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I'm going away in a few weeks and I've just got a [physical] Revolut card. It's already saved me a chunk by paying for the holiday in $ rather than doing an international transfer from my Halifax account.
So how should I use the card to make the most of it while I'm away - should I transfer $ into it before I go or just let it do the conversions as and when I use it abroad?
When do I use the virtual card?
um - I used mine in the US to pay for things (along with a Tandem credit card). It was also useful for just getting money out when we arrived (remember you can only get £200 a month or something)
You can transfer money onto it over there. And you have to have money on it before you can use it. It's not a credit card. It's like a prepaid card.
Also - remember to make it active before handing it over to the nice young waitress. Only when that's worked should you make it inactive again...
So I shouldn't/don't need to add a $ account and top that up?
I just load some £££ onto mine and spend in local curency. If you were keen to lock in a particular rate than you can do the conversion in your account, but for the amounts I spend it's not worth it.
The £200 limit is for 'free' withdrawals - above that there's a cost, but AFAIK it's a calendar month limit so you can do £200 on 31st Oct and £200 on 1st Nov. Though if you're spending on plastic you don't get through that much cash anyway.
Oh and take a backup payment method just in case. I had some issues using it in parts of Chile & Argentina, but that seemed to be a general 'pre pay card' issue rather than specific to Revolut.
Never used a virtual card so don't know on that one
I've used similar cards. Check the small print on conversion rates. Might be better to transfer an amount to $ if you're spending in $, though depends which way the rates are going.
Don't use it for petrol or hire car / hotel deposits and similar. They reserve an amount and clear later which can be days or weeks (e.g. petrol may reserve $100 regardless of what you spend). Reduces the balance you can use until the reserve is cleared.
Pay attention to what currency you're being charged in. Some places (and some cash machines) try to do you a favour by defaulting to £, and they do the conversion. Never ever accept this as their rates are extortionate by comparison.
You might find some places get confused and think it's a US debit card and will ask for a ZIP code instead of PIN. Had this with supermarkets. Noticed last time in US, restaurants and bars are actually taking PIN or even contactless. Instead of just wandering off with the card, return and you sign and leave without them checking.
p.s. Barclays Platinum Visa Travel card will be visa payment rate, no fees, purchase protection, and you can withdraw cash interest free until statement payment date, and don't have to preload as it's a credit card, plus contactless.
Some places (and some cash machines) try to do you a favour by defaulting to £, and they do the conversion. Never ever accept this as their rates are extortionate by comparison.
I've found them to be better than my Credit Card...
Make sure your bank knows you'll be transferring money onto the card. I tested mine thoroughly in the UK and Ireland only to RBS flag it as a fraudulent transaction when I was in Montana. As mentioned one or two backup cards are essential.
Transfer £ into it, and let it convert at the time of the transaction, if you bank with Halifax already you should get a Halifax Clarity credit card or convert your existing card into it
Bravo, they are a very good idea. All BA flight attendants use them... so I was told when I wipped mine out for a sandwich. Load up before you go, try it out locally, the app is very good, instant alert to usage and total left. Exchange rate friendly.
one thing i did notice in the states now was the requirement to enter a zip code when buying fuel.
It's the zip code related to your billing address, so 90210 doesn't work. The way to get around it is to take the numbers from your postcode (in my case 8 and 9) and fill up the rest with zeros to five digits. So mine was 89000. This works. If you're SW12 9LU, it'd be 12900. Etc
Course, you can just go in and ask them to release the pump, but we discovered a couple of sites in the more remote areas who didn't understand that a) we were british and b) we didn't have a zip code
If there’s a choice, always pay in local currency, you’ll struggle to beat the Revolut rate.
if you’ve got data available on your phone, you can keep a very close eye on spending via the app, notifications are near instantaneous, as are reasons for refusal. Make sure you’ve got the security settings set as you want them. I couldn’t pay my hotel bill when I first had it because I’d spent more than my self imposed security limit would allow. I’ve also disallowed internet purchases, but that can be temporarily switched on if required
I very rarely use it for withdrawing cash, you rarely need to
i use mine a lot in lots of countries, I’ve never bothered topping up in anything other than GBP.
I’ve found them to be better than my Credit Card…
Crap credit card then. Retailer conversion to £ is a massive loading on the rate.
remember you can only get £200 a month or something)
Which is why I chose Starling instead 🙂