Revolut Account: Personal banking with international perks
- Fee
- From $0 per month
- APY
- Up to 4.25%
- Minimum deposit to open
- $0
Our verdict
The Revolut app and debit card comes with savings and travel perks.
Revolut is a financial technology company based in the UK, with banking services provided by its partner banks. Revolut is known for being internationally friendly, with its multi-currency account offering access to global spending, savings and international money transfers. Revolut has different membership plans for the US: $0 for Standard, $9.99 for Premium and $16.99 for Metal. Based on your plan, you can earn up to 4.25% APY on your savings. Expectedly, the free plan has fewer perks, and most travel perks come with the paid plans.
Best for: International travelers who need a multi-currency account.
Pros
-
Free plan available
-
$0 opening deposit
-
International and travel perks
-
Earn up to 4.25% APY
Cons
-
Best perks require paid plan
-
No physical branches
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Automated customer phone line
Who is Revolut best for?
The Revolut card is best for frequent travelers, largely due to its myriad of international perks. All the plans allow you to spend in over 150 currencies and include free currency exchanges for over 25 fiat currencies up to certain allowances. The rate on savings balances is high, offering 3.25% APY for the free plan and 4.25% APY for the paid plans.
There are also many extra travel perks with the two paid plans, offering things like lost or damaged luggage coverage, trip delay coverage, purchase and ticket protection and trip cancellation protection.
But if you prefer in-person support or a real person over the phone, Revolut may not be the best fit. Revolut’s customer phone line is an automated number that only offers pre-recorded information. To talk to a real person, you’ll have to use the in-app chat service, as Revolut has no physical branches.
How much does Revolut cost?
| Plan | Monthly fee | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | $0 |
|
| Premium | $9.99 | Everything in the Standard plan, plus:
|
| Metal | $16.99 | Everything in the Premium plan plus:
|
What we like about Revolut
Revolut offers three plans so you can choose which one best fits your lifestyle. Customers report that the app and online platform are user-friendly, offering the ability to spend and transfer money to other Revolut users for free, set up monthly budgets, freeze your card, get paid up to two days early and more.
Revolut features 24/7 in-app customer support via chat, the ability to pay friends through the app or use the split bill feature to divide a group spend. And regardless of your plan, you can earn passively on your savings balance.
Free plan has worthwhile perks
The Standard plan comes with quite a few benefits, such as stock trading with no commission fees, up to $1,000 in free currency exchanges and the ability to spend in over 150 currencies.
As expected, the paid plans come with extra perks, such as a higher APY. But if you just want to try Revolut out with the free plan, there’s no cost and really no risk, and you can always choose to upgrade later.
High APY on savings
When you choose the Standard plan, you can earn up to 3.25% APY on saving balances, with no balance requirements. The paid plans offer a high APY of 4.25%. The rate is variable and calculated daily. While the paid plan offers a higher rate, both APYs are strong and higher than the national savings average rate of 0.46%.
Travel perks galore with paid plans
If you’re a frequent traveler, you can take advantage of Revolut’s many travel perks, such as:
- Up to $10,000 in primary accidental medical insurance
- Up to $5,000 in trip cancellation and interruption protection
- Up to $900 in trip delay expense coverage for expenses like hotels and meals during delay
- Up to $3,000 in lost or damaged baggage protection
- Complimentary lounge access for flights delayed more than an hour
- Discounts on airport lounge access
Where Revolut falls short
For starters, Revolut doesn’t have any physical branches, so in-person support is out of the question. Also, its customer phone line is automated, so you won’t get to talk to a real person over the phone. However, Revolut offers 24/7 in-app chat and email support, making those the best routes for resolving any issues that may come up.
There are also a few miscellaneous fees to watch out for. For instance, if you withdraw more than $1,200 from an out-of-network ATM in a month, which is a serious possibility when traveling abroad, expect to pay a fee. In addition, there’s a $10 fee for receiving or sending domestic wire transfers — this is unusual, as most banks won’t charge you anything to receive a domestic wire.
Markups on currency exchange during weekends
When the markets are closed on weekends, you’ll get a 2% markup on your foreign currency transactions. But Thai Baht and Ukrainian Hryvnia always get a 1% markup — even during open markets.
Extra steps to verify information
Revolut is an online fintech, so there may be extra steps to verify your information — which may be a pain for some. As part of its anti-money laundering procedures, it may ask to check your source of funds to determine where your money came from. Documentation may include salary pay stubs, bank statements and more. Your account may be deactivated if they can’t verify your source of funds.
If these downsides are deal breakers for you, but you still want a travel-friendly account, consider Capital One 360 Checking. It has no foreign transaction fees or currency transaction fees. For more options, see our picks for the best international debit cards.
Revolut’s fees and access
| Type of fee | Fee details |
|---|---|
| Monthly service |
|
| Opening deposit | $0 |
| ATMs |
|
| Debit card fees |
|
| Overdraft or nonsufficient funds | $0 |
| Wire transfers |
|
| Other fees |
|
Compare Revolut to other checking accounts
Narrow down top checking accounts by fees, APYs and features. For a closer comparison, select the Compare box on up to four providers to see benefits side by side.
Customer experience
Overall, Revolut has mixed customer reviews. With the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Revolut holds a dismal F rating, which is based on how well a company responds to customer complaints. But the low rating isn’t a big shocker, considering Revolut is based in the UK, and the BBB is mainly a US-based organization.
The few BBB complaints have similar grievances, citing issues with locked accounts, poor customer support, locked funds and typical banking-related problems we see. On the downside, Revolut doesn’t appear to respond to these complaints often, and if there is a response, the customer typically states the issue wasn’t resolved. This is likely what’s earning it an F rating with the BBB.
Revolut is doing much better on Trustpilot, holding a great 4.3-star rating — and a high rating like that isn’t common for banks or fintechs. Customers praise the currency transfers and speed, user-friendly app and site, 24/7 in-app chat assistance and travel perks. However, common complaints are about Revolut’s lack of an in-person phone line.
Frequently asked questions
Can I buy and sell crypto with the Revolut app?
As of September 2, 2023, customers in the US can’t buy cryptocurrency through the Revolut app, though they can sell their assets for another 30 days before access is cut off.
Revolut used to allow users to buy, sell and hold select crypto through Revolut. However, you couldn’t use the Revolut card to spend crypto directly, and you couldn’t earn crypto rewards with the card.
Is Revolut safe from hackers?
Unfortunately, Revolut was the victim of a fraud scheme that resulted in around $23 million stolen from Revolut due to a flaw in its payment system in 2022. There were discrepancies between Revolut’s US and European systems, causing funds to be refunded using Revolut’s own money when some transactions were declined, as reported by The Hacker News. Criminal groups took advantage of the flaw, encouraging individuals to make expensive purchases that would be declined, then the refunded amounts could be withdrawn from ATMs. Some funds were recovered, but Revolut experienced a net loss of over $20 million.
It’s worth noting that customers didn’t lose any funds — Revolut was the one that lost out. Revolut is an authorized financial institution in the UK, and the Revolut Account is FDIC-insured by Metropolitan Commercial Bank, and the Savings Vault is offered by Sutton Bank, which is also FDIC-insured.
What other accounts does Revolut offer?
Parents with a personal Revolut account can access the <18 Revolut kid accounts>Revolut Business account, available to a variety of businesses, including freelancers and large companies. Eligible account holders also have access to Revolut personal loans up to $30,000.
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Bethany Finder
Writer, Banking and Loans
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