UKC

I'm considering downloading this app and using it in Europe this year as a back-up to cash and credit cards, not as a replacement for my current account.

Have you used it? Good, bad, indifferent? All comments welcome!

Not used them, but worth knowing that they reportedly treat their employees very badly: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/revolut-trade-unions-labour-fintech-politic...

I use it, its excellent, really easy to use, get a great exchange rate. The only downside is it doesn't always work at petrol stations and toll booths for some reason. But I just have another card/cash on hand for those rare occasions.

I've been using it for a few years, have been impressed. Still occasional glitches at toll booths and petrol stations as mentioned above, but this happens much less frequently than it used to

Used Revolut in France, Italy, Germany, Columbia, and Canada with no issues. 

I’ve used it for years, but tend to use Monzo these days. There’s no discernible difference in FX over time and less issue with toll booths etc, plus Monzo funds protected under FSCS, unlike Revolut. The only annoyance is that it’s harder to add funds to monzo (bank transfer rather than auto-top-up via card/Apple Pay), but it’s not a game changer.

Also had terrible experience with Revolut for business.

I concur with the reports above. Works well in most places except where there is no dial in checking system - tolls and petrol.

I now have a similar card from Transferwise which appears to be just as good if the ethics reported above concern you. Can't vouch for Transferwise as an employer but everything else about that company is very good and I use it all the time to pay non-GBP bills and save lots on exchange rates and unnecessary bank fees, as well as a currency card.

https://transferwise.com/gb/borderless/card

Alan

Used in it Spain, Italy and New Zealand.  Worked very well, the app's great, instant notifications and good security controls for the card itself and online.

Have also hooked it up to PayPal and avoided their poorer exchange rates and transaction fees when paying for stuff online in USD or EUR. Can also make IBAN payments easily.

Also has temporary virtual card numbers which can be used for one-off purchases and then disposed of, if you think there's a risk of the card details being poached.

Cheers

Use it as my main card while abroad. Same issues with toll booths and petrol stations as others. Also had an issue at a stall at the Iromnan expo in Nice. It seems to be to do with location. It uses the app to check you're in the same place as the merchant. If the merchant is registered elsewhere (ie a shop setting up a stall at an expo in a different city with their existing merchant account) the payment will be declined.

Many thanks to everyone for your informative comments. I much appreciate you taking the time to post.

I have Revolut, Monzo and Starling.  

The principle behind Revolut is good, and they might well give you the lowest forex when travelling.  But the amount saved between them and Monzo/Starling is probably small change.  While the later two banks give a much more usable banking experience and a lot more features.  

I haven't really tested them against each other in anger so can't say for sure which would get the better exchange rates.  But I simply don't use my Revolut account any more.  Its a bit fiddly, not particularly attractive.  Monzo is the winner for me.

Worked better than most in in Nepal - where my regular card was a bit more hit and miss - Did not work at all in Senegal...

Have some concerns over there ethics - might look at other providers

Yes, I pretty much have the same view. Have moved to Starling for business fx transactions and Monzo for personal.

Is the banking app something different to the prepaid credit card that I have?

Sorry, Blue, I haven't a clue! Just starting my research.

Noob question here, may I ask what this subject is about?

Is it an online bank like Barclays or Natwest or is it something like GooglePay or Paypal?

I've never heard of this subject before.

It's an online banking app. Revolut uses a pre-paid mastercard that you can top up through an app. Monzo offers a full-blown, FSCS protected bank account, with scope for overdrafts - the same as Natwest et al. The difference is that Monzo doesn't have physical branches, and the entire system is designed around a useable app, rather than an app being stuck on the side of an antiquated banking system developed in the 1800s. 

Both offer a) really good exchange rates on purchases and cash withdrawals, b) location-based security (i.e. if you and your phone are in London and sometimes tries to use your card in Japan, it gets blocked and you get a notification) and c) apps with loads of useful built in/budgeting tools. 

More info here for Monzo: http://bfy.tw/9oTT and Revolut: http://bfy.tw/CMYj

I've used Monzo across Europe without issue, in both its pre-paid and bank account versions. I'd suggest that going with Monzo is the better option, as its FSCS protected should the company go tits-up. Also, since becoming an actual bank account I've had no issues using it at petrol pumps (not yet tested at a toll booth). Furthermore, if you get a referral link from someone with a Monzo account, you both get £5 (if you want one of these... send me a email).

To explain it another way, it is a bank that exists on a phone app rather than with branches.

While that may sound like it will have fewer features, they are instead built from the ground up and therefore embrace everything that mobile banking has to offer.  While young, so not necessarily having mortgages and loans in their feature list, what they do offer in terms of benefits in your day-to-day spending is endless.  As a starter:

• as soon as I spend money it pings up on my mobile phone and is visible immediately. 
• if I lose my card I open the app and swipe a button, then when I find my card again I just go in and swipe the unlock button.
• overdraft, likewise - I slide a bar up and down depending on how much I need
• each purchase doesn't appear as a cryptic line on a statement but gives all kinds of details, maps of where the expenditure occurred, I can add a scanned receipt, notes, categories, etc.
• money can be divided up in to pots, with automatic topups, or spending rounded up to go in to other pots.  The kinds of money management I used to do on spreadsheets or by opening multiple bank accounts can now all be done on one.
• super easy ways to move money between other users of the same bank (it can pick them out from your contacts)

Basically, if you were going to create a bank, and you were going to make it operate via an app rather than with bank tellers behind glass screens, Monzo, Starling and probably a fair few others are how you would do it.  Highstreet banks built apps to supplement their branches.  Online banks just went straight to the app with none of the baggage of legacy banks.  They are relatively recent inventions, with a lively feedback community, and the function of the apps being revised and growing all the time.

Will cost you nothing more than an initial £10 deposit to apply for - so I would highly recommend anyone gives them a try.  Nothing lost and everything to gain.

What happens if you lose your phone?

You log in to your Revolut account on a computer and do it. 

To Pan Ron and ianstevens

Thanks for explaining what these banks are, and indeed it all sounds very interesting.

Do people use them full-time as in allowing their salaries to go into them monthly much as in the same way as bricks-and-mortar banks?

Could such banks, built from the app up, utilise block-chain currency and become mainstream and accepted as a safe way of spending and saving?

Yes on all counts. I keep a regular bank account in case I ever need to use it. But I don't and do everything through Monzo or Starling. Theres really no reason not to.

These banks either already, or are in th ed progress of, embracing crypto.

I have been using Revolut for two years in the same way that you plan to (I think). A prepay card for overseas. It lets me take cash out from ATMs and reasonably minimise fees on card transactions. It relies on places accepting Mastercard. I’ve had it turned down once for being Revolut when the vendor accepted “normal” MasterCard (buying a meal during a flight) but I had alternative payment methods. I really like it but I don’t rely on it for everything 

I used to use Revolut and it worked well but, as others have said, I simply don't need it now I have Starling. From memory Starling allows you to withdraw more cash abroad than Monzo, and it works with Apple Pay. But otherwise they're similar, and both offer more FSA protection than Revolut.

On recent trips to Europe and the US, I've been almost entirely cashless, with Starling, Apple Pay, Uber etc.