This is why I moved my salary to Revolut
Revolut is a digital online banking solution that includes a pre-paid debit MasterCard. I introduced Revolut into my ecosystem in May 2017 and now (November 2018) I have decided to receive my monthly salary directly into Revolut. Read below all the reasons why I made that change.
Revolut allows you to have multiple wallets based on your desired currencies.
I get paid in GBP (British Pound) and spend most of my money in EUR (Euro) I can easily have these two main wallets and exchange money from one to the other when I need it. With the free account, I don’t pay commissions when exchanging less than 6,000€ per month.
Revolut is a 21st century bank and it is definitely compatible with traditional banks. It means I transfer money from Revolut to my old-fashioned bank at no extra cost. Of course I can use the Revolut debit card in any shop that accepts MasterCard or allows withdrawals of up to 200€ for free every month.
It is so Convenient
I have set 4 ‘Accounts’ (Wallets): Euro, British Pound, Bitcoin and Ripple. Let’s admit this is a kind of impossible mission to accomplish when in a traditional bank. And if you are lucky enough to find a traditional bank that allows you to do it, I’m sure you will be paying decent amounts on fees and commissions.
The workflow I followed before I received my salary into Revolut was:
1. Check if the salary was received in my Bank A
2. Top-up my Revolut account in GBP
3. Exchange from the Account in GBP to EUR
4. Transfer the money to Bank B.
This is the updated workflow:
1. Check the push notification from Revolut alerting my salary has arrived. (Traditional Bank A did not have that feature).
2. Exchange from the Account in GBP to EUR.
3. Transfer the money to Bank B.
Micropayments to avoid cash
Another great thing from Revolut is to send money to friends and co-workers when needed. I use it all the time when sharing lunch at work or when we need to buy a gift to someone and we need to collect the money. This is especially useful for me that I don’t particularly enjoy carrying out cash.
Talking about money collection for gifts, I love the idea of requesting money to others with the App so they do not forget to contribute.
Saving and Investing without fear
Vaults work as a separate Account (Wallet) where you define the amount you want to save and the App suggest ways to fund the account. I have selected the option where Revolut rounds up the transactions and saves the spare change into this vault. This plus a monthly deposit into the vault will make my vault grow towards my objective. Can you imagine doing something like this in your old-fashioned traditional bank?
I feel adventurous enough I have created 2 cryptocurrency accounts and I transfer small amounts into these Accounts to see if I make some extra money.
Be smarter with your money
Because of my situation where I earn money in GBP and spend in EUR, I need to carefully choose when do I exchange from one currency to the other. To do so, I have set some “Exchange Rates alerts” where I receive a notification if the GBP goes above 1.15 EUR or below 1.10 EUR.
There is one more thing…
Revolut run small competitions I find not only interesting but also quite valuable. For example, in Halloween, if you send money to another user and you add a pumpkin emoji (🎃) into the notes of the transaction, you can win a Metal Card fee for a year.
The Metal Card is the coolest card I have ever seen. It truly has a metallic touch when holding it in your handS and not only that but it also offers 1% cashback of all your spending plus some other benefits (Health Insurance, Concierge Service, etc.). It costs 13.99€/month and it takes you to the ultimate Revolut Digital Banking Level.
It is not perfect
Unfortunately there are some functions that are not available in Revolut
• Mortgages
• They do not Offer Credit Card
• The pre-paid debit card is actually not working everywhere it should. I have heard it does not work in some online shops.
• They do not have physical branches but… who would go there?
• Don’t offer Apple pay (yet)
