By akademiotoelektronik, 04/07/2022
Revolut review: cryptocurrency, sponsorship, CB… Complete neobank test
Writing note
9 /10Writing note
Lire la conclusion du test“Simply Revolutionary”.It is under this marotte that Revolut sets the tone for his ambitions.With an ecosystem entirely turned towards dematerialized, the British neobank has convinced millions of users in Europe thanks to its ease of access and its avant-garde features.So finally, is Revolut the revolutionary bank that she claims to be?Answer in this opinion.
Revolut characteristics
| PRIME DE BIENVENUE | NON |
| 💶PRIME D’OUVERTURE | AUCUN |
| 💳CARTE BANCAIRE | VISA OU MASTERCARD |
| 💰DÉPÔT INITIAL | 10 € |
| 💸FRAIS DE TENU DE COMPTE | AUCUN |
| 🤝PARRAINAGE | OUI |
| 📱APPLICATION | ANDROID/ IOS |
| 💲PAIEMENT MOBILE | APPLE PAY / GOOGLE PAY |
| 🔐3D SECURE | OUI |
Revolved in a few words
Coming from Fintech - Contraction of Finance and Technology - British, Revolut is a neobank launched in 2015 by two young Russian entrepreneurs named Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko.Their ambition was to create the Amazon of Financial Services, a bank swearing with the achievements, which erase the opaque borders between individuals and the giants of finance.
With dazzling growth in recent years, Revolut has convinced many investors to raise hundreds of millions in order to extend its activities in Europe and to various sectors such as insurance, credit or cryptocurrency.Today, it has its own banking license and, before the arrival of Brexit at the end of 2020, Revolut had its activities transferred and all of its customers to Lithuania.With a dozen million customers across Europe, Revolut is now trying to extend to the United States and get rid of its status as "neobank".
Revolut prices
Revolut offers 4 subscription levels, each adapted to a budget and a need, as is the case on most neobancs on the market.Interestingly, Revolut is not positioned on a specific organization to deliver its cards, but by the two main entities on the market namely Visa and Mastercard.Customers cannot therefore choose their type of card which is issued according to the location, the language of the user and the type of subscription.Here are the different cards offered by Revolut:
| Standard | Plus | Premium | Metal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prix | Gratuit* | 2,99€ /mois | 7,90€ /mois | 13,99€ /mois |
| Dépôt initial | 10 € | 10 € | 10 € | 10 € |
| Type de débit | autorisation systématique | autorisation systématique | autorisation systématique | autorisation systématique |
| Conditions de revenus | aucun | aucun | aucun | aucun |
| Paiement à l’étranger | Gratuit et illimités | Gratuit et illimités | Gratuit et illimités | Gratuit et illimités |
| Retraits à l’étranger | Jusqu'à 200 € par mois,puis 2 % du montant du retrait | Jusqu'à 200 € par mois,puis 2 % du montant du retrait | Jusqu'à 400 € par mois,puis 2 % du montant du retrait | Jusqu'à 800 € par mois,puis 2 % du montant du retrait |
| Plafond de paiement | 100 000€ /mois | 100 000€ /mois | 100 000€ /mois | 100 000€ /mois |
| Plafond de retrait | Jusqu'à 200 € mensuel,puis 2 % du montant du retrait avec une limite de 5000 € /mois | Jusqu'à 200 € mensuel,puis 2 % du montant du retrait avec une limite de 5000 € /mois | Jusqu'à 200 € mensuel,puis 2 % du montant du retrait avec une limite de 5000 € /mois | Jusqu'à 200 € mensuel,puis 2 % du montant du retrait avec une limite de 5000 € /mois |
| Virement international | entrant / sortant illimité en € | entrant / sortant illimité en € | entrant / sortant illimité en € | entrant / sortant illimité en € |
| Ouverture et clôture de compte | Aucuns frais | Aucuns frais | Aucuns frais | Aucuns frais |
Again, just like N26 or other banks of this type, the characteristics are similar.The advantage is to find free and unlimited payments in France and abroad on all cards.There is still a difference in size with regard to withdrawals abroad which are capped at a few hundred euros depending on the offer before being charged.In addition, these costs are different depending on the withdrawal period between a weekday and weekend.We therefore advise you to avoid using your revolut card in a country where payments are mainly in cash.
Revolut also highlights its advantage of being a bank with no hidden costs.Nor does it require special income outside the possibility of making a first transfer of 10 euros to validate the opening of her account.There is therefore no problem creating a revolut account even being banned.No need to use your card a number of times a month, where costs can be applied to a majority of online or traditional banks.
Dans sa logique d’universalité, Revolut propose des cartes permettant de payer dans plus de 150 devises différentes. Les prix pratiqués sont globalement plus bas que les tarifs pratiqués par d’autres néobanques, notamment N26. L’offre gratuite est pourtant bien plus intéressante que celle de son homologue allemand puisqu’elle propose les mêmes caractéristiques en matière de prix que les autres paliers, ce qui n’est pas le cas de son rival. La différence se fera surtout, encore une fois, sur les avantages annexes comme les assurances et les fonctionnalités que nous détaillons plus loin dans cet avis. Il est aussi à noter que si vous ne souhaitez pas souscrire à une carte mensuellement, Revolut propose le paiement annuel par anticipation, donnant lieu à une économie de 20 % sur les prix.
Monthly rates charged by Revolut // Source Revolut
Annual prices charged by Revolut // Source Revolut
As for N26, the standard revolut level allows you not to have a physical bank card.The latter is actually virtually present on your phone and you can use it via the latter's NFC functions.It is however complicated to use this function in France, physical shops being still little provided with terminals capable of taking into account mobile payments like Apple Pay or Google Pay.However, it is quite possible to order a standard card for 5 euros when ordering.
Recently, and in order to align with its competitors, Revolut offers a card dedicated to professionals called Revolut Business.On this point the neobank does not do things by half since in addition to classic options such as the management and visibility of collaborative expenses, it offers unprecedented functionalities for pros such as accounting tools, payment automation or even the'Native integration of productivity applications or APIs like Slack or Xero.
How to feed your account?
Revolut does not supply your account via the species deposit and check.It is therefore necessary to go through bank transfers.Fortunately, the bank offers a very practical system called "top-up" allowing to add funds from its regular bank account thanks to its main bank card.Everything is done without exchange, since in euros if your bank is domiciled in France.This is the only neobank to do so, N26 invoicing for example these operations up to 3%.This feature then becomes very practical for travelers who can use their revolut account as a card that can be used abroad and not undergo exchange costs during travel outside the euro zone.
Open an account at Revolut
In the same way as N26 or most neobancs, Revolut focuses on the speed of registration and use of accounts.It is therefore very simple and very fast to register and the creation of the account does not take more than 10 minutes.We have registered via the mobile application, all the steps being made by one up to the (digital) signing of the contract.These steps correspond to the usage coordinates, to the recto -back photocopy of the identity document - which is carried out directly from the phone - and to the supply of a selfie photo, again achievable from the selfie camera of yourSmartphone.It only remains to pay shipping costs of 6 euros to receive his card within an announced period of 9 working days.In our case, she arrived in 5 days, in the meantime, you can use your smartphone.
Initial deposit and overdraft management
Whatever the level of subscription, Revolut requests its customers an initial deposit of at least 10 euros for the opening of the account.
Question Authorization of Discover, it should be noted that the cards issued by Revolut are at systematic authorization.Therefore, it is not possible that your account will be in negative and therefore uncovered.If however you try to carry out a payment operation without having enough funds on your account, it will be refused.
Welcome premiums
Revolut does not offer a welcome bonus and is not intended to carry out operations, even temporary, to attract its potential customers.The neobank prefers to highlight the attractiveness of its offer by the speed of implementation, the absence of hidden costs and free access to its product.
Sponsorship
One of the neobank acquisition strategies comes from word of mouth and formulates its system of loyalty by the contribution of sponsorship premiums.Revolut is no exception and offers its customers a premium of 6 euros for each sponsored person and having subscribed to one of the offers offered.Each customer can go up to 100 sponsorships for a total potential of 600 euros in gain.To do this, it is enough that the sponsored ordered a card and made at least one purchase with the gain to activate the godfather.
Insurance, offers and revolut services
In addition to the insurance issues issued by bank card organizations, Revolut does not offer notable services.If these are accessible via the subscription to a premium or metal offer, they are not automatically for standard and more cards.On the other hand, Revolut proposes to subscribe to it in one click on the application via a subscription fixed to one euro per day.A very practical feature to be covered on a trip without subscribing to the insurance package all year round.
One of the benefits of revolut in payments management is the possibility of creating ephemeral virtual cards.These will be useful to you when you buy a good or service on the Internet without fear of seeing your pirated bank details and then shared online.This can also be used if you need to share bank details in the event of a hotel or flight reservation.
Cashback
Cashback functionality is only accessible via a Revolut Metal subscription.This option allows you to obtain a return on investment on all the purchases made with your card.The rate is set at 0.1 % of the amount of the transaction.The whole is combined via a dedicated wallet of which it is possible to transfer the amount desired at any time to its reinforcement account.It is a pleasant surprise that this system is accessible via a particular account where at N26, the cashback is reserved for Business Metal accounts.
Customer service
Having neither physical establishments nor providers from a traditional bank, Revolut counts on a fully dematerialized customer support and service accessible from his mobile.The privileged form is online cat, but it is also possible to have an agent on the phone to ask a question or share the slightest problem.
The latter has the advantage of being responsive and accessible for all bank customers, even for the free offer.Obviously, customers who have subscribed to the Metal offer are privileged, but we had no trouble having an interlocutor via chat and in French with a free offer, a good point.In addition, for the loss of a card, Revolut undertakes to provide you with another within 3 days.
What about cryptocurrency?
One of the new uses that necessarily attract the attention of banks.Some detach from this completely, even going so far as to ban the transfers from which they come, others on the other hand, follow suit to be the pioneers in the field and necessarily attract a ready -made clientele.This is the case of Revolut which was one of the first neobanks to interfere in the breach.
Concretely, the bank allows you to directly buy some different cryptocurrencies among the most popular such as Bitcoin, Ethereum or Litecoin.Note that you must have at least subscribed to a premium account (7.99 euros/month) to take advantage of it.On the other hand, no trading directly via the application, again it will be necessary to go through an external service provider.
It should be noted that Revolut also allows the purchase and sale with high speculative potential such as gold or precious metals thanks to a dedicated space, directly from his phone.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to use your current account and therefore your card to send money on Coinbase.
Our opinion on the Revolut mobile application
As is often the case with neobancs, the application that accompanies the Revolut account is at the center of the user experience.On this point, the Revolut application available on Android and iOS is very complete, maybe even a little too much.No, nothing that has an impact on fluidity, but the heaviness of the interface may surprise the least accustomed.The main page of the application allows you to see your latest transactions at a glance, as well as overall expenses in recent weeks.
The Revolut application is very complete and ergonomic
It also allows a good number of settings.First of all of its card, as defined either its ceilings, add a limited or permanent monthly expenditure limit or even deactivate payments online.Otherwise, the application has several well thought out features such as the possibility of rounding up your purchases to the higher euro and multiplying - or not - the difference by 2. All this in order to place this sum in a "trunk" intendedto prepare significant purchases.Basically, a kind of savings in the form of a piggy bank.The crypto has also become an important element of the experience with the promotion of the trading space directly on the application.
In addition to the 3D-Secure authentication method, Revolut offers another safety to its users for online purchases: the neobank allows you to create an ephemeral virtual card that is only used to make a purchase, to avoid any too much hackingimportant.Finally, we already talked about it above, Revolut also allows you to pay without contact with a smartphone or its connected watch through Apple Pay and Google Pay.
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