Bank fee for loading Rand on Revolut

I loaded ZAR onto my Revolut card using my Lloyds’s debit card and was astounded when they charged me 2.99% for the privilege!  
I’ve taken this up with Lloyds as on MSE it states ‘if you are buying and topping up currency on a prepaid card always use a debit card which isn’t allowed to charge this fee’. 
Has anyone else experienced this?

Comments

  • Llyods or Revolut charged you 2.99% - it's not clear from the above.

    If Lloyds (which I suspect it is) then you should have transferred GBP to Revolut and convert to ZAR there. If you've asked Lloyds to transfer ZAR then I suspect there would have been a charge which is what appears to have happened here.
  • Yes it was Lloyds which charged me

    On Revolut prepaid card you get the option to have GBP EUR USD ZAR plus 20 or so other currencies. I chose to load Rand to have a Rand account.  I paid Revolut in GBP hence my surprise that Lloyds charged me a non-GB transfer fee. 

    I will look into if Revolut can convert it to ZAR. Normally I just load GBP on Revolut and get their excellent exchange rates but I’m not travelling for a few weeks and the ZAR rate is particularly high at the moment so I had hoped to take advantage of that but Lloyds have scuppered that!
  • eDicky
    eDicky Posts: 6,835 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    If you loaded directly to your Revolut ZAR account with GBP using Lloyds debit card I would be astounded if Lloyds didn't charge you the non-sterling fee. Load GBP as normal and convert to Rand within Revolut.
    Evolution, not revolution
  • Yes I’ve realised this now. Expensive lesson learned. Annoyingly I made an initial small transfer and no fees showed so I proceeded with a larger amount the fees appeared a day later - I also took this up with Lloyds who said it can take up to 2 days to appear. 

    It is confusing on MSE as they say banks are not allowed to charge a ‘fee’ if using a debit card. 

    Plenty of other banks don’t charge foreign currency transactions so I’ll be moving to one of them. 
  • eskbanker
    eskbanker Posts: 36,763 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 18 August 2023 at 2:10PM
    fionaem said:
    It is confusing on MSE as they say banks are not allowed to charge a ‘fee’ if using a debit card.
    That's not what they're saying, they're just saying that they can't charge the cash withdrawal fee that credit cards do:
    • Charges for topping up your prepaid card with a credit card. There's a hidden charge you could fall foul of if you're using a credit card to pay for and to top up your prepaid card.

      Buying currency on a prepaid card is counted as a cash withdrawal, so you could face a myriad of fees, including cash withdrawal fees, interest, or even a fee for using a credit card charged by the money changer.

      Therefore, if you're buying and topping up currency on a prepaid card, ALWAYS use a debit card, which isn't allowed to charge this fee.
    but they're not saying that debit cards can't charge non-sterling transaction fees.
  • Ok thanks for clarification- it may be helpful if you last sentence was added to warn others. 
     
    Once had been charged I searched high and low to find out the situation regarding using a debit card and nowhere could I find clarification on possible costs of loading with a debit card. 

    There is nothing I could find on Revolut’s website advising banks may charge if loading with a debit card - maybe everyone else know this!

    its my mistake. as I was buying ZAR from Revolut and they said no fees I hadn’t made the connection that they would be ‘buying’ ZAR from Lloyds - I presumed transaction was in GBP   It was also compounded by the delay in Lloyds adding their charges on my trial run.

    Que será. I now know
  • eskbanker
    eskbanker Posts: 36,763 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    fionaem said:
    Ok thanks for clarification- it may be helpful if you last sentence was added to warn others. 
     
    Once had been charged I searched high and low to find out the situation regarding using a debit card and nowhere could I find clarification on possible costs of loading with a debit card. 

    There is nothing I could find on Revolut’s website advising banks may charge if loading with a debit card - maybe everyone else know this!

    its my mistake. as I was buying ZAR from Revolut and they said no fees I hadn’t made the connection that they would be ‘buying’ ZAR from Lloyds - I presumed transaction was in GBP   It was also compounded by the delay in Lloyds adding their charges on my trial run.

    Que será. I now know
    Although the article is aimed at those who are actually spending abroad, Lloyds do clarify that the fee is charged for non-sterling purchases, so if you were paying for a transaction denominated in ZAR (or was there a sterling figure quoted by Revolut?) then this applies:
    If you use your debit card to make a purchase in a currency other than pounds, the amount is converted to pounds on the day it is processed by Visa using the Visa Payment Scheme exchange rate. We will charge you a foreign currency transaction fee of 2.99% of the amount of the transaction, this is a fee for currency conversion.
    https://www.lloydsbank.com/travel/debit-card-abroad.html
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