• long running

No Foreign Transaction Fees (i.e. Use Any Card & No Load Fees) + Free Unlimited Disposable Virtual Visa Cards @ Revolut

1153

I noticed a lot of the previous deals for these kind of card/service (like Divipay) were highly voted in the past.

With Revolut, you get no FX fees on weekdays (weekends is 0.5%), and you can load from any credit/debit card with no fees. There is a limit of $9000/month on the free plan.

Full fees list here. No charge for the physical card either. ID verification required.

As far as I know, they are the only ones that can be loaded from a different debit card with no fees. Looks like it get classed as a cash advance for credit cards, so not points and potential fees.

Also supports bank transfer loads if you prefer that.

In addition, they offer 1 time use disposable cards which are awesome for free trials/etc. You need to be on the premium plan ($11/month) for this or have signed up when it was waitlist based (and you'll be grandfathered onto it). I've used these countless times, great for dodgy merchants which you don't trust with your card details (looking at you chinese deal sites), and for free trials that you sign up to and forget to cancel.

It's worth noting that sometimes the authorization charge doesn't rotate the card, so if you don't use it for a different merchant before the month billing cycle you could still be billed. It's always best to cancel trials anyway in case they come after your since you contractually agreed to pay (even if they fail to get payment from the expired card)

You also get a virtual non-disposable card that can be changed 3 times per month (I think?) on the premium plan, as well as a physical card. Instant add to Google Pay and Apple Pay on signup as well while you are waiting for your card in the mail.

A free multi-use non-disposable Virtual Revolut Card is available on the free Standard plan.

Revolut also offers stop-loss and limit orders for foreign currency, so you can actually have it automatically convert when the currency conversion is most favourable.

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Comments

  • +21

    I was charged a cash advance fees when I pay by credit card.

    • Interesting, good to note. I'll add that to the post, looks like it's correctly classified unlike divipay.

    • +1

      Same here. Need to use a debit card

    • +3

      I managed to cycle over 60K through ANZ Qantas Black CC and Citibank Qantas CC to Revolut about 15-18mths ago… was treated as purchase on the credit card… ANZ had offered me an uncapped extra point per $ spent… long story short was over 100,000 Qantas points for a bit of stuffing around… incl Revolut suspending me for suspected money laundering and ANZ doing the same LOL… was a good loophole for points arbitrage nonetheless

    • what bank is this with?

  • Any hidden charges or monthly fee?

    • +1

      Nope, it's free. They do have a paid plan, but that's not required for anything I mentioned in the OP.
      Initial card is free, no monthly fees required.

    • +3

      Depends what you want to do. Free forex is limited to $9000 AUD per month. A generous limit you probably won't hit, but it's there.

      If you want the disposable virtual cards mentioned in OP though, you need to have at least the $10.99 per month plan (disclosure: I use this plan because I get decent value from it).

    • You pay to cancel. Be careful

  • Is it just like a prepaid MasterCard from Coles?

    • +1

      AFAIK they don't exist anymore, and the number on your card changes each time with this (so, you can only charge each card once).

      • Now that's a solid and actually true way of making a temp card, no one can scam you if the number literally does not exist the moment it's used once.

        Of course, the ye olde scams of spending money on "real pearls" in Thailand before discovering its fake cannot be saved by this card, that's just your own common sense.

  • +3

    With Revolut, you get no FX fees on weekdays (weekends is 0.5%), and you can load from any credit/debit card with no fees. Full fees list here(revolut.com). No charge for the physical card either.

    Up to $9000 AUD per month on the free plan.

    As far as I know, they are the only ones that can be loaded from a different credit/debit card with no fees. Maybe someone can point out how this is classified on points cards as well? (ie do you get points?). Also supports bank transfer loads if you prefer that.

    Don't do this. It's a cash advance.

    In addition, they offer 1 time use disposable cards(revolut.com) which are awesome for free trials/etc.

    Paid plans only. Free plans don't have this feature.

    • -2

      Up to $9000 AUD per month on the free plan.

      Oops, missed that. Will add to OP.

      Don't do this. It's a cash advance.

      Yea, other services like DiviPay didn't count as a cash advance for some reason? Fixed in the OP.

      Paid plans only. Free plans don't have this feature.

      Incorrect, I am on the free plan and I have disposable cards.

      • +2

        Incorrect, I am on the free plan and I have disposable cards.

        Not incorrect. It's not a published feature of the free plan - in fact it's explicitly called out as a feature of Premium and above. If you currently have it, you were either grandfathered into it from the beta, or it's a limited trial. It is not something that everyone is going to get.

        • +3

          Oh, my bad. You're totally right, I checked my plan to make sure but i guess was grandfathered into it. Updating OP now 🙈

          • @atymic: That's cool - just making sure we're clear. I actually pay for it just to get that feature, because it's super useful.

            • @[Deactivated]: Updated the post, yea I checked my account and assume that was the same. I actually have a different plan info screen in my app to the one on the site.

        • i singed up a couple weeks ago and good that it's available on the free plan

          • +1

            @follow: It's not - virtual cards are free, disposable virtual cards are not. You have to manually nuke the card after a charge if you're on the free plan.

    • I used to get charged an International Currency fee (even though it's in AUD) with them because they used an international merchant acquirer.

      Good times were had by my bank at 3% + Cash Advance fee (because they also hadn't set up lowest cost routing to go to eftpos on a linked debit/credit card).

    • What you said is completely not true, I do have "Disposable Virtual card" option on Free plan which I just signed up here same as many other ppl commented on here, if you do have to pay for it then maybe you should just cancel the premium option.

      • No, what I said is completely true. Disposable cards are advertised in all their materials as a premium feature only. If it is something that is available currently for free users, it could be for many reasons - a temporary offering, a system error, but unless the company advertises it as part of the free plan, it shouldn't be listed on OzBargain as a free feature.

        • I just checked their plan feature and you are right. Anyway it is free for now so it's good then.

          • @samehada: how does the disposable card work? looks like same number

            • @capslock janitor: Once the disposable card has been used by a merchant via a payment attempt, you get a push notification telling you that it has been destroyed, and you will see a new card in its place. I believe the destroyed card can still be used to issue refunds but cannot be used for any further payment attempts.

              PS: Which movie / show is that drooling chic in your avatar from?

              • @DoctorCalculon:

                disposable card has been used by a merchant via a payment attempt, you get a push notification telling you that it has been destroyed,

                oh i hadnt noticed this notif tho, but did seem to fail on UberPass one time

                who's drooling? is ur fluids leaking
                it's me lull

  • +6

    its charging 9.99 for delivery too

  • +4

    Be aware if you try and transfer a large amount (not sure on the threshold .. thousand or two plus? not sure) that they will block it and ask for proof of funds etc. Sometimes it can be delayed by some time (sometimes weeks). Plenty of comments about this on the net.

    Not sure why exactly, Transferwise never does this (well, they say it's for Anti-money laundering (AML) reasons.. but yeah.. Transferwise and other services don't automatically put a block on accounts all the time).

    • +1

      Strange, maybe if you request it on a new account? I've loaded plenty and haven't had any issues. Think this is probably automated risk management.

      • Think this is probably automated risk management.

        Definitely automated.
        Even if you chat with a support person first, and tell them you are doing such and such a transfer - they can't stop the bot from blocking you.

        I just find it annoying.

        Some people regularly do the transfers and are regularly blocked, and asked for info.

    • +2

      Revolut is bolted on top of the ANZ infrastructure here in Australia, subject to ANZ's AML/KYC rules.

      • Revolut is bolted on top of the ANZ infrastructure here in Australia, subject to ANZ's AML/KYC rules.

        Yeah it's just annoying to keep on providing info when no other bank/fintech asks you for it.
        Eg you might get blocked monthly.

    • +1

      I had this happen to me when using Revolut Singapore's service and transferring money to friends in Singapore & overseas from Singapore to Malaysia. I think it took about a month for my account to get unblocked. It was indeed a super annoying/frustrating experience, exacerbated by their live chat system.

      To be honest, I don't mind their live chat - I don't find I typically have to repeat myself (much), even if I am served by a different agent. I just say, "refer to previous chat". The annoying part to me is when, for whatever reason, I end up having to wait for an agent for weeks, which happened to me in the middle of this suspension. I then reached out over my partner's account and got an agent immediately, so I started getting suspicious, that they were deliberately "stalling" customer service on my account due to the suspicion. Anyway, I never got to the bottom of this, and the account eventually got released, but it was still super annoying/frustrating.

      Probably not that useful a data point here on Ozbargain specifically - but still a Revolut-specific experience.

      Other than this frustrating experience, I actually really really like their service/product. They have a well designed app with a great UI/UX, with genuinely useful features like the disposable cards and instant blocking of your card and in-app authorisation. They offer fantastic forex rates with the generous monthly limit, even on the free plan.

      • I then reached out over my partner's account and got an agent immediately, so I started getting suspicious, that they were deliberately "stalling" customer service on my account due to the suspicion.

        Yeah, this seems to happen regularly.

      • I had my account blocked from 26 October 2020 until 3rd February 2021 due to a large UK to AU transfer, with 11 separate Live Chat agents unable to verify documents to their satisfaction.
        The sender overseas also had their account blocked a week later. Only unblocked after AFCA fast tracked a formal complaint. Eventually got the money out but lost over $2000 due to the exchange rate falling in that time.
        The "compensation" was a refund of the premium plan fee.
        As you said, the UI is great - until it's not

  • FYI

    You will need to take a picture of a valid government-issued photo ID and a picture of your face. We may request a copy of your legal right to remain in your country (e.g. visa).

    • Thanks, noted in the OP. Pretty standard for any financial service these days though.

      • +1

        not as common to show your licence and upload a selfie with it.
        can't say I have had to do that before.
        usually it's just ID.. not an ID + selfie.

        • +1

          FWIW, TransferWise also does this - I signed up only 2 weeks ago.

        • +1

          It's more common than you think, the government is already starting to do that (work safe).

        • bro so many do this, binance, aliexpress etc

  • +3

    I use Zip pay. Free as long as you paid the whole bill at the end of the month. You get free single-transaction disposable virtual cards. They are valid for 24h. After that it's gone. Very good for free trials.

    • Oh, that's good to know as well, maybe worth posting as a deal? I don't really like the credit check they do, though.

      • -6

        I use Klarna for this exact purpose with my Up card (no FX fees and I get points that can be redeemed for coupons which is a nice plus when paying with Klarna). No credit checks.

        • +1

          Klarna doesn't do a credit check? And it has disposable virtual credit cards?

          • +2

            @toobzy: Klarna absolutely does a credit check. It's literally the entire section 4 of their privacy policy.

          • @toobzy: Klarna Does credit check for each virtual card. I found 3 credit checks in one months for very small amount..: i close my account because of this

        • +1
      • +1

        The credit check Zip Pay ($1500 limit) do doesn't show up on a credit file. It's treated the same as a post-paid phone credit check.

        Zip Money (over $1500) is the one that's treated as a credit account that shows up on your credit file, including if you're denied.

  • +8

    With regards to Foreign Exchange, some people might ask why you would use this over Transferwise or similar. Remember that up to $9000 AUD per month on the free plan, and up to no limit on the Premium plan and above, Revolut charges no fees on foreign exchange, and uses the interbank rate. Transferwise charges a scaling fee, and also uses the interbank rate.

    I've calculated that the maximum you can send with Transferwise before the fee reaches $10.99 (Revolut's monthly fee for Premium) is $2110 AUD, which is actually even less than the $9000 AUD that Revolut lets you convert for free. As soon as you want to send more than $2110 AUD per month, Revolut's single monthly fee beats out Transferwise's per transaction fee.

    Added to that, Revolut also offers stop-loss and limit orders for foreign currency, so you can actually have it automatically convert when the currency conversion is most favourable.

    • Awesome, that's good to know. I've added the stop loss info to the OP :)

    • +2

      Thanks for explaining, as my first thought, what is this product/main reason i need this… i use Transferwise but now i have an alternative

    • -2

      What's the rate

      • +3

        I literally answered that in the first two sentences. If you want me to actually tell you what the percentage is, I'll have to edit the post every second.

  • +2

    Their customer service is pretty good. App is nice. Forex conversion rates are also top-notch, with no fee upto $9k AUD a month. I found the transfers to be faster than TransferWise. I highly vote this app compared to many traditional Forex platforms.

  • Can we load Revolut card with prepaid visa/mc cards, without fees (e.g. cash advance)?

    • +1

      Speak to the back issuing the card you want to use

    • It will be a cash advance. I cannot see why it would cost you to load from a prepaid card though - what prepaid card charges cashout fees?

    • Not able to load from VIsa one though

    • I tried loading my Revolut card from a prepaid Vanilla Mastercard Gift Card but it got declined with the message "Declined - There was a problem with 3DS verification."

  • +2

    A flat mark-up on weekends and on certain currencies may apply, it’s only fair

    Why is it fair?

    It doesn't cost more to process an electronic transaction on a weekend so why is it fair to charge for it?
    What about public holidays?

    • +9

      It actually does - outside of market hours, they cannot buy foreign currency on the market, and they cannot use another customer's money since it's held in trust (they don't have a banking license to do fractional reserve), so they hedge by charging slightly more. If the pair changes by more than 1%, they actually are effectively subsidising your currency conversion.

      Also, that's London time. Not Australian.

      • Thanks for the informative reply!

  • +1

    will this work for the likes of Hulu since AMEX seems to be the only working payment method from Australia.

    • +6

      No. Hulu uses Address Verification Service, which will fail on a Revolut card as it is an Australian card issued by Revolut Payments Australia Pty Ltd, and has a BIN that is correctly coded as Australian. AVS is not available on cards other than US/Canadian issued.

      • Perfect response. Thanks!

      • All your responses are on point, you seem to know a lot about the matter!

        • Wait until you find out about the little-known American Express ICC!

          • @[Deactivated]: Eli5 please

            • +1

              @hashtagbargain: It's an American Express card, denominated in USD, GBP, or EUR (you choose) that is issued by American Express Europe, and lets you pay for things in USD, GBP or EUR without paying a forex markup (and you pay up to 40 days after the charge like all Amex charge cards). Comes in handy when travelling.

      • What's the bin on the Au issued cards?

        • +1

          473946.

  • +1

    I like the disposable virtual card feature for trials and dodgy merchant, however it is $11 per month for that luxury. Any other banks offer that for a significantly lower/no fees?

    • Agreed, I don't pay anything with my Current mastercard

    • Does it charge you? I added a disposable card to my revolut account but haven't used it yet.

      • +1

        If you have the option to add it for free and you aren't on a paid plan, it means you're grandfathered. If you aren't grandfathered and are on a free plan, attempting to add it triggers an upsell prompt.

        • +1

          I opened a new account now and was able to add disposable virtual card for free. It gave me 2 options under virtual card. It didn't trigger an upgrade to premium plan.

          • @Benjkmv: Can anyone else please confirm if this is the case? Will open one up to try it out if it is.

            • @wildstone: The OP mentioned "In addition, they offer 1 time use disposable cards" it's wrong based on their webiste. Its one time use of disposable card but unlimited disposable card and next time you can create new one.
              From their website:
              What is a disposable virtual card?
              Disposable virtual cards are one-time use cards generated securely in the app. These cards are designed as an extra-secure solution for making online payments at merchants you do not know or trust.

              After you've made an online payment with your disposable card, we’ll automatically block those details from being used again. This means if the card details are stolen, the fraudster won’t be able to make any payments with your card.

              We'll then generate new disposable card details for your next purchase.

          • @Benjkmv: This could be some sort of temporary offering then, or potentially (it's been so long since I signed up) a trial of the Premium features for new members. The product details do not indicate this is a feature of the free plan, so it shouldn't be advertised as such without appropriate disclaimers.

      • I don't think there is a charge for disposable card. I just added it and my account still has $0 balance.

  • Is this like ofx or transferwise?
    If it is pre-paid visa card, what use case would you use this?

    • Also curious on what people are using these for.
      I got excited thinking I could use it for my Argentina Steam account but that doesn't seem possible.

  • Still no stocks for Oz

  • If they are not charging any fees, how do they earn money?

    • People who use it over the free limit pay a fee or get a subscription or whatever.

    • They have many other services including a premium subscription.. not just Forex transfer. Check out their app.

  • Sorry for the noob questions, but

    1) Are the fx fees usually tied to buying things from a foreign website in a different currency or to transfer cash to a foreign bank account?

    2) If we get the metal/premium card and decide it's not worth it, and we downgrade to free do we still keep the physical card or do they send a new one?

  • I have been using Revolut for years with no issues at all. All my travels (once upon a time…) and international transfers are handled by Revolut and I love it. Disposable cards can be generated for free and there is no need to pay for it. It used to be a paid feature but is no longer. Most of my friends and family in EU use it and they all love it too. I never heard from any of my friends of any issues such delayed transfers or money held for further verification. I guess as long as you get verified upon signing up and then refrain yourself from using the card for gambling etc you should be fine. Highly recommended!

    • I guess as long as you get verified upon signing up and then refrain yourself from using the card for gambling etc you should be fine. Highly recommended!

      In all instances I have heard it of people being automatically blocked by their bot is when they are transferring money (some thousands) to other accounts.
      Nothing to do with gambling or buying something from a shop.

      • I never said I did not read about it, however I never experienced it and I spend a lot of money through Revolut. I use it since 2017. Like I said, many friends and my family members in Europe use the service as their primary travel card - again, I never heard of anyone ever complaining.

        • I haven't heard of it being an issue when being used as a travel card either.

          • @bohn: I transfer money with Revolut every month since 2017. No issues. Ever.

    • +1

      What happens when a retailer issues a refund to one of those disposed cards? Will the money still make it back to you?

    • Disposable cards can be generated for free and there is no need to pay for it. It used to be a paid feature but is no longer.

      That's not what their product details say. All of the pages for every country still show it as a paid offering only - if they are currently including it for free that's awesome, but people shouldn't be signing up based on something which isn't even listed as a feature of the free product. (lol at downvotes for truth - stay classy OzB)

  • +4

    Personally Revolute is not for me. They offered me a $35 promo via email if I made 5 transactions before 31st Dec, which I did. I contacted them when I failed to receive the cashback. They directed me to a clause hidden in the terms and conditions where it said that each transaction had to be over $35 (so $35 x 5). I personally found this very deceitful as they should have just put it in the small print under the promo, and not hidden in the promo's terms and conditions on a separate page.

    Also customer service is absolutely awful. There is no way to contact the company except via chat, and it's not an instant chat. You usually have to wait a long time to be connected. If you don't answer their message within a limited amount of time, the chat person changes and you have to restart the conversation. Very frustrating.

    • +4

      Also customer service is absolutely awful. There is no way to contact the company except via chat, and it's not an instant chat. You usually have to wait a long time to be connected. If you don't answer their message within a limited amount of time, the chat person changes and you have to restart the conversation. Very frustrating.

      This is what I have heard - which can be particularly frustrating if their bot has blocked your account because you have tried to transfer some funds to another account overseas. Some people have waited weeks for their funds to be available.

    • +2

      I had to get AFCA to intervene so that my account could be unblocked. Absolute nightmare, I'd never go back unless they have a call center!

      • +1

        You should neg the deal if that's the case to warn others.

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