Topic suggestion: Brazilian feedback and comments
Revolut in Brazil is pretty new and when entering on a new market there’s always some regional adaptation needed because each country have their own particularities.
Account:
Revolut BRL account is on a exchange house (if I’m not wrong) and at this moment seems to be the same account number to everyone and only know to where send the money by associate the sender to the account, basically I can only send money to my Revolut account from another bank account belonging to myself, what limits the account usage.
Would be essential an individual account number to compete with another banks on everyday use.
Several smaller regional payment apps offer it from the beginning.
When revolut get their own bank license or just use their current partner, but supporting individual account number to their accounts, would be helpful to use was an actual everyday account.
Debit card:
Like I told on others past comments, foreign debit card are recognized was a “prepaid credit card” in Brazil, this have the advantage of being able to use the card online on apps/websites, unlike Brazilian debit card that rarely does that but because is recognized was a “credit card” it may not be accepted on some smaller places that only accepts “Brazilian debit card” (Visa Electron or MasterCard Maestro)
Most card in Brazil are “dual function”, so credit and debit on the same plastic, that’s why when paying on card the clerk always ask if is debit or credit, if you say “debit” (the machine will be expecting a Visa Electron or Maestro) and mostly will give a error message) I only remember seeing PagSeguro terminals doesn’t error out the transaction and finishing it on whatever function the card have.
(I may or may not used it to pay on credit on places that only accepts debit)
Would be nice an option to have a card with dual function (Visa Debit and Visa Electron) so would be recognized was a debit card in Brazil.
Debit card part #2
Something understandable but really annoying on revolut debit card is that to use it I need first to convert the account balance to a foreign currency, would be nice on a everyday account to have a balance in BRL and use it without converting to another currency first, and save 1.1% of IOF (taxes).
Maybe like another banks who offers international accounts here, having a Brazilian card and an international one, one for local usage and another for travel/foreign use.
PIX the instantly payments and bank transfers
PIX is something magical, instantly bank transfer and payments 24/7/365, would be nice having an individual PIX key, to receding from another persons instead of only myself, but also to pay for goods and services, some smaller places give up on accepting even debit cards and only takes PIX since is without fees (without from personal accounts, business could be charged, but aren’t since if one bank charges for it, other will offer from free and clients/business will migrate, like they do on credit card machines, isn’t uncommon to see several machines from different providers on the same commerce).
If a foreign open a BRL account and get a PIX key (may be an randomly generate one, an e-mail address or a phone number, or one of each) it may simplify the experience by having a PIX button on their BRL account and pay (or receive) instantly from/to Brazilian persons or business
Withdraw and local ATM deal
Some busy topic I saw a discussion about what ATM to use in Brazil, Bradesco seems to be the preferable one but would be nice revolut doing some deal with “Banco 24 Horas” (that beside being called bank, is the biggest ATM network in Brazil, belonging to an association of the biggest Brazilian banks), because nowadays you may only see a bank ATM on their own branches and Bank 24 Hours ATM are everywhere, supermarkets, pharmacies, malls, gas stations, bus stations.
On my Brazilian account I use those ATM without a card, just by selecting my bank on a list and scanning my fingerprint, since I don’t carry my debit card because I use Apple Pay everywhere for everything and it’s extremely rare needing a plastic card.
And a direct deal with the biggest ATM network in Brazil could be advantageous, like allowing switch the card PIN or maybe even depositing some local currency on Revolut account.
On some fancy malls and airports those ATM even offers to withdraw in dollars and Euros.
Metal cards
I would love a metal card, just to use where contactless/Apple Pay isn’t accepted (rare but happens sometimes), but the price of a metal card on revolut (€15/month right?) in Brazil would be too much for just having a debit card.
On similar prices where we could get a Black ostentatious card “without limit” (if the credit score allows), I would considering a one time payment for a metal card but a monthly payment only if was a fancy credit card with some benefits that were useful to me.
Credit card
We Brazilian loves credit cards, for a different reason than the North Americans, since everything here is more expensive (at least double) of the same thing on other countries, we use our credit card to pay on installments directly on the card, like I toke my car to the mechanics for maintenance and was charged R$725 in 3 installments on my credit card, so each month it charges me R$ 241,66 without interest.
Paying annual fee for a credit card isn’t something most people like since if we kick a tree probably 7 different cards without annual fee will fall from there
Something preferable that most banks do is having a monthly fee on the card but doesn’t charging it if spending (and paying on time) a high monthly value or having a certain amount on the bank balance or investment.
Investment and savings account
I would love to earn some interest on my foreign balance in revolut, would be nice being able to invest in something (sort of long term) on foreign currency but investments are complicated and saving account would be interesting, but since savings account outside Brazil earn almost nothing (compared with Brazilians ones) something that earned interest daily or monthly would be attractive.