I don’t understand the whole discussion whether it’s okay or not to provide a terrible exchange rate during weekends. Of course it is not okay!
How come all other payment processors or exchanges have a better exchange rate during the weekend ? Are they not affected by the same “risk” ? And they don’t even market themselves as having “the best possible exchange rate” or “better than your bank”. I will be okay with it if Revolut remove this from their website, because it simply isn’t true. Not to mention their support.
About the “risk”, Bulgaria has a currency board for more than 20 years and will be adopting the euro in the next few years. What risk are we talking about ? Certainly not enough risk to justify the terrible exchange rate.
Also, why there isn’t an official statement on this topic yet ? Is this not dubious ? What is the “risk” for us to hold currency in our accounts ?
I’m really disappointed in and I feel bad because I recommended it to so many people.
Funny thing is they promote their new functionality - Vaults, to “save money”, while I’m saving a lot more by just not using
I’m really sorry for the delay in getting back to you here. I just wanted to investigate this before providing an update.
I’m afraid you were checking the mid rate and not the interbank rare. As previously explained, Revolut uses interbank rate which is not the same as the one you can check online. Rate providers like XE.com do not show the interbank rate, but the mid-market rate, i.e. the average between the bid and offer rate. This is because when you go to search up a currency pair the website doesn’t know whether you’re looking to buy or sell that currency so it just gives the middle.
On the 20th of May you should have received aprox 1.933, however you have received 1.926, including the 1% weekend mark up. Still really close!
If you follow the calculations you can confirm this too:
Today’s Mid Market - Bid rate = x
X difference - Mid Market rate = Interbank.
IF it’s weekend:
Interbank - 1%
Nevertheless, you have received the correct rate and the mark up was 1%!
I’m not claiming that I have not received the “correct rate”, I’m saying that your “correct rate” is terrible, not even close to the rates that are provided by the banks.
For a comparison, my bank gives me 1.95100 7 days a week with no fluctuations whatsoever, which is still worse than some of the local exchanges.
Considering the above, this makes the bold statements on your home page - “Better than your bank” and “best possible exchange rates” simply untrue.
Kindly asking you to remove them or at least clarify. For example: “Better than your bank, except on the weekends, then it’s terrible” or “Exchange currencies at the “correct” rate”
The weekend BGN nightmare can be easily fixed if we have the Lev as a base currency… but this is not happening anytime soon. So, the other option (which has already been suggested numerous times) is holding the funds on weekends and processing them on Monday with the normal week rates.
@anon33247966, can you say something on this? Understand that spending with Revolut is mostly done on weekends…
Right now, all your statements of how you give the best rates are not even close to the truth…
Of course, that’s what I’m doing. I don’t have problem with that.
However, I have problem with hypocricity. I also problem when companies openly misleading their customers and don’t take responsibility.
I made a few purchases on the “correct rate” before I realized it. It’s not a big deal for me, I just don’t think it should be overlooked. People should be aware, I can only imagine how many people won’t notice it.
The spread IS making sense A currency that is artificially linked to another currency is by definition weak and risky, even it’s own gouvernment doesn’t believe in it or in its country economy !
Some even think that it’s not real fiat money.
Its a little sad to write this because Bulgaria is a nice country.
Sorry, that doesn’t make the least sense. So you tell me Revolut charges 1.6% of each transaction over years in order to prepare for their central bank changing their opinion on the binding to the euro during the weekend? No, sorry, that’s just bullshit.
Just as a little addition: Do you think my good old home bank is Santa Clause? If your arguments were correct, why is the official Visa rate for EUR/BGN exactly the fixed rate, even on the weekend? There are plenty cards out there that give you the Visa or Mastercard rate.
Since when is N26, a German Fintech that uses the official Mastercard rate, any bigger than Revolut?
Sorry, the thing is, I just don’t like hidden cross-subsidisation. Revolut communicates the fee (even though it could add a more bold hint on the difference between mid market and buy/sell rate), so it’s basically fine what they do. However, they obviously charge extra on the weekend (because certain transactions are far more expensive than with other banks) to cover the zero-markup-rule during the week. I don’t like that because I’d prefer to just pay for what service I use. For example, people using R during the weekend finance the transactions of others during the week which is uncool.
Just do the math… first of all we are talking about BGN and let’s be honest this isn’t a major currency and the virtual issue you are talking about is only during the week end.
So let’s image there is half a millions LEV exchanged over the week end on , the difference between the interbank rate of 1.95583 and a rate if 1.926 is… 3900€
Let’s be honest, the amount is ridiculous for a 2 millions customers ebank valued at 1.7 billions $
First, it’s not a virtual issue!
Second, it’s not only about BGN, but all other currencies, which can’t be set as base ones… the numbers are pretty big.
They don’t just EUR/BGN for that of course Here, it’s just the most obvious that the reason for the mark-up is not that currency prices change during the weekend, but to make profit. As discussed in other threads, the weekend rates of Revolut are significantly worse than Mastercard rates on multiple occasions. And since no company is going to give you free lunch, the fact that others give you the Mastercard rate means it’s sustainable to use the Mastercard rate. But Revolut does not.
Sure, but I’d prefer transparency. ATM withdrawals aren’t free, so why not always charge for them? In turn, please don’t add fees to a currency pair where the price doesn’t move. Actually, I rarely use ATMs.
To be clear: I’m not asking for free lunch. I just don’t like the fact that Revolut is cheaper on 5 out of 7 days and more expensive on the remain two. It renders the product awkward…
Lol you’re all talking like BGN is a highly used currency over the week end, but the truth is that it’s a minor currency and can’t earn money with such peanuts numbers
and I feel bad because I recommended it to so many people.
A currency that is artificially linked to another currency is by definition weak and risky, even it’s own gouvernment doesn’t believe in it or in its country economy !