My traditionnal bank makes me pay 37.10 so they make 0.10 margin, then it’s about 0.3% (I believe it’s Mastercard’s margin). And yes they add 2% that Revolut hasn’t.
Revolut banks makes me pay 37.70 which is 0.60 more, then it’s 1.5%… When they are supposed to take NOTHING.
This is very unfair there is NO WAY they don’t take margin, they take 1.5 % !!! THB is not that illiquid, check https://investing.com/currencies/eur-thb , you have bid/ask rates, spread is not so huge, …
Not to mention ATM withdrawals… as in Thailand you have about 6 euros fixed fees whatever the withdrawal, the 200eur “only” allowed withdrawal by Revolut make it very expensive. Add this to their BIG margin on THB…
Revolut you should charge like Mastercard, live FX rate + 0.30%.
The way to go in Thailand is to bring cash in US dollars. Recent $100 bills get the best rates. This works at least if you fly into Bangkok first. It’s even possible to get a decent deal at the airport although only in certain places.
None of this of course is an excuse for what Revolut is doing.
What Revolut is doing with THB is indeed unacceptable.
Keep in mind, that even if Revolut would offer a better rate for THB it would not really help that much, because on the Thai end, you have ATMs that charge also ridiculous money withdrawal fees.
Just an example would be withdrawal of 20.000 THB in Thailand;
Thai ATM fee 200 THB (5,32 €)
Revolut withdrawal fee (200 € free + 2% out of 331,38 € is 6,62€)
Revolut takes around 1,6% during forex ours and about double that during weekends which makes you loose about 8,5 € from this withdrawal alone.
Total money withdrawal comes down to 20,44 € of various costs.
To me, this is a staggering amount of money for a simple 20.000 THB withdrawal and I completely stopped doing that when travelling to Thailand.
Doing the second withdrawal without the free Revolud atm allowance and perhaps during the weekend, makes you pay another 10 eur or so, which comes to 30 euro for one withdrawal. Crazy !
Hi
Totally agree with Mike. Totally.
Just note you can find 30 000THB atm. But it doesn’t change much the problem.
Yes cash is king but you can;t come with millions. Otherwise transfers… Too bad Revolut could have been the solution. Bye.
With the current fee structure for foreigners in Thailand I think the only way Revolut could be good in Thailand is to become a card issuer there. As all the hotels/shops charge a 3 odd percent for foreign cards as well. Revolut just charge a £5 for a foreign card.
In reality they would probably need to do this worldwide if they wanted to get a larger presence in other continents.