Revolut Review

Revolut aims to help make your money go further - with a free account you can set up in minutes right from your phone.

This Revolut review will cover everything you need to know, including account types, features, and fees. We'll also look at whether it's safe to use, how fast it is to make payments and more.

This review focuses on Revolut UK account options. If you're elsewhere in the world, availability and functionality may vary.

Revolut: Key points

Key features:

• 4 tiers of personal account types, and a further 4 account tiers for businesses
• Make and receive payments around the world - 30+ currencies covered
• Spend with your linked debit card - Google Pay and Apple Pay compatible
• Get budgeting and analytics tools to manage your personal finances
• Invest in stocks and crypto
• Savings vaults which pay interest and let you grow your money faster
• Junior accounts for kids
• Paid account tiers unlock more features like travel perks and discounts

Key stats:

• Founded in 2015, headquartered in London
• Revolut has 15.5 million users - and at present 1.1 million use the app daily
• Over 65 billion GBP is transacted on Revolut annually
• You can hold and manage 30 fiat currencies and spend in 150 with a Revolut card

Pros:

• Huge range of features, including savings, investments, and multi-currency functionality
• Choose the account tier which meets your needs - so you only pay for the services you value
• Get budgeting tools and analytics for all your accounts - not just Revolut - to manage your money better
• Fully regulated, safe provider

Cons:

• You may need to pay a monthly account fee, depending on the services you want to use
• Fair usage fees may apply if you exceed your plan's limits
• Account services are not globally available
• Out of hours and exotic currency exchange fees apply

Overall:

Revolut is truly disrupting the world of finance and redefining how many of us think about managing our money. They boast an impressive feature set and a modern, easy to use experience that regular banks can't usually beat. Using just your phone you can view your net worth and spending at a glance, hold and exchange foreign currencies, invest, and even open Junior accounts for the family.

Great for: people looking to manage all their financial affairs in one place. Best value when you match your specific needs to the right account tier to avoid paying for services you don't require.

About Revolut

Revolut is known for its innovative digital account products which cover both some traditional current account functions, and specialist services like currency exchange and investing. With one account you can receive your paycheck and manage your day to day spending and also access some more niche options, like holding and switching between different fiat and crypto currencies.

Let's look at some of the key account features and options available for personal and business customers.

Revolut accounts for individuals

You can open a Revolut account for free - or choose to upgrade to a paid plan to unlock more benefits.

Even people on the free standard plan get a fairly impressive range of benefits - like bank details for GBP and EUR, a linked debit card for local and domestic spending, and set limits of free ATM withdrawals and currency conversion. However, the more you pay, the more options you have - and the higher the limits for free transactions become.

Revolut splits out its account benefits across several sections:

• Everyday benefits
• Everyday protection
• Investing
• Travel

Let's look at how the account tiers break down across some key features from each category. We won't cover every single feature here - if you want more detail do take a look at Revolut's pricing comparison page to figure out the option which may suit you best.

**Fees and limits might apply depending on plan type, weekend vs weekday, capped amount, potential fees charged by partner banks

As you can see, while all account holders get some great perks, the features you unlock and the limits or benefits available improve as you choose an account tier with a higher monthly fee.

Revolut accounts for businesses

As with personal accounts, Revolut has several different tiered account options for businesses. All accounts come with a range of features including:

• UK and EUR bank details
• Hold and manage 28+ currencies
• Plastic and virtual company debit cards
• Team member permissions
• Web and desktop access
• Accept online payments (fees apply)

Then, depending on the size of your business you can choose to stick with the free plan or upgrade to get more features and larger free transaction limits. Below we've summarised a few key features so you can see how the plans compare side by side. Other features are available - so check out the full Revolut business plan side by side comparison over on the Revolut website for more details.

**Fees and limits might apply depending on plan type, weekend vs weekday, capped amount, potential fees charged by partner banks

How does Revolut work?

As we've seen Revolut lets customers access and manage a really broad range of financial services from their phone. In fact, Revolut describes itself as a global financial super-app.

When it comes to making and receiving payments with Revolut you'll be able to make transfers to other bank accounts and also to other Revolut accounts. Depending on your account plan, you may have only a limited number of free transfers per month before fees start to apply.

Is Revolut safe?

Revolut is safe to use. Customer funds are safeguarded - which means they're held separate to Revolut's own money, by a partner bank. Read more about Revolut safety here.

Revolut account plan pricing

Different Revolut account tiers have different monthly fees. Here are the monthly fees for personal customers:

And here's what you'll pay if you're a Revolut business customer:

Revolut international transfer pricing

International transfers with Revolut come with 2 potential fees:

Revolut exchange rate

The Revolut exchange rate is based on the mid-market exchange rate.

Depending on your specific Revolut plan, the currency being exchanged, and whether markets are open, you may be able to access unlimited currency exchange using this rate - or you may have caps to the amount you can exchange on a monthly basis. If you exceed these caps, you'll pay a fair usage charge of 0.5% of the currency value.

If you're exchanging uncommon currencies, or place an exchange when markets are closed, Revolut may charge a fee. However, you'll always be notified of this fee before you confirm the transaction.

**Disclaimer: - Standard + Plus: Fair usage limits apply - Premium + Metal: unlimited and fee-free in 30+ currencies (as exotic currency mark-ups apply, and only fee-free on weekends) - All plans: Weekend mark-ups apply

Revolut account transaction fees

How long does Revolut take

How long an international payment with Revolut will take depends on where you're sending money to:

• GBP payments can take from a few seconds to 3 days
• EUR payments can take from a few seconds to 2 working days
• IDR, INR and MYR payments usually take 1 business day
• Other payment destinations can take up to 5 business days

Revolut Pros

• Account tiers to suit different customer needs
• Budgeting, savings and investments all in one account
• Multi-currency functionality with a linked Revolut card for spending and withdrawals
• Free transactions available, varied by account type
• Personal and business account options

Revolut Cons

• Monthly fees on some account tiers are relatively high
• Free ATM withdrawals limited, especially on free or cheap account tiers
• Out of hours fees apply on currency exchange fees
• Not globally available
  • only available in Europe, the US, Australia, Japan and Singapore

How to use Revolut

Make a payment with Revolut by taking the following steps:

1. Log into your account or open the Revolut app
2. Tap Payments, then Transfers
3. Tap Send, New, and Add a bank recipient
4. Enter the bank transfer details for your recipient
5. Tap on the beneficiary, choose the currency you want to send and add the amount
6. Add a payment reference
7. Tap Continue to review your transfer details and estimated arrival time

Funding methods

Add money to your Revolut account using the following methods:

• Bank transfer or linked bank deposit
• Money transfer from another Revolut user
• Card payment
• Direct deposit

Payout methods

Revolut offers 2 different ways of transferring money out:

• Transfer to another Revolut account
• Transfer to a standard bank account

How to create an account

Creating an account with Revolut is easy:

1. Download the Revolut app or open up the website
2. Click Sign up
3. Enter your personal details, following the onscreen prompts
4. Complete the verification step as required
5. Once your account is verified you can add funds and get started

What documents you'll need

The documents you need to set up your Revolut account can vary depending on the account type. However, you'll be guided through the verification steps you should take during the sign up process. Documents might include:

• Valid government issued ID - this can not be a driving license, so use a passport or national ID card
• Proof of your legal right to reside in the country

You may be asked to take a selfie holding your documents to verify your identity.

How long does verification take

Most of the time, Revolut account verification takes between 10 minutes and 24 hours. However, you may experience delays due to other factors.

At the time of writing for example, there's a backlog of documents due to reverification processes after Brexit. If you have any problems or get caught up in delays, Revolut suggests you get in touch with their agents to check your account status.

Revolut limits

There are no limits to the amount you can send in most currencies. If you're in the UK you need to know about the following limits:

• If you make a payment to Japan you'll have a limit of 1 million JPY per transaction.
• If you make a GBP payment to the UK you have a 250,000 GBP daily limit, a 500,000 GBP weekly limit, and a 1 million GBP monthly limit

Certain payment types may be subject to limits imposed by Revolut's payment partners. These aren't published - but you'll be notified if they ever apply to your transfer.

Supported currencies

Revolut personal accounts can hold 30 different fiat currencies. You can also spend with your Revolut card in 150 countries.

Revolut regularly updates the countries and currencies available - check here for the most up to date available information.

Revolut reviews

Revolut currently has a 4.4 star Excellent rating on Trustpilot, with over 95,000 reviews. 76% of reviewers give the top star rating available. Here's what a few of them have to say:

"Your system is user friendly. Not complicated - anyone can use Revolut without a problem. It promotes a good network. Excellent!"

"Revolut is great. It makes my life a fair bit easier as moving money is simple and fast."

Of course, there are also some less favourable reviews. 9% of reviews at the time of writing fall into the worst Bad rating. These tend to focus on specific themes like accounts being locked due to compliance issues, or referral bonuses being late. Revolut's customer service team do take the time to respond to - and hopefully resolve - issues appearing on Trustpilot.

Revolut accessibility

Revolut is built to focus on services provided by apps on Apple and Android phones, but you can also use the desktop version. You can access the app and site in a range of languages for convenience.

Revolut customer service

The easiest way to get help with your Revolut account is to log into the app and use the chat function. Here are your key support options:

Revolut alternatives

Depending on what you need from your account, alternative providers may also help. Compare w few before you choose:

• Wise - send payments which use the real exchange rate and low transparent fees, or open an online international account to send and hold multiple currencies. No monthly fees apply.
• Western Union
  • domestic and international payment service with a network of agents as well as online and in-app services. Payouts available to bank accounts or for cash collection. Fees tend to be on the higher side.
• PayPal or Xoom - send instant payments at home and abroad - convenient and quick, but not always the cheapest. With PayPal your recipient will also need to set up an account to get their money.

Conclusion

Revolut offers an interesting and innovative range of services, which you can access right from your phone. Hold and exchange foreign currencies, and add multiple bank accounts to Revolut's budgeting feature so you can track your spending overall. You can also buy and trade stocks and cryptocurrencies, and earn interest on savings.

Great for: people who want to manage all their financial affairs from their phone - stay within your account tier limits to avoid fair usage fees.