Revolut in Spain

Hello,

I am travelling to Spain (Valencia) at the end of September. Does anybody have any experience with using Revolut there? I read somewhere that merchants often charge you in the card’s currency (GBP) and that the ATMs started detecting Revolut cards and therefore some people had problems with withdrawing money.

Anyone here who has recently been to Spain and can share his own experience?

Thank you :slight_smile:

Hi
Unless you have loaded Euro onto your card, in which case it will automatically deduct from your Euro cache, always pay in GBP otherwise the merchant sets the rate!
Hope that helps.

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@Rona, sorry but you are wrong.

When paying with Revolut, always choose the local currency on the payment terminal (in case of Spain: EUR). If you are offered GBP, the exchange rate isfixed by the payment operator which is not good.

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Sorry yes I was incorrect. Don’t know what I was thinking about, I’ve been all around the world using Revolut and always selected the local currency. At least I was right about the merchant setting the rate, just put in the wrong currency.
Apologies

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Beware that many merchants, particularly in Spain, now have functionality in their card terminals to disingenuously change the currency and amount after you have entered your PIN. See:

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@NHF Yes, that was the story that I heard. It is unfair that they charge you in card’s currency even if you chose their local currency. Now I am afraid to use Revolut card there, you never know what can happen.

I spent 2 weeks in Spain earlier in the year and had to insist on being charged in own currency, GBP, every time I used my card. Never had currency changed back after entry though.

Why did you want to be charged in GBP when their local currency is EUR? That way you had worse exchange rate.

@aleksvujic - You don’t need to be afraid to use your card. Just be very alert to any such fraud by merchants, including waiters. Be prepared, no matter how small the amount, to kick up a big fuss and overtly accuse the merchant of dishonesty. Where the currency and amount are changed after authorisation, it is fraud. The amount might be small in individual cases, but the big picture is an enormous scam, facilitated only because many consumers can’t be bothered to complain about small amounts.

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I used my card for the first time in Mallorca last week. I had euros on the card, my withdrawal was in Euros and I was charged 3.5% commission and a flat fee of €1.80. I guess that money goes to the bank.

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If you withdraw cash from an ATM and are not using the banks own card, I have found that Sabadell and BBva both have an additional service charge/commission (as you describe), wheras with other banks, such as Caixa there is no additional fee - best to cancel the transaction and find another ATM (if you can).

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Good advice. It was sabadell. I’m back in the U.K now. I wonder if it the same situation in Germany? I’m traveling to Berlin on the 21st.

Hey @Philgoz76 @wizgnome

This has been discussed here
Santander Bank ATM fees in Spain

Basically CaixaBank, LiberBank, CajaDuero, Bankia, ING… are not charging fees. Avoid Santander, BBVA and Sabadell :wink:

Thanks for the info @Juliopp :+1:

Hey @aleksvujic,

I’m a Revolut user from Spain. Paying with Revolut at POS terminals can be a bit tricky as in Spain, the people are used to handing over the card to the merchant. As 99% of the terminals accept NFC payments, merchants tend to put your card on the POS terminal that doesn’t ask you for a PIN of the payment is below 20 EUR. I’d say about 30% of the POS terminals ask you if you want to pay in GBP.
The message on the terminal is in English and shows 2 options: GREEN BUTTON: Pay in GBP. RED BUTTON: Pay in EUR.
Merchants normally don’t understand English and tend to press the GREEN button.
It happened to me twice at McDonalds’ Drive Thru that I would hand out my card and seconds later they already charged me in GBP (with a ridicolous markup).
For this reason, I have disabled NFC payments, and when I pay with, I keep the terminal in my hand after typing the PIN, till I’m sure the payment has gone through in Euros.

Secondly, the ATMs withdrawals: Most banks don’t charge anything for ATM withdrawals with foreign cards. Just skip BBVA and Sabadell. The largest bank, Caixabank, has free withdrawals. (Oh, and btw, I know from experience that BBVA charges the same for any foreign card. Its not like they do thisonly to Revolut)

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I travel from UK to Spain every six weeks and have had no problems using Revolut there. Yes be careful to pay in Euros; tell the shop, etc. “pay in Euros” and don’t hand the terminal back until the currency option is displayed enabling you to select Euros. I use Banco Popular to withdraw cash at an ATM without charge. Other banks may charge a fee. Remember only €200 may be withdrawn from ATMs each calendar month without a Revolut charge (standard users).

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Also, if you happen to use a Euronet ATM (which are starting to pop up in tourist areas), don’t get fooled by the ATM. It will offer you o convert the Euro amount back to GBP “for free”.
The free conversion actually uses a shitty rate, and when you think you already chose to not convert, they will attempt a second time to convert it, with another message telling you that converting is better.
Don’t get tricked. Don’t convert …

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Heyyyy… I always thought that Caixa is not charging fee but today I withdraw some money and they charget extra fee, could anyone explain me why somehow? :smiley: At my credit card I have the same currancy - euros… It’s crazyy.

Heyyyy… I always thought that Caixa is not charging fee but today I withdraw some money and they charget extra fee, could anyone explain me why somehow? :smiley: At my credit card I have the same currancy - euros… It’s crazyy.

Hey @Gretga :slight_smile:

Then they have joined the trend of charging for the usage of foreign cards :frowning:

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