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Revolut Australia Review: ‘Superapp’ or Subpar app?

Revolut Australia Review: ‘Superapp’ or Subpar app?

Revolutionary or redundant?
Revolutionary or redundant?

Revolut Australia launched its app to the public in August this year after beta testing for more than a year.

I’ve been using what it calls ‘the world’s first truly global financial superapp since beta, and I’ll share my thoughts below.

Let’s find out if Revolut really has a superapp, or just likes using good ol’ marketing hyperbole.

What is Revolut?

Revolut is a financial technology company (fintech) that was founded in 2015 in the UK with a ‘vision to build a sustainable, digital alternative to traditional big banks’.

By 2016, it had raised USD 15m in Series A funding and surpassed 100k personal users.

From 2017 to 2020, Revolut raised an additional USD 896m in funding through Series B to Series D. This catapulted its valuation to a hefty USD 5.5b, making it the most valuable fintech startup in the UK.

Revolut in general has a whole suite of features from bank accounts and currency exchange to cryptocurrency and stock trading on its app.

However, there’s still a handful of features not available in Australia just yet.

To date, Revolut has over 12m personal users and 500k business customers. It is also in 35 countries, and supports 27 in-app currencies.

However, we’ll soon see that although it may be supported in 35 countries, many features may still be unavailable in various countries.

Is Revolut safe?

Revolut is licensed by ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) and holds a Australian Financial Services Licence.

This allows them to ‘provide general financial product advice and deal in relation to non-cash payment products’.

That being said, Revolut itself is not a bank in Australia and thus, is not an authorised deposit-taking institution (ADI) (at least not yet).

This means it does not have any protections under the Australian Government’s Financial Claims Scheme (FCS).

However, Revolut says that their customers’ money in Revolut is safe, as it takes the money received from customers and deposits it into a ‘client money bank account’ which is protected by a bank guarantee issued by an ADI, held on trust by Global Loan Agency Services Australia Nominees Pty Ltd for their customers (and that this bank guarantee is essentially FCS protection).

It goes on to say, ‘if Revolut was to become insolvent, the money in these accounts would be used to pay out you (and our other customers) before anyone else’.

Nevertheless, I personally would not trust a non-ADI with obscene amounts of money, so it is important to do due diligence before using Revolut (or any financial services company) for any large sums of money, as there are cases like this which happen.

As for smaller every day amounts, I have been using Revolut so far without a hitch.

Features & Conclusion (click to jump)

  1. Electronic money accounts
  2. Currency exchange/Transferring money
  3. Plans
  4. Cards/Payments
  5. Vaults
  6. Cryptocurrency Brokerage
  7. Support
  8. Junior Accounts
  9. Commodities Trading
  10. Rewards
  11. Features currently unavailable in Australia
  12. ‘Superapp’ or Subpar app?

1 – Electronic money accounts/budgeting (technically not ‘transaction accounts’, but essentially they are)

via Revolut

The page above is the one that greets you upon opening the app, where you will be able to view your main currency account and recent transactions.

From this page, you will be able to access your spending analytics, view/add other currency accounts, top up your main currency account, and exchange currencies.

You’re able to access a list full list of transactions, which:

  • are automatically categorised from a set list of categories.
    • you are able to create and customize your own categories for more budgeting power
  • are listed in three columns so you can see where your money is going (by category, merchant and country)
  • are able to be bound by whatever budget you set so you don’t overspend your budget
    • including setting budgets for specific categories
  • provide detailed information when tapped into, including
    • which specific card was used to make the purchase
    • the category it is in (and the ability to change it)
    • the location where the purchase was made
    • sometimes – the logo of the merchant
  • can be split amongst those whom you shared your purchase with (only works with other Revolut users)

Revolut provides the functionality of being able to hold multiple currencies as well, like USD and HKD above in addition to HKD.

In total, you’re able to hold 27 fiat currencies in the app currently.

However, you only have access to your AUD bank account details, so if you would need to convert AUD you have transferred into Revolut to whatever currency you’re looking to hold instead of directly transferring it in.

Revolut states that account details for other currencies other than the home currency is ‘coming soon’, but there is no specific ETA.

This is a weak point compared to TransferWise, its currency exchange competitor, which allows the holding of multiple currencies with the addition of having your own bank details for foreign accounts (in their local format, eg routing number and account number for US bank accounts).

via Revolut

As Revolut’s account is not an actual bank account (but they do provide AUD bank details), the debit card you receive is a prepaid one, which can be topped up in a variety of ways:

  • Linked cards (credit or debit) – has to be in your name
  • Bank transfer to your AUD bank details
  • Apple Pay with your cards in Apple Pay

Topping up via debit/credit card and Apple Pay allows your balance to be updated instantly as the transfer is instant, whereas bank transfers take at least one business day to reflect in your account.

There’s also a minimum of AUD 20 when topping up, which is an inconvenient and unnecessary limiting factor, especially if you use the card for small purchases (or just want to test things out) and you top-up only when paying.

However, the good news is you can send any outstanding balance back to your bank account (if 20 is more than you need or if you accidentally topped up 200 instead), so your money isn’t stuck in Revolut. More on that later below.

2 – Currency exchange/Transferring money

One of the best features of Revolut which I personally use regularly is the currency exchange/overseas transfer feature.

Revolut allows users to exchange major fiat currencies interchangeably at the interbank exchange rate, with no hidden fees.

When exchanging, you’ll get a live exchange rate for your currency pair, which allows you to know exactly the rate you’re exchanging at, as well as giving you the most updated rate at that time.

You’ll also be able to auto-exchange at target price you set, which is a pretty nifty feature to get the exactly the rate you want.

I regularly exchange AUD for USD in Revolut, and have found it to consistently be the cheapest option for the amount that I am exchanging and sending to the US (to brokerages like Stake [check out my Stake review] and Charles Schwab):

CompanyFees Rate (AUD/USD)USD received for AUD 5kUSD received for AUD 20kDifference
(vs Revolut)
RevolutUSD
39* (20k)/
N/A** (20k)
0.706353014081*/
14120**
N/A
Transfer
Wise
AUD
24 (5k);
91 (20k)
0.706351314055-26*/-65**
InstaReMAUD
23 (5k);
90 (20k)
0.7054351114044-37*/-76**
CommBankUSD
12
0.6694334713388-693*/-732**
WorldRemitAUD
2 (5k); 1 (20k)
0.7016 (5k); 0.7024 (20k)349214047-34*/-73**
Figures are accurate as of 25/09/2020. Do not rely on this for financial advice. *Standard plan **Premium/Metal plans

As you can see, Revolut offers more USD for your AUD than any of its competitors (at least up to 20k AUD, I’ve linked each one so if you need to transfer more (or at all), do your own due diligence!).

Also, if you’re still using one of the big banks to do your international transfers and unless they’re offering you a special rate, you may also be quite stupid you’re being SCAMMED big time.

In my experience, Revolut’s transfers are also quite speedy, arriving within the same or next business day.

As for transferring money, it’s a fairly painless process as Revolut allows you to 27 currencies to almost 200 countries (from what I counted in the app; including Australia, obvs!).

The transfers arrive within a few business days (if not 1 day) in my experience.

Revolut also allows you to make recurring payments (in the 27 currencies you can exchange) and split bills, although I’ve never used the latter because there aren’t that many users on Revolut in Australia yet.

3 – Plans and their benefits

Revolut has 3 plans/tiers which offer different benefits (and card types!).

Standard
Revolut’s ‘Standard’ debit card

Every user who signs up to Revolut starts off on the most basic plan, which is completely free to use.

Standard users have access to most functionalities of the service, but with lower limits.

As of 26 Sept 2020, neither ‘Standard’ nor ‘Premium’ users have access to cryptocurrency trading on Revolut in Australia.

‘Standard’ users:

  • Are able to exchange up to AUD 9k per month to available currencies
    • A 0.5% fee applies thereafter
  • Are able to withdraw AUD 350 fee free per month
    • A 2% fee applies thereafter
  • Can access the other functionalities like the electronic money account, transferring money, etc (anything not listed as exclusive in the following ‘Premium’ and ‘Metal’ upgrades listed below)

Limits are refreshed monthly on a rolling basis (ie if you signed up on 20 Sept, your limits will refresh on 20 Oct).

Premium
Revolut’s ‘Premium’ card package

Revolut’s mid-tier plan, the ‘Premium’ plan, is available to users at either AUD 10.99/mo (AUD 131.88/yr) or an upfront AUD 110/yr, which saves users 16% on the yearly cost.

This first difference users will notice about getting this plan is the new variety of cards offered – what Revolut labels as ‘premium-finish contactless cards in space-grey, silver or rose gold‘.

The ‘Premium’ cards

I signed up for the plan, and the cards are essentially the same plastic card with a shinier, different coloured finish on the front and back (nothing particularly fancy or premium in my opinion).

If you’re looking to upgrade just for the card, you’ll be sorely disappointed. Also, the space grey card looks so familiar to the silver one you’ll barely even notice they’re different colours, unless under bright lighting.

More on the cards in the Cards/Payments section below!

Moving on to the more substantive exclusive features that come with the ‘Premium’ plan upgrade:

  • Everything ‘Standard’ has and,
  • Revolut Gifting
    • This feature is NOT a reason to upgrade
    • I personally have no idea why this is not in the ‘Standard’ tier as it is just a regular transfer with the added feature of animation (really?)
    • Essentially all this allows you to do is send ‘personalised cash gifts’ with animated designs
  • Free disposable virtual card
    • This is an amazing feature for security, more on this in the Cards/Payments section below
    • I did manage to get this on the ‘Standard’ plan – not sure why Revolut lists this as an upgrade
  • Free express card delivery – ‘within 4 working days’
    • Essentially for the cards above (you can order all 3 colours if you’d like, but you can only have 3 physical cards active at once)
    • In my experience, you will get your card within 4 working days as Revolut uses DHL Worldwide Express.
    • Unsure why they make free card delivery a big deal, as I got the standard card free of charge too (and within a similar timeframe).
  • Double the fee free ATM withdrawals of the ‘Standard’ plan, now up to AUD 700
  • Unlimited, free currency exchange at the interbank rate
    • Brilliant how this is available in the ‘Premium’ plan instead of just the ‘Metal’ plan
    • Essentially no more fees or limits for currency exchange
  • Airport lounge access
    • Revolut provides special ‘Revolut funded’ rates for lounge passes at airports worldwide
    • Not amazing unless you travel frequently and always use lounge passes
    • Regular airline focused credit cards with FREE lounge access are miles better (pun definitely intended)
  • SmartDelay
    • You get two free lounge passes (for your friend! Too bad if you’re travelling with kids or more than one friend) if your flight is delayed by more than one hour
    • You’ll have to let support know and they’ll create two passes for you
  • Priority customer support
    • Works great in theory, in practice not so much. Read more in the Support section below.

I’d say most of the ‘Premium’ features aren’t worth upgrading for, besides having the fee-limit lifted for currency exchange – unless you want a specific feature you can’t get elsewhere.

However, how many of us really need to exchange more than AUD 9k consistently on a monthly basis? Things to think about before upgrading.

Metal
Revolut’s ‘Metal’ card

We’ve made it now to Revolut’s god-tier – the highest echelon of their plans.

Maybe I’m being overly dramatic with the description, seeing as how upgrading to ‘Metal’ doesn’t really offer that much more over ‘Premium’.

Obviously the show stealer of this plan is the metal card, which is an exclusive experience similar to AMEX’s invite-only Centurion Black which carries a USD 5k annual fee or the JP Morgan Reserve, which requires a minimum of USD 10 million in assets to obtain.

Revolut seems to be able to bring to users the metal card experience and some exclusive ‘Metal features’ at AUD 19.99/mo for a limited time (usually AUD 29.99/mo) (AUD 239.88/yr, usually AUD 359.88/yr) or an upfront payment of AUD 200/yr (usually AUD 300/yr).

Apart from the metal card which as showstopping as it seems to be (more on that in the Cards/Payment section below), the ‘Metal’ plan comes with a few extra features over its little brother, ‘Premium’:

  • Everything ‘Premium’ and ‘Standard’ has and,
  • Cashback – available in 27 fiat currencies, cryptocurrency (commodities not available yet in Australia)
    • 1% cashback when shopping with your card overseas
      • Not a bad deal considering it doesn’t screw you over with exchange rates like big banks do, but do your due diligence as some credit cards offer better cashbacks with exchange rates that aren’t that bad
    • 0.1% cashback at home
      • Seriously? You’d need to spend AUD 1000 to get back AUD 1. LOL. This feature is a joke.
    • It also applies to all your cards, not just the physical metal one, as long as you’re on the plan.
  • Double the ATM withdrawal limit of ‘Premium’ – now AUD 1400 monthly fee free
  • If your flight is delayed over an hour, let Revolut support know and you’ll be able to get lounge passes for 4 people (including yourself)
    • Compared to the 1 additional friend in ‘Premium’ (now the rest of your friends or family can join you! 😂)
  • You’re able to get two ‘Metal’ cards for free, although there are five available colours.
    • Unlike being able to get three ‘Premium’ cards for free
    • However, you can only have 3 physical cards concurrently active anyway
Revolut’s ‘Metal’ cards – Rose Gold, Gold, Silver, Space Grey, Black

Again, unless you can’t already get a travel focused credit card which offers better cashback and benefits, and you travel frequently (most likely not most people right now), Revolut ‘Metal’ isn’t worth it.

If you’re looking to upgrade just for that shiny metal card, why? Don’t.

4 – Cards/Payments

Revolut offers a bunch of colourful, shiny physical cards as you’ve seen above.

What most don’t know is that they also offer virtual cards that can be accessed through the app, and that they are amazing for security (and free trials!).

Revolut’s cards in Australia are prepaid and powered by MasterCard, which means you can use them anywhere MasterCard is supported, online and offline. That’s pretty much everywhere.

All cards (physical and virtual) can be added to and are compatible with Apple Pay and Google Pay.

You’re also able to add your card to Apple Pay or Google Pay before your physical card arrives, allowing you to use it immediately.

The card details are also available in-app for you to use for online purchases.

The app also allows you to freeze the card directly from the app, and access a bunch of security features, down to whether your card is enabled for swipe payments. Kudos to Revolut for robust security settings you are able to control:

  • On/off for online transactions
  • On/off for location based security
  • On/off for swipe payments
  • On/off for contactless payments
  • On/off for ATM withdrawals
  • Unblocking PIN/CVV after exceeding 3 failed attempts
  • Freezing the card
  • Terminating the card

All of Revolut’s cards allow you to spend locally and abroad at the interbank exchange rate.

Peasants use: the ‘Standard’
Mockup in-app vs Real-life – ‘Standard’

Anyone who signs up to Revolut will receive the ‘Standard’ card.

Middle class white collar workers use: the ‘Premium’
Mockup in-app vs Real-life – ‘Premium’ “Rose Gold”

The ‘Premium’ card comes in three colours – Rose Gold, Silver and Space Grey.

Revolut’s ‘Premium’ cards – Rose Gold, Silver and Space Grey

The card is essentially a plastic card with a coloured coating and your name (on the front) and card number (on the back) is embossed.

Nothing special enough to justify the marketing jargon of ‘premium-finish’ in my opinion, but a nice card nonetheless.

Mockup in-app vs Real-life – ‘Metal’ “Black”
Aristocrats use: the ‘Metal’

If you’ve upgraded all the way to ‘Metal’, you’ll be able to take your pick of 2 free ’18 gram full-metal’ cards from 5 different colours (Rose Gold, Gold, Silver, Space Grey and Black) that are offered in a metal chassis.

Oh wait. Only black is offered in Australia at the moment with no ETA as to when the other colours are going to be available.

Revolut’s ‘Metal’ cards – Rose Gold, Gold, Silver, Space Grey and Black

As you can see from the comparison image above, the actual ‘Metal’ card you receive isn’t going to be as sleek nor flush as the promotional images suggest.

It still is the hefty all-metal card with embossed numbers on the back on a darker grey background (but not black, in my case).

However your name on the front isn’t embossed, it’s printed on what appears to be a sticker on the card.

Essentially, the both the front and back bits of the card are two sticker pieces stuck onto the metal card (hence the silver rim around the card – not black or whatever colour you’ll order – unless you get silver?!).

The stickers aren’t bad – in fact they’re extremely high quality stickers that have been precisely cut and stuck onto the ‘single reinforced sheet of steel’. It is almost, if not completely impossible to peel back. You won’t ever have to worry about it peeling.

However, this means that your card won’t look or feel exactly like you thought.

Instead of feeling cold metal, on the front you’ll be feeling this slippery metal-like sticker which isn’t exactly a solid block of colour (black in my case), but one with many textured streaks which amalgamate to form a shiny dark-green colour with hints of black, as seen in the image above.

On the back, you’ll have a plain, matte finished sticker in a darker grey (still not black!) with your numbers embossed in a lighter silver tint.

Some may find this textured dark green with black colour combination even better than a boring old black card, but I was disappointed to find out that the finish was not as sleek as promoted.

Note: While it may seem to be a sticker, Revolut states that the ‘Metal’ card is coated through physical vapor deposition (which is essentially a sticker?).

Tech geeks use: the ‘Virtual’
Revolut’s virtual card

You also have the option to add a virtual card to your account, which functions just like a physical card, just without the physical card itself.

It’s currently free and is usually AUD 9.99 (on the ‘Standard’ plan) with no indication of when it will cease being free.

Reclusive individuals use: the ‘Disposable Virtual’
Revolut’s disposable virtual card

The disposable virtual card from Revolut has to be one of the best innovations of the app (available for ‘Premium’ and ‘Metal’ users).

This card allows you to make payments online, and self-destruct and provide new details after making each purchase.

This not only safeguards you from fraud which use your card, but allows you to sign up for an unlimited number of free trials which require different card details each time or trials on dodgier sites which require a credit/debit card.

+1 for security and privacy when transacting online.

5 – Vaults

Vaults in Revolut Australia are absolutely pointless. That is all. Vaults are supposed to act similar to a traditional savings account, separate from your transactions page.

Setting up a vault is an easy way to store your crypto or other currencies.

However, you can just leave your currencies in your usual electronic money account.

Both crypto and commodities are assets that can only be accessed through the vault, as it cannot be stored on the usual first tab of your app.

Why shouldn’t you store your cash in a vault?

  1. First of all, you wouldn’t want to hold too much money in Revolut in the first place, which was discussed above.
  2. Secondly, the vault offers no interest at all, so you’re better off stashing it away in an actual FCS-protected bank savings account.

Vaults are just where your cryptocurrencies sit if you buy any, which is nestled in the ‘Wealth’ page, essentially another page in the app separate from your electronic money accounts for no good reason.

You will also have a vault where your cashback is automatically put into if you’re on the ‘Metal’ plan.

While vaults in the UK and US earn you interest, the ones in Australia currently don’t.

Just don’t put your money into a Revolut Australia vault. At least not right now anyway.

You may find vaults useful if you keep a fair amount of money in Revolut and require your money to be visually separated, use the round-up feature or if you take advantage of the ‘group vault’ feature, but you probably aren’t using any of those features.

6 – Cryptocurrency brokerage

Update 13/11/2020: All Revolut users are now able to purchase cryptocurrency in-app.

Revolut’s crypto trading feature is only available at the moment to ‘Metal’ users.

I cancelled my ‘Metal’ plan before Revolut rolled out the option to buy crypto in-app, so I can’t really speak to my experience.

Revolut’s cryptocurrency brokerage

However, on Revolut’s website, it says that users have access to trade 6 cryptocurrencies instantly with the 27 supported currencies – Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Stellar (XLM).

Similar to its currency exchange feature, Revolut allows you to set a price target for the crypto you plan to buy that will automatically execute. Nifty.

You’ll also be able to send cryptocurrency to your friends on Revolut for free, instantly.

However, for those who seriously buy or trade cryptocurrency, you won’t be using Revolut to do so (if you don’t know why and you’d like to know, it’s time to do some research!).

I recommend Binance, which is the largest crypto brokerage in the world, has the lowest fees/spread, and supports instant deposits with PayID.

In fact, this feature will only appeal to those looking to dip their toes into crypto, not for seasoned buyers/traders.

7 – Support

Revolut’s in-app chat support

Revolut’s support can only be contacted in-app, via live chat 24/7.

Upon opening a support chat, you’ll start off chatting with ‘Rita’, Revolut’s chatbot which redirects your questions to specific FAQs which might relate to your question.

You’ll have to request for a ‘human’ to start chatting to someone or ask Rita too many questions it can’t respond to.

On the ‘Metal’ and ‘Premium’ plans when I had access to ‘Priority support’, support was alright – it was not astounding, as I felt that the support response times were not that quick for what was labelled as ‘Priority support’.

I expected instant responses or have to wait 10 min at most, from a dedicated ‘Priority support’ line, but how long I actually waited ranged from 15 minutes to an hour instead.

Revolut Support being unavailable

On the ‘Standard’ plan, response times were about 30 minutes to over an hour in my experience, with my recent support enquiries going completely unanswered for days and getting closed everytime I reopened them, due to ‘higher than usual demand for support’.

Thankfully, my recent enquiries were quite trivial. If they were of more importance, this support would be absolutely appalling and unacceptable for a financial services company.

However, in the times I managed to get through to a human on support, the experience was generally quite pleasant, with my queries getting answered or problems getting fixed within a few minutes to an hour or two.

8 – Junior Accounts

Control your kids’ spending and help them budget with Revolut’s ‘Junior accounts’

Revolut offers the ‘Junior Account’, which are restricted accounts you can control for your kids.

Your kids are also able to download their own Revolut Junior app to track their transactions and view their balance.

With the ‘Junior Account’, you can:

  • Get prepaid cards for your kids
  • Get instant spending alerts and set custom controls for your kids’ online and contactless payments
  • Restrict your kids from buying from most age-restricted merchants
  • Freeze and unfreeze your kids’ cards easily to manage their spending
  • Top-up your kids’ balances to control their spending
  • ‘Premium’ and ‘Metal’ users have access to
    • Tasks – set motivating chores and reward in just a few clicks when they’re completed
    • Create more than one, and up to five junior accounts
Revolut Junior’s extra features through ‘Premium’ and ‘Metal’

9 – Commodities Trading

Update 20/11/2020: All Revolut users are now able to trade commodities in-app.

Trade commodities like gold and silver on Revolut

Revolut users are able to trade commodities as well, in addition to crypto and stocks.

The commodities trading platform on Revolut allows users to:

  • Buy and sell gold and silver
  • Set a target price to automatically buy and sell gold/silver at

10 – Rewards

Update 23/12/2020: All Revolut users are now able to access rewards in-app.

Revolut’s rewards system is now available in Australia

Revolut has partnered with a variety of brands Agoda to Nike to offer instant cashback to your Revolut account on purchases made with your Revolut card at these merchants, both online and offline.

11 – Features currently unavailable in Australia

Revolut recently came out of beta in Australia, and there’s a whole plethora of features that make it quite a joy to use in countries like the US or the UK missing in its Australian counterpart which its website says are coming soon (again, with no ETA).

Stock trading

Revolut’s stock trading is not available yet in Australia

In the US and UK, stock trading is available to users on Revolut.

Users are able to:

  • Trade over 750 stocks globally
  • Fractional shares from USD 1
  • Commission free
    • Metal users have unlimited commission free trades, other users have a commission free limit (‘Premium’ at 8, ‘Standard’ at 3)

As this feature is not yet available on Revolut Australia, you can check out Stake for trading US stocks in Australia (they have fractional shares and commission free trading too; check out my review!)

Vaults with interest

Revolut UK’s website shows an annual interest rate for vaults

Vaults in the US and UK earn you 0.5% and 0.8% per annum, respectively.

Vaults in Australia, as I have said above, are currently pointless for most, and do not earn interest.

Business accounts

Revolut Business’ dashboard

Revolut US and UK offer business accounts which allow you to:

  • Do everything the personal plan can with currency and payments
  • Issue physical and virtual business cards for your team
  • Track expenses in real-time
  • Automate your expenses and capture receipts in the app instantly
  • Automate accounting with tools you already use like Xero, Freeagent and QuickBooks
  • Optimise your process with custom integrations, including Zapier and Slack
  • Save time and scale quickly by automating your business processes with its Business API
  • Access memberships and carefully curated discounts worth over £6,000.
  • Access products and services from partners like Apple, Google, Samsung, etc

Companies like Ted Baker and Esports brand Fnatic are Revolut Business customers.

Donations

Revolut’s donations system is not available yet in Australia

Revolut US and UK allow users to make donations through the app with no minimum amount, with the charities receiving 100% of the donation.

You can set up round-ups for your card transactions so the balance goes to the chairty of your choice, set recurring donations and donate on a one-time basis.

Revolut has partnered with charities like Save the Children, Doctors without Borders, WWF, British Red Cross, Rainforest Alliance and many more.

Insurance

Revolut US and UK offer two kinds of insurancedevice and overseas medical travel.

For device insurance:

  • Cover includes damage caused by:
    • drops and breakages
    • screen damage
    • liquid damage
    • damage caused by a third party
    • out of warranty breakdowns
  • Access and sign up for it straight from the app
  • Multiple device support
  • File a claim online and Revolut arranges a repair, replacement or compensation payment
  • Pay for the policy weekly or in a single annual payment

For overseas medical travel insurance:

  • You can pay on a per-day basis or an upfront annual fee
  • Emergency dental & travel medical insurance
  • Access to an extensive network of medical centres across the globe
  • ‘Rapid reimbursement’ paid directly to your account
  • Instantly sign up and get your travel medical insurance in seconds
  • Easily add additional people to your holiday insurance policy directly from the app in seconds
  • Automatically enabled and disabled, so you only pay for the days you use
    • Due to geolocation technology, Revolut detects whenever you leave and return to your home country
  • Metal users get:
    • Global travel insurance cover for you and your family
    • Car hire excess and winter sports coverage
    • Protection for 180 days against theft and accidental damages for purchases on your Revolut account

‘Superapp’ or Subpar app?

Revolut definitely has the potential to be somewhat of a financial ‘superapp’, but it’s nowhere close right now, and definitely not in Australia.

Does that mean it is a subpar app? Not really either.

What it does fantastically is having fee-free currency exchange functionalities, transfers and payments at the interbank exchange rates, which is what most will use it for at this time, and what I will continue to mainly use Revolut for (definitely revolutionary).

It’s also got a bunch of other handy budgeting features and transaction analytics coupled with rewards cashback, but if you’re looking for an app that has integrated budgeting, you’re really better off with an app like Up Bank, which is a fully fledged Australian bank with a full banking licence with a powerful budgeting and transactional interface (check out my review here!). Undoubtedly redundant in this area.

Another understated but brilliant feature Revolut has is the disposable virtual card offering which offers unparalleled security and functionality in signing up for free trials or making one-time payments online.

On security, Revolut has to be commended on letting users control security features of their card in minute detail – being able to toggle on/off for location security, contactless, swipe, etc for each card is brilliant!

Revolut delivers a superb experience for easy trading of crypto and commodities like gold and silver, which is a step in the direction of trying to be the one app you go to for even your investments – be it ‘old’ gold or ‘neo’ crypto.

However it also leaves much to be desired, starting with the suite of features currently unavailable in Australia like interest on vaults, stock trading among a plethora of other substantial features (with no ETA, however I am expecting them to roll it out quickly over the next year as Revolut is in a rapid rollout phase).

Furthermore, things like 0.1% cashback locally (pathetic really) and no interest vaults makes me wonder why they even exist, as they are virtually pointless.

Meanwhile, HSBC is offering 2% cashback when you pay using their Everyday Global debit card on purchases below AUD 100 (as long as you deposit AUD 2000 monthly – salary in and you’re good to go!)

Having better support response times while beta testing and being completely ignored by support when out of beta is a harbinger of a company to stay away from (and if not, at least deal with in inconsequential amounts), especially relating to finances, until they’ve got their support service back on track.

Unless you’re looking to exchange more than AUD 9k monthly or need to use the limited benefits currently available with the ‘Premium’ and ‘Metal’ plans in Australia, the plans are currently too pricey for the functionality they offer.

You’re probably better off just getting a regular credit card and paying that annual fee instead of a Revolut card for the special benefits (aside from lifting the limit on currency exchanges).

I was also disappointed with the ‘Metal’ card, as it looks nothing like what it does in the promotional images and doesn’t even have my name embossed when the plastic ‘Premium’ card does, which speaks volumes about the attention to detail at Revolut.

Revolut doesn’t have it all (or even most of it) down just yet.

However, that’s okay as the company is only 5 years old (2 in Australia!), with a long road ahead of it, with many more innovations to go.

Revolut Australia has all the makings of a ‘superapp’, but until it irons out its kinks, brings its full feature suite and obtains a full proper banking licence, it is far from it.

If you’d like to take Revolut Australia for a test run and see if I’ve been spot on or far off, you can use my Revolut referral link for a free $20 (provided you get a physical card and make 3 payments).

Enjoyed reading? Check out my Up Bank review and Stake review too!

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2 thoughts on “Revolut Australia Review: ‘Superapp’ or Subpar app?”

  1. They’re a waste of time. I tried to authenticate my card on two separate devices as instructed by them to no avail. Their help desk couldn’t/wouldn’t help.

    I wasted a lot of time with them.

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