Using Revolut when traveling - Travel Eat Enjoy Repeat

Using Revolut when traveling

When paying abroad, fees are often associated with using your regular bank and/or credit card. This is especially true when you pay in a foreign currency. During our recent trip to the US, I decided to open a Revolut account and link it to my Apple Pay. Below you can read about my experiences and also some tips for opening your Revolut account.

Revolut, what is it?

Revolut is an app that allows you to easily transfer money, exchange money and make payments. It is really just a bank: you can open an account, make money transfers, make payments with it, as well as make investments. The difference from a “regular” bank is that Revolut focuses mainly on travel. Their goal? To simplify everything related to financial transactions.

When I pay with my regular credit card abroad in a foreign currency, I pay an exchange surcharge (as you can see below). Especially if you make that many payments, it can add up quite a bit. That’s what Revolut wants to capitalize on.

Revolut

 

How does it work?

You transfer funds to your Revolut account via wire transfer. Keep in mind that it may take some time for the money to appear in your Revolut account. You can then convert this amount (or part of it) to the currency you wish to pay with, for example, the euro. This exchange is done at the current exchange rate. If you travel to different countries with different currencies, no problem; you can have different pots in different currencies. After your travels, you can easily convert everything back to dollars. With a basic package you can exchange €1000 per month at no cost (only during the week).

You can also withdraw up to €200 per month from ATMs without a withdrawal fee. If you withdraw more than €200 per month, you pay a 0.5% withdrawal fee.

Forgot to change your money? No problem: it is automatically exchanged during the payment at the exchange rate at that time.

Revolut app

The app is tremendously easy to use. Here you have a total overview of the amount in your account in the different currencies. Here you can also set whether you want to save points and how many points you have. With each payment, you also get a notification of the payment and you can easily see where and when the payment was made. Should any “strange” payments happen, you can see this immediately and report it. You can then easily block your payment card in the app.

Below you can see some of my payments during our trip in the US.

 

Costs

The basic package is free: it allows you to use all features and make payments (up to €1000 per month change without exchange fees during the week). For us, this was more than enough during our travels.

There are several other packages available.

  • Plus (€3.99/month): purchase protection, 1500 points gift, exchange up to €3000 eper month at no cost
  • Premium (€8.99/month): Uber One membership, NordVPN membership, unlimited money exchange, purchase protection, 2500 points gift, €400 monthly withdrawal at no cost, access to airport lounges
  • Metal (€15.99/month): Uber One membership, NordVPN membership, unlimited money exchange, purchase protection, 5000 points gift, €400 monthly withdrawal at no cost, access to airport lounges, global insurance
  • Ultra (€50/month for 3 months thereafter €60/month): Uber One membership, NordVPN membership, unlimited money exchange, purchase protection, 10000 points gift, €2000 monthly withdrawal at no cost, free access to airport lounges, global insurance, 3gb data via esim

How to pay?

Keep in mind that Revolut is a prepaid method of payment, so you must have money in your Revolut account to pay, you cannot go below 0.

Apple pay

You can easily add the account to Apple Pay to make contactless payments. This works tremendously well and quickly.

Online payment with a virtual card

Each account also comes with a virtual card whose details you can find in the Revolut app. So you can make online payments or hotel bookings so easily.

Requesting a physical card

You can also request a physical card. This costs a one-time fee of €8 to send the card to your home. You can also personalize the card for an additional cost. The card you will be sent is a Mastercard.

Revolut

Nice perks from Revolut

  • A nice extra I found is that you save RevPoints when you pay with Revolut. In the basic package, this is 1 point per €10 spent. You can also have payments completed and save even more points. You can then convert these RevPoints to air miles (Flying Blue), and book hotels or activities through Get Your Guide.
  • In the app, you can also create different “pots” for different types of expenses such as food, trips, …., for example. This also makes it easy to keep an eye on your budget while traveling.
  • You can also invest in stocks, crypto and precious metals through Revolut. Inform yourself well before you start!
  • If you have a Premium or Metal package, you can pay for lounge access. With the Ultra package, this is included.

Some cons

Because it is a prepaid credit card, it is not accepted everywhere. Car rental companies, for example, do not always accept a prepaid credit card as a deposit. So still take a regular credit card with you just to be on the safe side. As mentioned earlier, if there is no money in the account, you can’t pay with it!

Also, it may take a while for the money to appear in your Revolut account. So, if there is not enough money in the account, you can just quickly transfer money to pay with your Revolut account.

Convinced?

Have I convinced you to open a Revolut account? Then it would be nice if you do so through this link. If you complete the steps below, I will receive a small bonus (this will cost you nothing extra):

  • Create an account using this link
  • Add money to your account
  • Order a physical card
  • Make 3 purchases of at least €5 each (so can be anywhere)

How to open a Revolut account?

  • Download the app
  • Registration: follow the instructions to create an account.
  • Verification: verify your personal information and your identity with a passport or identity card. You take a picture of your identity card and upload it in the app
  • Choose your plan: a standard plan usually suffices for the basics
  • Order card: if you want, you can also order a physical card. You don’t need it to get started with the app (via Apple/Google Pay)
  • Put money in your account and change if needed

 

Some tips

If you think you are going to need more than €1000 during your trip, you can smartly spread the change for your trip. E.g. you are going to travel in December and you think you will need €3000? Then you can exchange €1000 in October, November and December. You can also keep an eye on the exchange rate per month so you can exchange when the rate is the cheapest.

You can also use the card and contactless payment in your home country and for online payments!

Some of these links are affiliate links. If you buy something through these links, Travel Eat Enjoy Repeat will earn a small commission. This will cost you nothing extra.

 

Revolut

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