Please could someone tell me whether I should continue using my Revolut card over the weekend? Revolut claims to offer the interbank exchange rate which is superior to that of MasterCard but charges a mark up of between 0.5-1.5% over the weekend.
Therefore it’s surely more expensive to use Revolut over the weekend versus a credit card that doesn’t impose foreign transaction fees? (Excluding withdrawals, although if you have a positive balance on your credit card you won’t get charged interest for withdrawals either).
@Daniel2 the markup during weekends is very little in my experience and it only applies when you are performing purchases not in your home currency. In my case my currency is euro and this would be an issue only when I travel outside Europe or buy something online, say in USD… other than that you can use it without problems… at least this is my understanding… please correct me if I’m wrong.
@trulove how can you say that? That Halifax Clarity, although probably a good option, does cost you money per withdrawal, and in the end for each of them, as for your cited source also.
… [with your Halifax Clarity card] you’ll be charged interest at 18.9% representative APR even if you pay it off in full. So it works out at about £1.50/month for each £100 withdrawn
Additionally, MasterCard does cost you money to process exchange, so no, and my experience confirms it, Revolut is cheaper than MasterCard as well. Not in theory, in practice.
@Daniel2 I forgot… Concerning expenses in foreign countries… As Revolut’s basic exchange happens at no cost, while MasterCard does apply a processing fee, your therefore is not that straightforward. First of all, something is always more than nothing, then it depends what currency your are talking about, as for major currencies this is always 0.5%, which means that compared to any other card could still be way cheaper, considered a higher service fee is usually applied every single day by competitor cards. 1% for all other currencies, which again, I wouldn’t be surprised if Revolut would still be cheaper, and you can play with app during weekends to have a sense of it, while it’s 1.5% only for very illiquid currencies, like THB… However, if you can experience Thailand every weekend, I think it’s not that big an issue for you
Finally I’d be curious about your own card fees to know how better it would be
Two thoughts: with Revolut, you get the locked-in rate from Friday night + weekend markup. With another card, you might get the official Mastercard rate days after the payment. That rate might or might not be in your favor compared to Revolut.
Second, if you worry about the weekend markup, you could exchange in EUR and USD before weekend in the app. With no exchange happening for these currencies, no markup will be added.
Thank you for the comprehensive response. The Halifax Clarity card doesn’t charge you any fees except interest. If you were to maintain a positive balance on your credit card you could save up to 2% on the Revolut withdrawal fee and a further 3.5% if you were in Thailand.
With regards to weakend trips to Thailand, I’m currently living in Kuala Lumpur for a year so the fees do amount to a lot!
Ya, but again Revolut cards are not actually designed to withdraw cash… just for spending avoiding unnecessary interests/fees, withdrawal being more of a convenience I guess. In fact, using cash defeats the Revolut’s business, which relies on your purchases with the card. So ya, to withdraw cash not the best, but for everything else I couldnt find anything that beats it
Have fun!
