I dont understand why Revolut decided to go with lowering the amount of free withdrawal. The real solution would be to limit eg. 3 free withdrawals monthly, and problem would be solved for most users. Now this 200 EUR limit is quite ridiculous. For me 200 free limit is virtually useless.
I guess my question to Revolut is…what costs you guys more, 10 withdrawals of 20 euros on random ATMs worldwide or 3 withdrawals of any amount monthly ?
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I believe they said it’s not that easy to generalize. ATM fees are a mix of flat fees, independent from the amount one withdraws, and a markup percentage. And all this is different in different countries, different banks, different ATM owners, different currencies … and the markup, e. g. the amount one withdraws, seems to matter a lot.
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I see your point. But I also see this conflict: card payments generate income for Revolut. ATM withdrawals don’t, they always cost. The only way Revolut could make money with its free basic product is when people use the card for payments instead of cash.
I know, paying cashless is not an option in a lot of countries where one simply needs cash to get around. But how could Revolut as a free product be sustainable if its card is mainly used for cost generating foreign currency withdrawals?
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I don’t know about the business model but do know that the competition, the very similar Monzo card, allows £200 a day up to £1,000 a month.
See my reply in this thread.
I think "Really? €5 or €10 per month would really impact your lifestyle? I somehow doubt that."
Is not a good answer at all. We are not arguing about lifestyle, but about convenience. I own another Mastercard with wich I can withdraw up to 500€ per day and cost only 1.95 per withdrawal.
Of course they take even up to 2% on exchange rate in foregn correncies, but if you take 2% on the withdrawal where is the difference? Furthermore this way you take a fee on the exchange rate whatever it is(more or less 05%), plus a fixed 2%, my own card is absolutely better for ATM
Revolut was available for all citizens in the EEA from the beginning. ATM fees vary a lot. If you look at N26 for example, they have different limits per country. Revlout instead managed to keep it simple and the same for all its customers. And they clearly want you to use the card for payments (brings them money) and not for cash withdrawals (costs them money).
Another guess. I guess, there is a considerable amount of people that use the Revolut card not on a daily basis but more as a travel card. They load it up, travel to some place, and want to withdraw a large sum to spend on vacation.They would profit from Revolut’s rates maybe two or three times a year. Which is great for them, but not sustainable for Revolut. I have no insight in their business decision at all, but I can see this being one of the reasons why they have a relatively small limit instead of a bigger quarterly or yearly limit or a limitation of the number of withdrawals.
At the end of the day it is good for all of us if they can maintain their free basic offer.
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I still fail to understand how different companies seem to have such different strategies. My old style Bank allows me to draw £500 per day in foreign currency for no fee at VISA exchange rates. For purchases it’s VISA rate +2% foreign currency charge. So I draw cash on my old style Card and spend in shops using :r:
whatever you say, but to stay in business need to increase their customers, and how if a common card offer better conditions?
Well, traditionally, current accounts and cards offered by highstreet banks are cross-subsidized. Banks make money by upselling. Credits, mortgages, you name it. Other banks have yearly prices for credit cards. And most banks are only national. Competitors like Starling or Monzo are only availabe for GB citizens and the product is designed as a current account replacement. So it is a fair assumption, that most users will withdraw money regularly in GB and only ever so often on vacation. That might make ATM fees for them more predictable. Also, full fledged banks make money by borrowing out their customers money. Revolut can’t do that with their license. Then the current low base rate limit earnings from credit interest for banks. And the recent credit/debit card fee regulation in the EU reduced what banks can make with merchant fees.
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- points to make what I heard from a friend also using Revolut and I fully agree!!
#1: 200£/200 EUR free ATM limit is quite low for many Revolut users!! If you travel cash in many countries is still a must.
#2. Revolut clients who are loyal and long time users are not rewarded. No rewards for paying with the card which is Revolut income!! New customers get free card - old ones despite early promises no paypass cards… Just two examples…
Solutions:
#1 I read quite often why dont you implement : rolling ATM usage or not a monthly but a yearly limit. Probably for your income better the rolling one 
#2 reward loyal/frequent users who pay by the card. The more you spend - hihger ATM withdrawal limits…
Probably it is not rocket science… There are many many projects @revolut but you fotget about bread&butter biz - and then consequence is angry or exiting customers… look above how many posts!!
Let’s assume an ATM withdrawal costs 1,50. With a merchant fee of 0,02 %, how much has a customer to spend with the card that Revolut brakes even? And what if the customer uses a debit card to top up the account? Then Revolut would have to spend the merchant fee for this top-up. So what’s left when I top-up 2000 with a card and then spend 2000 with Revolut?
Since Revolut started with higher limits years ago, I have no reason not to believe them when they said back then “sorry guys, we can’t afford it”. I want them to have a sustainable business model after they burned trough their venture capital. Also, higher limits would make the service more costly for all customers, not just for people who need or want more cash. I consider it fair and democratic when customers that want or need to use a more costly service like ATM withdrawals pay their share of fees for it instead of all customers cross-subsidizing it for them. And since the business model of the free service is mainly based on spending with card, I have accepted that their cash withdrawal limits can’t compete with services that have a different business models.
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