Revolut advice please.

Shakin_Steve

I'll try and keep this as concise as I can. Although I have plenty of experience with uk banks, I have no experience with banks like revolut.

My son is at Sheffield uni. He has met a nice girl and they have been together around 18 months now, but want to share a place from September. She is from Romania and has a revolut account, he has student account with Barclays. When I asked about how they were going to share the rent, he told me she would pay and he would transfer his half into her revolut account. I have read of problems with revolut on here and, although I'm trying to be hands off, I don't want him to find his account frozen. Her account was obviously opened in Romania, and I've just got a bad feeling.

Can anyone reassure/warn me of any possible outcomes. Thank you.

pbartlett

Cannot advise you on that particular question but would advise you son opens a second account anyway - eg Monzo or Starling - just to have in case anything happens at any time.

colsten

Revolut is not a bank although they have now applied for a UK banking licence. The main drawback of that is the lack of a deposit protection scheme like FSCS but this doesn't seem to deter people. 

Revolut accounts can be opened in many countries - just because she is from Romania doesn't necessarily mean she opened it in Romania. You can open a Revolut account straight away if you like, from the comfort of your home. Besides, there is nothing wrong with Romanian accounts.

The real issue with Revolut is the almost complete lack of CS. The account is ok if you don't need any help but you are basically on your own if you do.

Your son wouldn't run any risk by making regular payments to his girlfriend's account as long as she does not do stupid things with her account, such as being a money mule. This applies to any account, not just Revolut.

I do agree with the suggestion that your son should open another account, too, which isn't connected in any way with his girlfriend. Having a second current account is a good idea in any case. Starling or Monzo sound good as they are modern accounts that appeal to a lot of younger people.

MrFrugalFever

I told Revolut where to poke it after they started blocking perfectly legitimate transactions and requesting all kinds of documents to support my transactions. Been with NatWest nigh on 16 years and never had to provide the internals of a ducks backside to them.

subsequently I cleared the account and closed it, fortunately before they put a total lock on the transactions.

Shakin_Steve

colsten said:

Revolut is not a bank although they have now applied for a UK banking licence. The main drawback of that is the lack of a deposit protection scheme like FSCS but this doesn't seem to deter people. 

Revolut accounts can be opened in many countries - just because she is from Romania doesn't necessarily mean she opened it in Romania. You can open a Revolut account straight away if you like, from the comfort of your home. Besides, there is nothing wrong with Romanian accounts.

The real issue with Revolut is the almost complete lack of CS. The account is ok if you don't need any help but you are basically on your own if you do.

Your son wouldn't run any risk by making regular payments to his girlfriend's account as long as she does not do stupid things with her account, such as being a money mule. This applies to any account, not just Revolut.

I do agree with the suggestion that your son should open another account, too, which isn't connected in any way with his girlfriend. Having a second current account is a good idea in any case. Starling or Monzo sound good as they are modern accounts that appeal to a lot of younger people.

Thank you, Colsten. Things are probably a bit more convoluted than I first said, I wanted to keep it short. I don't think this young lady has any income of her own, being a student, so I'm guessing her revolut account is topped up by her parents. Having looked further into it, I think the best/easiest solution may be for me to open a revolut account, as I believe you can make payments just by username. Sounds pretty simple, and he can transfer the money to me. I can insulate all of this from my main accounts by using my Monzo account to feed it. Then, if anything untoward happens, at least he won't be left holding the baby and I might end up with a frozen account that I rarely use.

I take on board the fact that he needs a second account and I'll have a discussion when he's home for the summer and she's back home in Romania.