Newbie needing advice

Hi. I’ve just received my card after it being recommended by a friend.
We are travelling to France in the summer and I plan to load my card before I go. Do I need to exchange it all from £ to € before I go, or does it do it automatically on every transaction? Also, when asked should I pay in £ or €. I keep reading conflicting advice, help!

You might want to check out some chapters in the Help Center, like “getting started” and “exploring Revolut”. Besides answers to your questions, there are plenty more useful informations that might be relevant for your trip. :wink:

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As Frank says, it is essential that you read the online documentation - do not make assumptions about Revolut works, as it may well bite you. Before you pay in any money, or take out any money, or arrange a transfer of money, or order a card, or pay with a card, make sure you have read the relevant part of the documentation.

That said, here are some tips to help you understand what you are reading:

  1. Assuming you are resident in the UK, with a GBP base currency, and a GBP bank account, the cheapest way of getting money from your bank to your Revolut account is.likely to be top up your Revolut GBP ledger (sub-account) with GBP using your bank account’s debit card.
  2. As long as you have all the details for your funding bank account and card (including the “3D Secure” password) you can top up anywhere you can use the app.
  3. You don’t have to manually exchange the money into Euros in the app - when you spend using the card, Revolut will do that automatically. However, something a little wacky happens with exchange rates at weekends, so you might want to prepare for that in advance.
  4. If you want a physical card to use in shops etc (as I imagine most of us do), Revolut will charge you a fee for you to get the card.
  5. There are limits on how much money you can out into your account and how much you can take as cash, over given periods. Make sure you understand those. If you don’t, your money may get, um, stranded for a while.
  6. If you want to transfer money by a bank transfer (other than using your bank account debit card) be completely certain you understand the different options and the different bank account details to send to.

No, but still convert “some” to euro, as conversions and transactions during the weekend will be more expensive otherwise.

Definitely euro. Otherwise the amount will be exchanged to pounds by the transaction processor (at their unfavourable rate).

Thank you. I thought I understood it all, then my friend said I should always pay in £.
So will the card always take the £ furst, or if I’ve exchanged some into €, will it take that first? (I’m thinking of the weekends)
Also, it it advisable to top up lots at once (say £1000) or do little and often?
Thank you for the help and sorry for sounding daft. I just really want to understand it all and use it correctly.

Please refer to the help section for the precise order of currencies. During the week it does not matter much as the exchange rate should be the real one, so having it deducted from your sterling funds is not much of a problem. That changes during the weekend when there is a surcharge and you should avoid having anything converted (hence enough funds in your euro wallet).

Should not matter too much either. Just make sure your account is fully verified and you dont hit any limits as your account might be otherwise temporarily blocked and, considering Revolut’s support is getting slower and slower, that temporariness might last quite a while.

I am quite new to Revolut, and nothing would possess me to hold that much money in it yet!

Thank you, I think I’ve got it now.
Basically, I use the card like my normal bank card and funds will be converted from £ to € at the point of sale. I should exchange £ to € for use on a weekend (which will be taken first, before any £.)
Is this right?

I think the question of which currency ledger is used first is slightly more complicated than that, and may depend on whether the first choice ledger has enough in it to completely cover the transaction.

Yes it is, euro will only be taken first if the actually cover the transaction. Otherwise it would fall back to sterling, at which point you will a higher exchange rate during the weekend again. So make sure you have enough euro to last your for Saturday and Sunday (and public holidays).

Thank you for all your help, it really is appreciated. I feel much more confident in using it now. I will of course be taking my bank card as a back up too. :grinning:

A backup is definitely advisable. As long as Revolut works, it works great but for the moment I would not rely on it as sole payment option. For that there seem to be too many complaints.

Personally thought I cannot complain, used it recently abroad and it worked just fine (only one transaction was rejected and that was partially my fault).

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This may help - but as said above, the more of the help section you read the better for you
https://www.revolut.com/help/exploring-revolut/spending-and-sending-money/using-my-card/how-will-my-currency-balances-be-deducted-for-spending

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I’ve just used Revolut on holiday and almost everything worked fine. On my way home, I was asked by a friend to order pizza for her; that was the first time a Revolut transaction was rejected, even though I’ve placed the exact same order a few weeks back. I deem it a bit tedious that valid transactions are rejected (I’d so much more like a 3D secure popup or something), but I do understand that whatever algorithm sorts out strange transactions was puzzled by the fact that I’m using a plane satellite network to buy a pizza…