse brigade wrote: »

Yes, your bank screw you if you pay in sterling, Amazon screw you if you pay in Euro. With Revolut you lodge in Euro and pay in sterling and get the exact exchange rate no fee

Thanks , I looked at this a couple of years back and forgot.
Is there any cost to maintain revolut?
Is using this instead of bank card the cost of a revolut account would need to be less than fees I pay current bank for transactions or better still free.

eamonnq · 21-10-2018 10:41pm

Anyone having problems with withdrawing cash from atm? Am getting a 'service not available' message, have tried a few different ATMs.

App just says I may have entered an incorrect pin, but am haven't.

-=al=- · 21-10-2018 10:59pm

john_doe. wrote: »

Thanks , I looked at this a couple of years back and forgot.
Is there any cost to maintain revolut?
Is using this instead of bank card the cost of a revolut account would need to be less than fees I pay current bank for transactions or better still free.

I wouldn't rely on it as a main account, but there's no cost for the card/account. The fees that you may rack up over the year on revolut (depending on your use) could possibly add up to a similar amount compared to a normal bank account but unlikely

As for the fraud situation, it might help to turn off your online transactions in your security settings and just tick it on before you use it yourself for an online purchase. I've been doing it lately since I used it on the hotels.com app I didn't really trust, but I did use a VPN just in case. I've just been a bit more careful since.

Use the temporary card option too.

The more popular the card and service gets and since it has sky rocketed in recent years + the new users getting used to the system, the more attention it will get from fraudsters. There's plenty of security measures in place for it lately

Sono · 22-10-2018 8:28am

eamonnq wrote: »

Anyone having problems with withdrawing cash from atm? Am getting a 'service not available' message, have tried a few different ATMs.

App just says I may have entered an incorrect pin, but am haven't.

Are you trying to withdraw the total amount of the balance? I had this issue before so say I had €50 and wanted to withdraw €50 the atm would not allow this as there is a 12c charge for withdrawals in Ireland anyway, only realised this when I went to withdraw a lower amount and saw the charge on the app, maybe that’s the same for you?

Revolut - Ultracheap FX (prepaid Mastercard)

Comments