Revolut Review: What it is and How it works

It is now well known that the future of the banking sector is online. Today, thanks to the power of home banking, it is possible to carry out financial transactions directly from our smartphone or PC, without having to physically enter a bank. In recent years, banks that operate only online have become increasingly popular.

Among the various online institutions, is one of the most important, innovative and functional: Revolut.

Revolut LTD. is a UK based financial company founded in 2015 and its product, the Revolut app, boasts more than 14 million private customers and over 500,000 business customers.

The advantages over traditional accounts are various and clear, especially in terms of management and/or administrative costs: commissions which "normal banks" cannot compete with.

As for the functions and services offered, the Revolut app proves to be a strong suited option, as it offers:

• A currency exchange, a tool that allows you to convert GBP into over 150 different currencies
• The possibility to buy shares with commissions starting from 1 GBP
• Trading and holding of cryptocurrencies
• The Vaults
• Insurance products

Online banking and security are two topics that need to be closely aligned. In recent years, many accounts have been breached through phishing and ransomware attacks, both due to vulnerabilities in the protection systems of the banks themselves, and/or through incorrect actions by account holders.

Revolut, a company with over 2000 employees, has a team dedicated exclusively to security that works every day to improve the efficiency of protection services such as:

• Fingerprint identification, necessary to access the account and confirm operations
• Sherlock anti-fraud security system to send real-time alerts on fraudulent activities thanks to localization systems. If Revolut perceives suspicious activities (e.g. the location of your smartphone indicates London but a payment is made in Bristol) it blocks it and immediately notifies the customer
• The ability to create disposable virtual cards and customized features for spending limits, withdrawals, online and/or swipe payments.

Revolut offers four types of checking accounts, each with different features.

The Standard Account is the basic version of the Revolut account. It is free, allows you to make bank transfers at zero commissions, as well as exchange pounds to other foreign currencies at the best exchange rate and without paying commissions (up to a maximum of £1,000 per month, beyond this threshold a commission of 0.50% is applied).

The Standard Account also gives the option of a prepaid digital credit card with which it is possible to make payments both online and in store as well as withdraw up to £200 per month for free from any ATM (beyond this amount, a 2% commission is applied).

With the Standard Account it is also possible to trade stocks (the first three monthly operations are free) and cryptocurrencies.

The Plus Account is the first upgrade to the Standard account. It has a monthly fee of £2.99 and it offers additional services than the Standard account.

It offers a 24/7 priority assistance service, refunds of up to £1,000 for the purchase of tickets for events, refunds on purchases of items up to £1,000 in the event of theft or accidentally damaged product and the ability to be refunded if you purchase products for which the retailer does not accept the return (coverage between £50 and £300).

Debit card delivery is free and it is possible to trade stocks and cryptocurrencies. For conversions of fiat currencies to cryptocurrencies the commission is 2.5% for the Standard rate.

The Premium Account has a monthly fee of £6.99 and provides, in addition to all the features of the two previous accounts (Standard and Plus Accounts), the possibility of requesting two debit cards.

With these cards you can make online and in-store purchases, as well as withdraw up to £400 per month for free (beyond this amount, a 2% commission is applied).

The Premium Account also allows you to create disposable cards to be used one or more times for online purchases. In addition, the Premium account allows you to trade cryptocurrencies, a unique feature of its kind.

Other services include the right to priority assistance from customer service, international medical insurance, insurance coverage for flight and baggage delays and an airport lounge pass. For stock trading, 8 free trades per month are included.

The Metal Account is the maximum upgrade of the Revolut account. It has a monthly fee of £12.99 and in addition to all the features of the previous plans, it entitles you to request three debit cards with which you can:

• Shop online and in stores
• Withdraw up to £800 per month for free (beyond this amount, a 2% commission is applied)
• Have a concierge to better manage bookings on flights, hotels and events
• Have the Metal Cashback which allows you to receive a refund of 0.1% of purchases made in Europe with each purchase, up to a maximum of 1% for payments outside the EU.

For stock trading, trading transactions are always with no commissions.

To date, Revolut allows trading on over 150 fiat currencies and various shares listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ. Revolut also allows an investor to make fractional purchases of shares.

It is possible to buy shares from as little as $1.00.

The starting offer is for 1,000 shares, but Revolut is committed to constantly adding new securities to be traded on the app. One of Revolut's promises is to allow trading on European equities and ETFs.

Revolut is not a DMA broker (i.e. it does not have a license for direct access to the markets). Rather, it uses third party brokers to allow its clients to place orders on the stock exchange. We confirm that Revolut allows the trading of real shares and not of CFDs.

We also wish to point out that Revolut offers free quotes for negotiable securities, without a user having to pay a monthly fee, as is the case with most online brokers.

55 cryptocurrencies are also tradable on Revolut, including:

• Bitcoin (BTC);
• Ethereum (ETH);
• XRP;
• Bitcoin Cash (BCH);
• Litecoin (LTC).

It is possible to send cryptocurrencies to friends (ie other Revolut users) by accessing the service through the appropriate "Payments" tab. However, it is not possible to transfer crypto outside the Revolut platform, but the wallet functionality will be included in the future.

As mentioned above, one of Revolut's strengths is represented by the absence of commissions for functions such as wire transfers, credit card payments (both in the UK and abroad), withdrawals (up to a certain limit, which varies depending on the type of plan selected), sending money to friends and/or acquaintances who are Revolut customers.

As for the currency exchange function, which allows you to convert funds into over 150 different currencies, it is always free for Premium and Metal accounts; for the Standard account, on the other hand, only the first £1,000 converted monthly are free. Once this limit is exceeded, a commission of 0.5% will be applied for each transaction.

For conversions of fiat currencies into cryptocurrencies, a fixed commission of 1.5% is applied for Premium and Metal users and 2.5% for Standard users.

The VAULT functions are free and allow you to store fiat currencies or cryptocurrencies.

For stock trading (Revolut also acts as an online broker), the commissions are £1.00 per operation and 0.01% per annum is paid on the assets held in the portfolio for management costs.

Note that there is a maximum amount per transaction of $1,000. This means that if you want to buy shares for $5,000 you will have to enter 5 separate orders.

Note: Depending on the type of account you hold, Revolut offers a certain number of free operations. In the ACCOUNT TYPES section this topic is discussed in depth.

There are currently no promotions from Revolut for opening new accounts.

The Revolut app is intuitive and user friendly. Executing transactions is simple, for payments and transfers, as well as for trading and/or currency exchanges.

 From the main page, the menu is divided into 5 categories. Let's review them in detail.

From the Accounts section you can:

• View the report of the latest operations carried out
• Add funds via credit cards
• Convert your currency into other currencies (for all customers) or crypto (only for Premium and Metal users)
• View the details of accounts such as nominee, Iban, BIC / SWIFT
• Generate customized account statements (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, etc.)

In the Analytics section you can see in detail all the expenses made divided by categories.

From the Payments section you can send or request money to friends and acquaintances, make bank transfers or schedule future payments.

There is also the "Around me" feature that allows you to send money to people near you via GPS tracking and the ability to create payment links to send money online.

From the Cards section, you can view the details of your Revolut debito cards and change your limit and security settings.

From the Dashboard, you can view the general status of your fiat and crypto accounts, view your equity portfolio and your personal watchlist with your favourite stocks.

From this section, you can also change the settings related to the app, request assistance from customer service, change your rate plan, view the details of insurance coverage and use the concierge.

Trading on the Revolut app is very straightforward. The platform is dedicated to non-professional private clients, so no advanced features are available. However, the convenience of being able to carry out all operations from a single application is significant and allows a user to save a lot of time.

Converting your GBP into other fiat currencies or cryptocurrencies is very simple. Just find the Accounts section, press the Exchange button and select the currency you want to convert and the one you want to receive.

To trade shares, go to the Dashboard section and select Stocks.
After accepting the terms and conditions of the service, Revolut will open an account dedicated exclusively to the trading of shares.

After funding your account, you will be able to buy shares by choosing from a wide range of products on the platform.

After selecting the company you want to buy shares from, just click the Buy button to carry out the first transaction.

Revolut customer service is available 24/7 via Live Chat only. To contact support, go to the Dashboard section and click on the Chat button at the top right of the screen.

You are automatically connected to the interactive system, which meets most users’ needs. 

Waiting times are very short, usually you get an answer within 2 minutes. In the event you need to freeze credit cards, you must call +442033228352.

For learning opportunities, the Revolut blog has been released, which is an informative portal where you can find informational articles about the world of finance. In addition, you can find Revolut Academy, a section entirely dedicated to the education of Revolut and non-Revolut users, including various topics such as finance, IT security and cryptocurrencies.

At the end of this review, we can conclude that Revolut fully lives up to expectations. Today, Revolut represents a valid alternative to traditional accounts, and is superior in many respects, especially in terms of modernity and security.

Revolut is practical for both managing your own money and administering your equity, currency and crypto investment portfolio. 

Designed for both experienced and novice users, Revolut makes managing financial assets very simple and straightforward. Opening an online account with Revolut can be convenient for all types of savers and investors.

While Revolut is at the forefront of offering banking products and payment solutions, from the point of view of investing it is not yet a broker to consider. The product offering is limited and the trading environment is still "primitive". If you are looking for a platform to invest in global stocks, indices, cryptocurrencies etc. or to copy other professional traders (copy-trading) we suggest you try eToro (click here to sign up for free on eToro).
If, on the other hand, you are looking for a broker to invest in stocks and ETFs for the long term, we suggest you try DEGIRO (click here to sign up for free on DEGIRO).
Both of these brokers offer some of the lowest commissions on the market, give access to easy-to-use platforms for beginners, offer real-time quotes and allow you to trade on a wide range of products.

Try eToro →

77% of retail investor accounts lose money.

Try DEGIRO →