Revolut pre-paid Mastercard

eDicky

Frank_Prenesti wrote: »

I've just come back from a three week trip to the US. I got a Revolut card before I went. The verification process doesn't work using your phone, and there are no instructions on how to do it anyway. I did manage to get it done by emailing the support team. As for ATM withdrawals in the US, this card was next to useless. Only once did I get an ATM to spit out some cash without a fee (Bank of America) - although the next time I went to a BoA ATM it wanted $3. I tried five different banks and they all wanted between $3 - $5 per transaction. Ironically I used it in an ATM in a restaurant that took cash only and it only charged me $1.50. I made one purchase as an experiment and that worked fine, but I already have a no-fee Nationwide credit card that gave me pretty good transaction rates while we were away, and I took some cash with me that covered a fair bit of the trip. If you want a card to use with a set budget in mind this might be ok, but certainly in the US as a cash card this is a dud. I have better things to do on holiday than tour ATMs!

It is not Revolut charging you for ATM withdrawals in the US, it is the bank operating the ATM. It's the same for any card, as you would have noticed if you had tried your Nationwide CC.

NiftyDigits

Frank_Prenesti wrote: »

I've just come back from a three week trip to the US. I got a Revolut card before I went. The verification process doesn't work using your phone, and there are no instructions on how to do it anyway. I did manage to get it done by emailing the support team. As for ATM withdrawals in the US, this card was next to useless. Only once did I get an ATM to spit out some cash without a fee (Bank of America) - although the next time I went to a BoA ATM it wanted $3. I tried five different banks and they all wanted between $3 - $5 per transaction. Ironically I used it in an ATM in a restaurant that took cash only and it only charged me $1.50. I made one purchase as an experiment and that worked fine, but I already have a no-fee Nationwide credit card that gave me pretty good transaction rates while we were away, and I took some cash with me that covered a fair bit of the trip. If you want a card to use with a set budget in mind this might be ok, but certainly in the US as a cash card this is a dud. I have better things to do on holiday than tour ATMs!

Perfect example of a bad workman blaming his tools.
Nothing wrong with the card. As aforementioned, the problem is down to you not checking before you left that many of the ATMs in the USA charge a fixed amount for ATM withdrawals. Do you think that Revolut have the power to override the American banks?
There are a few notable exceptions with no ATM fee. Most not natively from the USA..TD Bank(Toronto-Dominion Bank) on the east coast is one.
If you had bothered to ask before you left, we would have told you which to use, once you let us know your intended destination.

Frank_Prenesti

Thanks for the "helpful" replies. At no stage did I blame Revolut for the ATM fees.

"ATM operators occasionally charge a MasterCard fee. ATM operators will notify you of this fee before the transaction takes place, giving you the option to cancel the withdrawal before you proceed. Most ATM operators do not charge a fee, so if this does happen we recommend trying another nearby ATM where possible."

eDicky

Frank_Prenesti wrote: »

As for ATM withdrawals in the US, this card was next to useless.

Excuse me for mistaking this statement as a criticism of the card itself for causing the fees.

You are right about the misleading Revolut advice, the majority of ATMs in any country either do or do not levy charges and there is rarely a nearby free alternative. For Example in USA you would have to find a TD bank and in Thailand (I think) a Citibank, but of course the time and expense of the search is not usually worth it. Better to just minimise cost by foreseeing your cash needs and making a few substantial withdrawals instead of many smaller ones.

NiftyDigits

eDicky wrote: »

Excuse me for mistaking this statement as a criticism of the card itself for causing the fees.

You are right about the misleading Revolut advice, the majority of ATMs in any country either do or do not levy charges and there is rarely a nearby free alternative. For Example in USA you would have to find a TD bank and in Thailand (I think) a Citibank, but of course the time and expense of the search is not usually worth it. Better to just minimise cost by foreseeing your cash needs and making a few substantial withdrawals instead of many smaller ones.

None in Thailand. Utilising card over the counter is the only way.
In the USA, there is more than just TD Bank(Toronto-Dominion Bank) that doesn't charge. They are on the east coast. On the west coast(California), look out for other 'foreign' banks.

winbigmo

Hi all.

I too am a new revolut user. Got the app, got the card (eventually). Topped it up with sterling and exchanged to USD via the app with no problem. Great USD rate !

App is very buggy. It hangs a lot and says unknown error. I have only just noticed there is a topup limit of £1000 per year !! . I am going to florida for 2 weeks so it wont be enough. I have asked the question via the app.

There is a vitrifaction button on the app which you use to take a photo of your passport. This also hangs...

Proof is in the pudding when i try to buy something in Florida i guess....

Frank_Prenesti

eDicky wrote: »

Excuse me for mistaking this statement as a criticism of the card itself for causing the fees.

You are right about the misleading Revolut advice, the majority of ATMs in any country either do or do not levy charges and there is rarely a nearby free alternative. For Example in USA you would have to find a TD bank and in Thailand (I think) a Citibank, but of course the time and expense of the search is not usually worth it. Better to just minimise cost by foreseeing your cash needs and making a few substantial withdrawals instead of many smaller ones.

No problem. Oddly enough in Portland I managed to extract $60 with no fee from Bank of America. I still had plenty of cash with me, so I just thought I would do the same in California, but the BoA ATM charged a fee. In the end I probably only spent the MSE joining bonus on fees as we mainly used the credit card everywhere we went. Might be worth travellers compiling a discreet list of banks that will allow fee-free withdrawals and sharing on here. We can rule out Bank of America, Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo ($5!) . There are a few down in Chinatown in San Francisco (HSBC etc), but my wife was getting a bit tired of me test driving cashpoints lol

Frank_Prenesti

winbigmo wrote: »

Hi all.

I too am a new revolut user. Got the app, got the card (eventually). Topped it up with sterling and exchanged to USD via the app with no problem. Great USD rate !

App is very buggy. It hangs a lot and says unknown error. I have only just noticed there is a topup limit of £1000 per year !! . I am going to florida for 2 weeks so it wont be enough. I have asked the question via the app.

There is a vitrifaction button on the app which you use to take a photo of your passport. This also hangs...

Proof is in the pudding when i try to buy something in Florida i guess....

The verification process using your phone is a clever idea in theory, but doesn't work too well in practice, but the support team just got me to email what they needed (selfie, pic of passport and selfie of me holding passport). You can load more than £1000 - I did. It's just that they have to tell the government if you transfer more than £1000 over a year.

chong168

About to head out to HK and Japan soon, has anyone tried using the card in either country to withdraw cash, if so which ones do not charge a fee?

jeremy2012

Hi, a quick question as I just ordered the card.

loading wise... how does it work. Do l load some pound there and when withdrawing or paying with the card, then it pick up the current exchange rate.

Or can I load now in Thai Bhat already or in Euro as the current exchange rate for Euro is very good today.

Cheers,