After a trip to the NYC last week, I thought I’d give some feedback regarding how I got on for those who haven’t used it over there yet
Well basically it worked pretty much flawlessly. The shops in the NYC are slowly getting used to chip and pin and you start seeing more and more terminals appearing however, they don’t always work with the Revolut card and you still have to swipe and sign. Some of the terminals are also contactless but I had the contactless function disabled in the app so can’t comment if that works or not
ATM’s - Again this worked virtually every time. I say virtually as I tried to get cash out of an HSBC ATM and they have a “$100 Fast Cash” option on the screen where you enter your PIN. This service didn’t work for me as it spat out my card and a receipt showed that no money was taken and to contact my issuer so I took cash out through the normal route. However, the failed transaction showed as a genuine transaction in the app so I had to contact CS in the app and show them the ATM receipt to show it was a failed transaction. CS said it could take up to 10 working days for the money to be refunded (which was a bit annoying) but the next morning the transaction had been reversed and the money was back in my account. Top work on that one!!
ATM fees - None of the ATM’s I used offered any kind of fee free transactions and everywhere was a $3 transaction fee. The only ATM I found which offered lower fees was in a McDonald’s I went into where certain USA issued cards were fee free and other cards was a $1.99 transaction fee however, I never used it so cannot comment if this was the case for international cards as I was just going by the sign they had stuck on the front of the ATM. Be careful though if using the ATM’s at USA airports. I used one at JFK departures and it had a $5 use fee so only take cash out at airports if you really really need to
In short, the card worked perfectly fine in all the shops, restaurants, ATM’s etc I visited apart from the odd glitch here and there as mentioned above. If you’re looking to use a card over there, you really won’t go far wrong with the Revolut card. Just be wary of the “Fast Cash” option as mentioned above
Thank you so much for taking the time to provide your feedback. Your helpful comments are much appreciated and your feedback will help other users too.
Yes, that pretty much sums up my experience in the US. I’d like to add one thing, though. Since Revolut cards are foreign cards for US POS terminals, a merchant told me to remember this: sometimes, a terminal might ask you if your card is a debit or a credit card. Choose “credit” here, “debit” does not work with international cards.
I’ve nearly got my head around the whole concept of this - I’ve only recently signed up for Revolut and I’m going to NYC in April for five days. The spending money that we’re taking is going to be pretty much all put on the Revolut card apart from a couple of hundred dollars which I’ll take with me in cash.
Do I have to convert my spending money into USD in the app before I go, or do I just leave my balance as GBP, use the card and it’ll do it for me automatically for each transaction?
Personally I’d change it then that way you’ll be getting nigh on the best exchange rate possible and won’t have to go through the whole DCC (Dynamic Currency Conversion) they sometimes try to do when they’ll take your GBP and convert it into USD but at a much lower rate. Example of this was at a Moneycorp ATM when I was at Gatwick and it wanted to do the withdrawal using their DCC and it worked out at $1.08 to the £. Said no to that and just got fresh $$ out just like you would get ££ at any normal high street ATM
With any POS terminals, always select to pay in the local currency. I had that a couple of times when I was shopping in the American Eagle store in Times Square where it wanted to change my USD to GBP then convert it back to USD again
And I can confirm what @Frank regarding selecting Credit at the ATM as that’s what I was doing. Usual options are Credit, Checking and Debit
Let’s sort things out here: you can, but you don’t have to exchange your GBP into USD. The Revolut card will do the exchange for you on the fly, when you pay. It will deduct money from any of the three currencies in your account that has sufficient funds and will convert in realtime. But be aware of Revolut’s locked in rates over the weekend.
Exchanging beforehand might be a good idea if you think the exchange rate is now better than at the time you’re planning to travel. This way, you can benefit from the better rate.
Be careful if a POS terminal, or a cashier, asks you if you want to pay in “your” currency. This is more likely to happen at airports and touristy places. POS terminals recognize the card being issued in the UK and assume it is connected to a GBP account. Do not accept currency conversion here. If you then don’t have GBPs in your Revolut account, the triple conversion Macca described will happen: USD into GBP back into USD. Always pay or withdraw money at an ATM in the local currency.
Also check the FAQ section on the main website. If you are asked at an ATM if you want to deduct money from either a current account or a credit account, I believe you have to choose current account/debit card to make it work. But in a shop, it is the other way around “credit”, not “debit”.
@Frank confusing: in the UK I must chose credit in a shop and debit with an ATM?
Avoiding GBP -> EUR -> GBP this way?
Revolut says I always should chose debit or saving …
First thing: at the moment of payment, money will first be deducted from the account in the currency of the payment. If you pay in UK, it will deduct it from your GBP balance. In US, from the USD balance.
Let’s now say you want to pay something for 200 USD but you only have 100 USD in your balance. The app will then deduct the payment from the next balance with sufficient funds. Let’s say this might be your GBP balance. GBP will be exchanged into 200 USD at the moment of payment.
Second thing: The Revolt card is a UK card. Card terminals can read the issuer’s country code. At a US airport, for example, a coffee shop might offer you to charge your card in “your” account currency, which would be GBP. The terminal assumes your card is a GBP card, because it is issued in the UK. The dumb terminal has no idea about your card’s conversion capability. If you accept to pay in GBP, the merchant will exchange the original USD price into GBP with a less favorable rate.
And now, if your GBP balance is zero and you’re only holding USD in your account, the worst thing happens: the price for your coffee will be converted from the original USD into GBP at the bad rate and then back into USD at Revolut’s rate. Two unnecessary conversions. (That’s what happened to Macca, as far as I understood him.)
Third thing: acceptance. Your card is most likely being declined if you don’t choose “credit” at US shop terminals or “debit” at US ATMs. (Revolut says choose always “debit or saving” with ATMs, not terminals in shops.) It’s not really a problem, though. One can try it out until it works. Just good to know. And it might be specific to the US. I haven’t seen a UK terminal asking me what kind of card or account I have.
Sorry, so many words. Was I able to sort it out?
PS: Revolut works great in the UK. You are on home turf there! But check official FAQ on the Revolut website about London transport if you’re planning on going there.
Just to clarify, the whole USD-GBP-USD didn’t happen to me as I wasn’t dumb enough to let their POS terminals do it. That’s what I understand it does from reading various posts throughout the community. The only ATM it asked me if I want them to do the DCC was at the Moneycorp one at Gatwick as I was using a UK card to take out USD so I just continued without it doing the DCC just like you would a normal ATM. No USA ATM asked me if I wanted to do the DCC
And at ATM’s and POS terminals over there, I always picked Credit as the card option and it worked every single time so I didn’t try the Debit or Checking options
Yes, from my experience I consider DCC a tourist trap. I encountered it at airports (both ATM and POS) and touristy places like harbor promenades on mediterranean islands.
I dont take USD to the US.
As I use the card for most tranactions, I don’t need much cash. I just withdraw cash in the US using the Revolut card and get the best exchange rate.
If you only need a couple of hundred dollars, you can withdraw that within the new monthly withdrawal limit of £200.
Most ATM in US will charge a flat fee for the withdrawal, usually around $3. So one large withdrawal is the more cost effective method of getting cash.
I have my money on the card as GBP and let Revolut deal with the conversions.
In restaurants, pay the bill with card and tip in cash, its simpler.
Have a back up card.
Thanks for sharing. The only US Bank I found so far which is not taking any additional charges is WELLS FARGO. $0 Fee for the ATM. They also don’t want to force you to use a currency conversion. Very good experience with them.
Very old topic, but can anyone tell me which option at an ATM i need to choose to withdraw money in the USA? I have topped my account with sufficient USD. It asks for checking, savings, debit etc…
Hi,
I recently used Revolut debit Master Card to withdraw $300 cash at Chase ATM in New York. I selected Checking account. Then it asked me if I was ok to pay the ATM fee of $3. I accepted with an assumption that up to $300 would be free of charge as per Revolut’s website terms. But later when I contacted Revolut, I was shocked to be advised that I exceeded my limit of $300 as the ATM receipt showed the amount withdrawn was $303. I tried to explain that I could not have withdrawn the required $300 without accepting the service fee of $3. But, the customer rep was not helpful in resolving my issue. So I ended up paying $3 as service fee to Chase and $0.06 as service fee to Revolut. I learnt my lesson not to use Revolut card to withdraw cash in USA as almost all ATMs charge a service fee if you are not a member of that ATM owner bank.
monthly withdrawal limit of £200.