Revolt, Starling, Curve, Currensea - hidden and real costs analysis

NeedSomeHRadvice

This is my research based on getting max FREE use and paying no FEES:

Revolt - best to use Mon-Fri UK time, uses interbank rates, if using on weekend then convert money before 2359 UK time for money needed at weekend. Weekend has mark up 1%. Max £1000/m spend free and £200/m free ATM. Uses interbank rate

Curve  - a very confusing card - best to use Mon-Fri UK time, uses mastercard rates (but NO one really knows what rate they use, some say interbank, Curve says "wholesale rate from their provider and can change it if it feels it's volatile" whatever that means). Do not use on weekends. Weekend has mark up 0.5% for euro or dollar/1% for all others. Max £500/m spend free and £200/m free ATM. 

Starling - Use anytime, uses mastercard rate

Currensea - use anytime, has 0.5% markup at all times, uses interbank rates for 16 currencies and mastercard for the rest.  Max unlimited spend and £500/m ATM. 

Mastercard rate is around 0.4% worse than interbank so this could be considered a "FEE" for use of the card.

Hence cheapest:

1) use Revolut M-F UK time to benefit from interbank rates, swap money you'll need for the weekend on the Friday to avoid any fees.

2) Starling (0.4% worse than interbank rate), Chase bank in same category

3) Currensea 0.5% (+ 0.4% mastercard rate if not one of the 16 currencies at interbank rate, so max 0.9% fees)

4) Curve - not sure why use this! Can anyone comment on fees they have been charged at the weekend and what rates are used (interbank/mastercard or "wholesale")

If anyone has any comments where I have got it wrong please post

dcfc67

Recommend friends (5) to Revolut get £50 for each one who signs up orders a physical card and makes 3 purchases greater than £5 within a certain time period.

Purchases can be made with the virtual card/applepay/ google pay

Bonhomie

Why is there a permanent fee for THB?

Illiquid currencies are the most difficult to put through technical analysis. They cannot be easily sold or exchanged for cash without a substantial loss in value. There is a large discrepancy between buying and selling price. Revolut has pointed out 1 illiquid currency: THB (Thai Baht).

THB has a fee of 1% applied for exchanges on weekdays (between 6PM New York time on Sunday to 5PM New York time on Friday) and 2% outside of this time frame to cover any losses that would result from the exchange rate fluctuation.

NeedSomeHRadvice

Forgot to add Revolut 5 free withdrawals per month and 10 with curve. Starling and Currensea are unlimited.

On the currensea website (currensea vs revolut) it states that Revolut only gives interbank rate on 15 commonly traded currencies and adjusts the rate on all other currencies so has a hidden fee. See https://www.currensea.com/blog/currensea-vs-revolut

What are the different charges Revolut apply?

Revolut offers over 150 currencies at the real exchange rate, but there are some hidden fees you need to be aware of. We can see in the T&C’s that only the 15 most common currencies are actually available at the interbank rate rather than the 150 that they state.

There was some confusion over which currencies are considered as a “less traded money currency” as only THB and UAH are listed, but when we spoke to their customer service team (on 27/06/2020), they confirmed that all currencies other than the listed 15 are not available at the real rate and instead incur a fee – when we looked at the exchange rates for other currencies, they were away from interbank but not quite as expensive as the 1% added to THB and UAH.

The comparison just gets more and more confusing!