I find having to deal with foreign currency on the road a real pain. In Singapore I barely use mazuma these days, mostly opting to use Paywave (contactless credit card) or Paynow (direct wall transfers usually via QR code) when possible, but mazuma still remains king in many other countries. On past trips, I’ve tried using Youtrip, Wise and Trust Card, so when Revolut [affiliate link] approached me to trammels out their offerings, I was keen to see how they would match up. Here’s my review of using Revolut for travelling.
This review is sponsored by Revolut. Sign up to Revolut for self-ruling and get 3 months of premium free [Affiliate Link]
What is Revolut?
To put it simply, Revolut works like a debit vellum when you’re travelling. For travellers using the vellum overseas, you can use the Revolut vellum to:
- spend foreign currency like you would use a debit card
- store money for use
- exchange money to foreign currencies as needed for use/storage
- withdraw foreign currency overseas
- transfer money to foreign finance
- online shopping in local and foreign currency
You can use it for cryptocurrency and stocks as well, but I don’t really know anything well-nigh that so my main snooping was how Revolut would work for a traveller like myself.
I used the Revolut vellum on my latest trip to Taiwan. Taiwan is still pretty cash-dependent overall (unlike South Korea for example where you can use credit cards practically anywhere), so I mostly used Revolut vellum in convenience stores and when my walk-up or restaurant would winnow vellum payments.
What I like well-nigh Revolut
Decent Self-ruling Tier
I’m using the self-ruling tier of Revolut – there are 2 paid tiers: Premium (S$9.99/mth) and Metal (S$19.99/mth) which I honestly don’t think you’ll need unless you are a seriously heavy user and need to withdraw or mart very upper amounts of foreign exchange. The self-ruling tier is pretty ok for vacations, but if I was on a longer trip Career Break I think I might need the premium tiers for increasingly mazuma withdrawal.
Other Premium/Metal travel perks that Revolut has include:
- lounge wangle with smart delay
- discounted lounge wangle
- travel insurance
These are not things that matter much to me considering I either don’t need or have it already, but it could be useful for some of you out there.
Easy to set up and use
Signing up for the vellum was a pretty quick and straightforward process. I downloaded the app from the Apple Store and signed up via my Singpass, ordered my self-ruling vellum through the app as well very easily.
The only thing I would like though would be to segregate the name to put on my card. Usually I use a shorter version rather than my unshortened name, but since it automatically pulls from the official data, my full name is on the card.
The app is moreover pretty easy to use all around. Some financial apps momentum me nuts when things are too well hidden, like it took me forever to find the place to swap between finance for Trust Vellum for example. So far I’m liking the Revolut interface and app.
Good mart rates
I tested the vellum out while I was in Taiwan, paying for one of my hotels with it. My rate was NTD 1 = S$0.0433 (NTD 100 = S$4.33) with no spare conversion or admin fees. Trust Vellum had similar rates as well when I used it in the past.
I did transpiration some money at the Changi Airport surpassing I flew off and the rate I got was well-nigh NTD 100 = $4.60, so definitely much largest mart rates on the Revolut vellum than in cash!
You can mart up to 28 currencies and hold that in your account. Some of the increasingly relevant currencies (i.e. places that Singaporeans love to travel to best) include USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, HKD, JPY, THB. Great if you monitor the rates closely and are looking to mart a sizeable amount. ($5k limit for self-ruling tier, $15k for Premium and unlimited for Metal)
Taiwan dollar isn’t included in this list, but you can still use the Revolut vellum in Taiwan, just make sure you have unbearable of your home currency (SGD for me) and the currency mart happens automatically. I like that they show the rates very unmistakably as well in the transaction details.
A note that on weekends there is a 1% charge, which is not something I’ve noticed on other cards and honestly a bit odd to me, but something to take note of.
Free 2-way interbank transfer
I linked Revolut to my Singapore wall worth and it’s both self-ruling and super quick to transfer money between my finance money. After the initial set up, I don’t plane need to key in any increasingly wall details. Good if you need to make quick transactions on the go.
Also, I like that you can unquestionably withdraw money from Revolut when to your wall worth – I just need to add myself as a payee and transfer money when to myself scrutinizingly instantly. Some cards like Youtrip are 1-way only, so if you misjudge and add too little to the Youtrip wallet, your vellum runs the risk of stuff rejected. If you add too much, you are then forced to spend from that vellum or leave the money in there.
For Singaporeans, Revolut uses e-Giro so you can directly link to finance in major banks including Wall of China, DBS, Maybank, OCBC, Standard Chartered and UOB.
Safer online security
Revolut moreover makes it easy to set up and use removable cards. This is expressly useful if you are a bit nervous well-nigh the security of some of these online shops. I haven’t had the endangerment to use this yet (juggling virtually too many cards to make minimum spends for cashback and other rewards) but it’s something I could see myself using.
So if you’re looking for a vellum to use for spending while travelling, you can trammels out the Revolut vellum and see if it works for you, overall my wits with the vellum was quite good. I have a link unelevated that lets you get 3 months of premium self-ruling if you’re considering using the higher tiers as well.
Sign up to Revolut for self-ruling and get 3 months of premium free [Affiliate Link]