Why I use Revolut!

Why Revolut? Because I rather invite my wife for dinner than spending money on banking fees!

My wife and I, we love to travel and explore new cultures and countries. What always annoyed me during these cool times were the fees on the credit card when paying abroad. The exchange rate used by the bank or credit card company is a joke (normally up to 2% worse than the current & actual exchange rate) and in addition, you will also be charged an additional service fee (normally between 1-2%).

As the holidays are normally the days, I spend quite a bit of money, it adds ups quite heavily!

So when I read about Revolut a few years ago, of course, I jumped on it to try it out. And a few years in the going, I still use it heavily during our holidays.

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How does Revolut work and how do I use Revolut?

You have to apply for the card on Revolut's homepage. There are three plans available - I am using the Standard plan and it fits my purpose.

Download their app by the link they provide to you and set up your account! At the end, you will be asked to put a small amount of money to your account before they will send you the card. Overall, the setup procedure is quite straightforward and easy & fast to complete. I opted for the Visa card.

You may wonder whether it's really free! Yep - I use it since years and so far no fees, nothing! So, how does Revolut make money? They have a few paid plan - being one source of income. I am on the free plan and they still earn money with me - Revolut gets a small kind of kick back from the credit card company every time I use the card!

I only use Revolut during holidays! A few days before our departure, we just put a certain amount of money to the account; essentially my back-of-the-envelope calculation how much money we will need during our holidays! And then we just pay and get the great exchange rate! So far I also did not have any acceptance problems - if they accept credit cards, they also accept the Revolut card. We paid with Revolut in exotic destinations like Myanmar, Namibia and it worked without any problems. And normally, exotic destinations will give you the biggest savings as your bank would charge you a ridiculous exchange rate on these currencies!

Did I ever encounter problems with Revolut?

Yes - my wife once forgot to put in the reference number when transferring money! After a few days I contacted Revolut for the missing money (the money did not show up in the account)! Was I happy with the customer service provided by Revolut? Hmmm, yes...in the end, it got sorted out, but it really took me a few interactions with Revolut (they were responsive, at least) and at the beginning, I once feared the money is lost! But apart from that, everything smooth with Revolut so far!

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How much do I save using Revolut?

In the first year of using Revolut, I did a financial review at the end - bottom line, with the savings I can easily invite my wife to a nice restaurant. In my humble opinion, a much better way to spend money than on banking fees!

Back then, I estimated my savings to be about 3.2% on average when paying with Revolut vs. my normal credit card abroad.

Would I recommend it: Absolutely - for my use case (paying abroad by credit card) it's just a great solution.