Vendor insists Revolut Card is a Credit Card

From time to time a vendor will insist that a pre-paid card is a credit card because that is what their computer reports and will charge a fee for its use. I have had it happen with using both the Revolut Card and with the Post Office Money Card. Usually I then pay with a Visa Debit Card which is always OK or cash. Should I just use the card and hope Revolut can sort it out later? It would be useful if Revolut published guidance as to what to do when this happens.

Hello @badskittler,

Thank you for contacting us.
Can you please let us know, what’s the name of the vendor/merchant?

Best,

Andreas K

In this forum my intention was to seek guidance. I have a payment pending at the moment which might be resolved. If faced with this situation and I use my Revolut card am I guaranteed to get the fee back? If not then I would rather use a different card.

@badskittler - Like you, I’ve had problems with another prepaid debit card being misinterpreted by merchants as a credit card, sometimes falsely as a non-UK card. I found that www.binchecker.org was the most reliable source of checking a card’s BIN/IIN (the first 6 digits that indicate the card issuer, card type etc), and that many merchants use out-of-date BIN/IIN lists. However, if you enter Revolut’s BIN/IIN (539123) into www.binchecker.org, it says that it is issued in Russia. Could this be the cause of the problem?

Just had another case of being asked for credit card fee with UK company Friendship Travel. This time 2.5% which would be in this case ÂŁ25. Tried insisting it is a debit card but their computer says no. If this was outside the UK it would be cheaper to use my ordinary bank card even with a worse exchange rate. If I pay with my Revolut card can I recover the fee? If not then is a Revolut card any advantage?

Unfortunately, we cannot do something. That’s how the merchant reads our card. We truly apologise for any inconvenience caused.

@badskittler - You could do one of two things:

  1. Refer the merchant to www.binchecker.org which states that that card is a debit card.

  2. Pay the surcharge “under protest” (a legal term meaning that you are paying but do not agree that the payment is due), and then ask for it back later. If the merchant’s terms and conditions state that only credit cards are surcharged, then you could ultimately issue a claim in the Small Claims track of the County Court for recovery of the surcharge.

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If this happens while physically using your card in a store, why not showing the merchant the back of the card where it says “prepaid”? At least it says on the back of my card.

Actually nothing can be done because, as per scheme rules (in this case MC), cards only run on two rails, debit or credit, and in the case of prepaid it is credit. As such, merchants will be charged the same fee as a credit product. This isn’t something that Revolut can fix and don’t imagine that a fix from the schemes is coming anytime soon. Not the best news, but the reality

Are you sure about this? Because prepaid cards are just a subcategory of debit cards

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In Chile all merchants treat my Revolut card like a credit card, with no exception. Before paying they ask: credit or debit, I must always say: credit :smiley:

Yes, I believe this is a complicated topic. Different countries seem to have debit cards implemented differently. In New York, for example, I tried the Revolut Card at a small shop. The merchant asked me if it’s a debit or credit card. I first said debit and the card was declined. He then told me that it is always “credit” with international cards. Only US issued debit cards would work as “debit” with his terminal.

@Sodhanani - This is not true. Use the above BIN checker. You will see that there are at least three parameters:

  1. Card type, i.e. credit or debit
  2. Card level, e.g. prepaid
  3. Consumer or commercial

Revolut is a consumer prepaid debit card.

Same problem with Vueling

It’s an issue also at Ryanair. They have a special way they handle Prepaid cards and they all 2.5% to the fare when paying with Revolut card…

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The good news is as of January, in UK at least, extra charges like this will be illegal.

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Indeed. Surcharges for card payments will be outlawed by Regulation 6A(1) of the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 with effect from 13th January 2018. The legislation is the UK’s early implementation of an EU directive, so this will eventually apply all over the EU.

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In Canada, all Revolut transaction happen as credit… with debit it plain won’t work. Most of the times in Italy is the same thing, although not always.