Revolut Review 2022

Revolut is a digital bank that provides brokerage and insurance services. It launched in 2015 as a travel card with favorable currency exchange rates, and it has since worked toward becoming a bank.

Revolut is one the fastest growing digital banks with the widest range of features. It is a top choice for those who travel frequently. However, it might not be able to completely replace your bank.

At the time of writing, Revolut is not operating as a full-fledged bank, but it is aiming toward that goal. The company received a 'challenger' bank license from the European Central Bank in December 2018. Revolut itself doesn't store your money, it uses Barclays and Lloyds for that. In early 2021, it also applied for a UK banking license and a bank charter in the US.

If you'd like to know more, you can read about Revolut as a company here.

Below you'll find the most important infos about Revolut's fee structure. To read a deeper analysis, we have prepared an article for you here about Revolut fees.

3.1 Account opening and maintenance fee

Account opening is free and maintaining your account is also free, with no monthly cost for the standard plan.

3.2 Card fees

In the free plan, it costs €5.99/£4.99 to get your first physical card. This is free in the Premium account.

3.3 ATM fees

Withdrawing money from any ATM is free up to €200/£200 per month and it costs 2% after that.

3.4 Transfer fees

It's free to transfer money from your Revolut account to any other international bank via normal wire transfers and transfers in the same currency are also free. However, there is a charge to use SWIFT.

3.5 Currency exchange fee

On weekdays, Revolut offers competitive exchange rates with a tight spread between buy and sell prices based on market rates sourced from third-party providers. This is true both when doing an international transfer and when you use an ATM to withdraw money.

Exchanging currencies with Revolut is free up to €1,000/£1,000 per month on weekdays, but it costs 0.5% above this amount.

On weekends, the exchange rates are fixed and they include a markup both in the free and the paid account plans.

3.6 Top-up fee

Revolut does not charge a fee when you top up your account using another bank card.

For more alternatives have a look at our Competitors article.

Can you open an account?

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Opening an account at Revolut is super easy: it takes only a few minutes on your phone and you will receive your physical card a couple of days later.

Read the following articles for more info on Revolut Account opening, Deposit and Withdrawal.

5.1 Revolut countries

Revolut is available in the EEA countries, UK, Switzerland, Australia, Japan, Singapore, and since March 2020, in the United States as well.

5.2 Revolut currencies

There are differences with respect to available currencies , currencies in which Revolut offers a current account, currencies you can hold in the app and currencies you can use to top up your account.

5.3 Current accounts

Available in 28 currencies: AED, AUD, BGN, CAD, CHF, CZK, GBP, HKD, HRK, ILS, ISK, JPY, MAD, MXN, NOK, NZD, PLN, QAR, RON, RSD, RUB, SAR, SEK, SGD, THB, TRY, USD, ZAR.

5.4 Currencies in the app

There are 35 currencies you can use to exchange money within the app: AED, AUD, BGN, CAD, CHF, CZK, DKK, EUR, GBP, HKD, HRK, HUF, IDR, ILS, INR, ISK, JPY, MAD, MXN, MYR, NOK, NZD, PHP, PLN, QAR, RON, RSD, RUB, SAR, SEK, SGD, THB, TRY, USD, ZAR.

5.5 Top-up currencies

You can top up your Revolut account in 15 currencies: AUD, CAD, CHF, CZK, DKK, EUR, GBP, HKD, JPY, NOK, PLN, RON, SEK, USD, ZAR.

Revolut cards are available from Mastercard and Visa. You can't choose between the two types when you sign up, you'll get one or the other at random. However, in both premium plans, you can pick a design for your cards from a couple of colors, like grey or rose gold, which is not available in the free plan.

6.1 Revolut Premium account benefits

Revolut comes with two premium tiers. The first is simply called Premium and it costs €7.99/£6.99 per month. The higher tier, called Metal, comes with a monthly fee of €13.99/£12.99. The additional benefit here is that the physical card is a metallic one instead of a standard plastic card.

6.2 Revolut top-up methods

At Revolut, you can use the following top-up methods:

• Bank transfer
• Credit/debit cards
• Apple and Google Pay

While Revolut is not a full-blown bank yet, in some aspects it works similarly or even better than your high street bank:

• You can see your spending categorized by type of transaction (e.g. shopping, restaurants).
• You can set monthly budgets and spending goals, both overall and for different spending categories.
• You can send money to other Revolut users instantly and for free. You can also send a money request to another user.
• Smart savings are also available, where Revolut will round up the amounts you actually spend and store the difference as savings.
• These savings can also be stored separately for easier overview and management.
• It supports direct debits, but only in EUR.
• You can set up Apple Pay in some countries.
• You can set up Google Pay in some countries.
• You can use 3D Secure online payments.
• Revolut offers interest on your savings.
• Overdrafts are possible.

It does lack however some features that are common at its competitors, the most notable being:

• Joint accounts are not available

Even though you can only use Revolut through your mobile app, it offers several other additional features:

• Personal loans
• Phone insurance
• Travel insurance
• Virtual cards
• Cryptocurrency purchase

You can contact Revolut via:

• Live chat
• Phone: The phone support is automated and can only be used for blocking your card.
• Email

Customer service is available 24/7. However, sometimes it's hard to get relevant answers.

Revolut offers free stock trading (conditions apply) without inactivity fees within their own app. The account opening is seamless, fully digital and really fast. In addition, the mobile app is well designed and user-friendly.

However, only US shares and cryptocurrencies are available for trading, popular asset classes like mutual funds, options or bonds are not supported. Research and educational tools are very basic or missing altogether, and you can get answers to some basic questions only through customer support.

For a more in-depth guide on trading, available markets and products, research & education and means to buy shares on Revolut, check out the articles linked at the bottom of the page.

Yes, Revolut can be trusted because it is regulated by multiple top-tier regulators. Revolut Ltd is an entity authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Revolut Trading Ltd is an appointed representative of Resolution Compliance Ltd which is also authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. Revolut Securities Inc. is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in the US. Revolut Bank UAB is regulated by the Lithuanian national bank, the Bank of Lithuania, and is a legit European bank. Read our article on Revolut's safety for a comprehensive overview.

Since Revolut is not a full-blown bank yet, it does not offer any deposit protection for its customers registered with Revolut Payments UAB and Revolut LTD. Clients registered under Revolut Bank UAB have all their deposits insured by the Lithuanian State Company's 'Deposit and Investment Insurance' policy for up to €100,000 per depositor.

We collected the available cryptocurrencies and crypto related features in our Revolut Crypto article.

We recommend Revolut for beginners looking for commission-free trading and a great mobile-only trading platform.

Is this broker good for beginners?

We checked it in Is Revolut good for beginners.

Is the quality of customer service satisfactory?

All you need to know about the Revolut customer service.

Who are Revolut's competitors and alternatives?

We have created an overview of Revolut's alternatives here including a comparison with digital banks like Transferwise, Monzo, Starling and also with brokers like Passfolio, SoFi Invest, Robinhood, Freetrade.

Also a more detailed analysis of alternatives is available in this article.

About Revolut the company

Further reading:

• Revolut card
• Revolut fees
• Revolut account opening
• How do I deposit in Revolut?
• How to withdraw from Revolut?
• Trading stocks on Revolut
• Is Revolut safe?
• Revolut cryptocurrencies
• Currencies at Revolut
• Revolut alternatives & competitors