Be Excellent To Each Other

The discussion in the Nintendo thread made me suggest using Revolut to someone and then I thought its worth covering it in its own thread

Basically Revolut

My referral link

Straight website link : http://revolut.com/

Is a credit card (either physical or virtual) that has a smartphone app and allows you to transfer money easily between different currencies and you only pay the bank transfer rate and not any extra non-sterling (or whatever) fee's

You can use it to send money to other people with just a few taps of the app , you can use it with online stuff to pay in other currencies without faffing about and you can get money onto and off of its service fairly easily.

I've had a card for around 2 years or so and used it physically in the UK / Europe / America without any problems , and used it online in other countries without any problems (mainly on digital software from the various E shops).

When it first launched there were some teething issues (and basically they told you to always have a backup card in case their systems went down) but its been pretty solid ever since.

Wikipedia page : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolut

And the other things I've mentioned

Starling bank

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starling_Bank

Basically an online bank - again with app support on mobiles , supports most digital payment methods and I've been using for around a year - the main things here are the instant notifications on your account , that it supports applepay , and the simplicity of moving money between accounts or transferring it to other people.


Monzo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monzo_(bank)

This was originally just a card like Revolut but then changed to a bank account - i've not really used it much but signed up at the start and used it for a month or so but did not see anything that different from either Revolut or Starling

A mate of mine in work has Monzo and quite likes it. The only interesting feature he's mentioned though is one where it categorises your spending automatically so you can see at a glance how much you're spending on groceries or eating out or whatever.

Also, your wiki link there isn't working for some reason:

Monzo

Fixed - I dont think it likes the () on the url

I do also like that Monzo links things up and its very easy to see what was spent where - rather than just get a list of what went out and some cryptic names

e.g.

If you want Monzo-like tracking across all your cards and accounts then Emma is the app for you.

I like Monzo quite a bit. It's great for flinging cash between people if, for example, splitting a bill for dinner. Also the card is a well cool colour.

I'm off in Asia right now and have been using the Revolut card. It worked perfectly in Hong Kong, having issues finding ATMs it'll work in in South Korea though. Hoping Japan will be fine.
It's so useful, I'm away for 7 and 1/2 weeks so I was concerned about taking the amount of money I needed - this seemed like the best way.

Signed up but be warned there is a 11,700 person queue to gain access

I've got a golden ticket, PM me your email address.

Starling for me. No probs in any country I've been to so far. I don't bother with ATMs that warn me they'll charge a fee-sometimes it isn't clear whether they will or they are warning that my bank will (the latter won't) but I've always just found another. You also have to remember to hit 'decline' on any screen that offers you a gbp amount. In Malaysia, at least, this isn't phrased as "do you want to pay in your currency", it seems more like it's telling you the rate. It isn't, it's making an offer (e.g. £117 the other day when starling then debited £112), and it also isn't clear that hitting decline means "decline this and give me my money".

So. Starling. Transfer cash in from another account (I'd recommend you have a couple of current accounts anyway). Withdraw anywhere. Hit decline to any offer.

I have a California based client who gets gouged by her bank every time she does a transfer to me. Can she use one of these cards to pay me in Sterling without losing $000s?

If anyone else wants more monzo golden tickets I’ve got a few. PM me your email address.

No. They’re basically UK bank accounts that don’t charge huge fees. You still need to be in the UK to open one.

She should look at a decent forex company. I use CurrencyFair for my Google stock sales and I get very good rates from them for currency conversions.