going abroad for 12 months.

chichi1978

I am moving to a small town in Sweden for at least 12 months to study a masters.

I have my money here in pounds… my budget for the entire 12 months is around £7,000.-

Per what I have seen, ‘revolut’ has the best exchange rate…

I am asking for advice:

- Shall I put £7,000.- on revolut and start spending with that card.
- Shall I buy £7,000.- in Swedish krona now and take it cash with me, and open and account there and use a Swedish card?


Ps: not sure if using revolut in Swedish krona is possible/makes sense.

Westie983

It sure you will be able to open a Swedish account.

I would top up your card little by little as and when you need it so you can maximise from the fluctuations in exchange rate.

When I worked abroad I had a standing order to fund my nationwide account which I used abroad and never had more then a months worth of bills in it.

Westie983

chichi1978

Ok, so I completely rule out, buying £7,000.- in SEK, now, cash and deposit it there…

Is ‘revolut’ the best exchange rate I could get…? Or should I consider nationwide?

george4064

Westie983 wrote: »

It sure you will be able to open a Swedish account.

I would top up your card little by little as and when you need it so you can maximise from the fluctuations in exchange rate.

When I worked abroad I had a standing order to fund my nationwide account which I used abroad and never had more then a months worth of bills in it.

Westie983

I think you have misunderstood how Revolut works.

With revolut, you have two options:

1. Deposit your £GBP into your revolut account, who will convert it to SEK as required as you use your revolut card

2. Deposit your £GBP into your revolut account, and convert it yourself (either the whole amount so your revolut account will hold purely SEK or only a partial amount so your revolut account will hold some GBP and some SEK).

In terms of which option between 1 and 2 is really down to what you think the SEK/GBP exchange rate will do over the next 12 months, but since its only £7,000 its hardly going to make much difference....

chichi1978 wrote: »

Ok, so I completely rule out, buying £7,000.- in SEK, now, cash and deposit it there!!!8230;

Is !!!8216;revolut!!!8217; the best exchange rate I could get!!!8230;? Or should I consider nationwide?

You can always shop around for the best exchange rates, but revolut is good because it gives you the flexibility, has a very good app to track your spending/deposit/withdraw etc.

P.S. I would apply for a revolut card asap because they carry out some anti-money laundering and identity checks (just like you would expect when opening a bank account) and sometimes the physical card can take some time to arrive in the post.

Zola.

Revolut and Monzo are great!

takesyourchances

I have Starling Bank which I can use abroad with free cash withdrawals and debit card use, so far very happy with the account and the app works excellent.



I am not sure how exchange rates compare to the others, Starling is FSCS protected, I am not sure if Revolut is as of yet.

Wildsound

takesyourchances wrote: »

I am not sure how exchange rates compare to the others, Starling is FSCS protected, I am not sure if Revolut is as of yet.

As far as I am aware (and I am sure someone will come along to maybe correct me) but Revolut is in the process of applying for a UK banking license, so FSCS should be coming soon. However, I believe they have client money ring-fenced for the time being, as from what I know it is with Barclays so there is some security there.

Also I believe they have a European license, so if you open a Euro account, you are protected under the European equivalent to the FSCS.

Would prefer if someone with more knowledge can confirm/deny or go into more detail for you though