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Revolut raises $500M at a $5.5B valuation

152 points by vwvw 7y ago

nrki 7y ago
Please can we stop linking to articles with Cookie-walls. https://outline.com/9cuRRS https://outline.com/9cuRRS
- BaitBlock 7y ago
  Try https://baitblock.app https://baitblock.app It can remove cookie walls on many websites automatically
  - uulbiy 7y ago
    It looks good. When should we expect firefox support?
  - koolba 7y ago
    With NoScript they never show up in the first place.
- tomhoward 7y ago
  Dang and others addressed the paywall complaint recently here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22306181 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22306181 You're helping the community out by pasting the link. Don't need to spoil it :)
- tiborsaas 7y ago
  So stop linking to 99% of websites?
sschueller 7y ago
Revolut is predatory and walking on the line of legality. I would stay as far away as I can from them. - Unfair/illegal employment practices. [1] - Dubios crypto service (you can buy and sell but there is no way to transfer in or out) [2] - Keeping a firewall between customers and company by only allowing communication via app chatbot [3] - Accusations of money laundry. [4] - Many people have had their accounts frozen or even money stolen. [5] [1] https://www.wired.co.uk/article/revolut-trade-unions-labour-fintech-politics-storonsky https://www.wired.co.uk/article/revolut-trade-unions-labour-... [2] First hand experience [3] First hand experience trying to deal with customer support [4] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47751945 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47751945 [5] https://old.reddit.com/r/Revolut/ https://old.reddit.com/r/Revolut/, https://www.20min.ch/finance/news/story/Betrueger-stehlen-Revolut-Kunde-30-000---26322505 https://www.20min.ch/finance/news/story/Betrueger-stehlen-Re...
- rcMgD2BwE72F 7y ago
  Sources?
  - dx034 7y ago
    The lack of in-person or even phone support is practiced by quite a few banking start ups. This also means that if they block your account for any reason (e.g. suspected fraud), it can be very hard to get hold of them. N26 has had similar issues with people not being able to access their money for weeks after their account got blocked. Not sure where the rest of the accusations comes from.
    - tasogare 7y ago
      Yep, N26 has utterly crappy user service that don't even know how to browse a governmental webpage when you send them the link. I was able to withdraw my money before they lock my account, be now I stay far from them. Anyway, this is bad because the service provided by these two banks (mainly low international or inter-device fees) are really a must for anyone living in a foreign country, or moving frequently internationally.
  - committed 7y ago
    Revolut has quite a big customer base in Lithuania and recently many articles have been published about people having their accounts frozen without notice. Article in Lithuanian: https://www.delfi.lt/verslas/mano-eurai/revolut-klientai-pranesa-apie-isaldomas-saskaitas-pinigai-sulaikomi-atsakymo-nesulaukia.d?id=83303695 https://www.delfi.lt/verslas/mano-eurai/revolut-klientai-pra...
    - KptMarchewa 7y ago
      Freezing without notice is exactly the point of money laundering laws. https://monzo.com/blog/2019/10/18/watchdog-response https://monzo.com/blog/2019/10/18/watchdog-response
- fauria 7y ago
thesimon 7y ago
Quite impressed with the valuation. Transferwise Borderless seems to have a better business model with sane prices and not "everything free". And Revolut still uses their e-money license instead of their proper Lithuanian banking license. Quite surprising.
- Kkoala 7y ago
  Yep, Transferwise Borderless is quite great. They also offer things that Revolut doesn't such as U.S. bank account, plus Revolut just feels bloated and complex with hidden fees.
  - romasato 7y ago
    Not sure what hidden fees are you referring to? As far as I can tell, all the fees are explained on their website and in the app.
    - Kkoala 7y ago
      On the website it just says things like "No fee ATM withdrawals up to €200 per month", but what about after 200€?? I found a help section that is vague too saying "We can provide an estimate of the potential fees...", so not very transparent. Transferwise you can see/calculate on the frontpage what the fee will be.
      - ValentineC 7y ago
        > On the website it just says things like "No fee ATM withdrawals up to €200 per month", but what about after 200€?? TransferWise debit card's landing page [1] doesn't have the ATM fee either. Their pricing page [2] does. I was able to find Revolut's pricing page [3], which includes the ATM fee, with a simple search. [1] https://transferwise.com/gb/borderless/card https://transferwise.com/gb/borderless/card [2] https://transferwise.com/gb/borderless/pricing https://transferwise.com/gb/borderless/pricing [3] https://www.revolut.com/legal/fees https://www.revolut.com/legal/fees
ascari 7y ago
I refused to interview with them due to their poor employment practises. A quick search reveals what's going on.
- dx034 7y ago
  I found a TechCrunch article[1], is that what you're referring to? Hadn't heard of these issues before (but also never tried to apply there). [1] https://www.wired.co.uk/article/revolut-trade-unions-labour-fintech-politics-storonsky https://www.wired.co.uk/article/revolut-trade-unions-labour-...
  - fasicle 7y ago
    This line from the article is interesting: "An analysis of the start and end dates of 147 former Revolut employees on LinkedIn suggests that over 80 percent had lasted less than a year, and over half stayed at the company for less than six months."
  - kasperni 7y ago
    -------------- She did a 30-minute job interview over Google Hangouts with the London-based head of business development, Andrius Biceika, and was immediately told she had passed to the next round, which would involve a small test. “The surprise came when I received the task and it asked me to get the company as many clients as possible, with each one depositing €10 into the app,” says Laura. The instructions on the exercise said the applicants should recruit at least 200 clients in a week to have a chance at passing to the next interview phase. -------------- Wow.....
    - namdnay 7y ago
      To play devils advocate, it was a business development position... so it’s a bit like asking a developer to do a homework exercise no?
      - charlesu 7y ago
        It's like asking a developer to build out a feature that will be put into production. For free.
sdan 7y ago
Fintech this week is on fire. First we have intuit and now this... wow.
klausjensen 7y ago
Revolut closed my business account with them and would not give me any reason why (all documentation was OK, all my clients are lilly-white busineses). It is not clear to me if they would not tell me because they're not allowed to by law - or "just because". Anyway - then the remaining balance on my account - they simply sent that back to the last payment that had been made => They sent my remaining balance to one of my clients! Great API, great interface, great app, great prices - but I do not trust them any more, obviously.
- shawabawa3 7y ago
  Randomly closing accounts with no explanation or recourse unfortunately seems to happen with basically every bank or payment provider these days Transferring your entire balance to an arbitrary account though....yikes
  - s_dev 7y ago
    > Randomly closing accounts with no explanation or recourse unfortunately seems to happen with basically every bank or payment provider these days I suspect aggressive anti money laundering measures getting a few false positives to be the context.
    - bostik 7y ago
      Very likely true. Fact: the regulations forbid telling the customer that they are being investigated for AML violations. Because absence of signal is itself a signal, the banks are highly incentivised to keep all kinds of communications and explanations to a minimum.
- smcl 7y ago
  That’s incredible, did you manage to recover the balance?
  - klausjensen 7y ago
    Yes, I did - from the client, which I fortunately had (and still have) a good relationship with. Revolut support could not see what the problems was and refused to help.
errrmaybenot 7y ago
You have to watch the news to know what Revolut is up to and when to revisit the privacy settings to turn off a new toggle - social media platform this month, credit agencies the next
ro-_-b 7y ago
There valuation is currently almost 1/3 of the Deutsche Bank market capitalization. Just for your reference.. VC & tech are in a big bubble
- qaq 7y ago
  Deutsche Bank Total assets €1.34 trillion Market Cap 19.91B JPM Total assets US$2.687 trillion Market Cap 414.52B There is a reason Deutsche Bank has such a low valuation
appleshore 7y ago
On the name, I doubt it would be successful in the US. The “lution” part of revolution makes the word sound better. Without it, it invokes “revolting”. Incidentally, Revolution Money in the US became American Express Serve. Also the no human support, chat bot only thing is frightening on various levels. It’s great until something actually goes wrong or the system deems you unfavorable.
- whylo 7y ago
  I've had various issues with Revolut, but there is human support available (eventually) - if you type 'human' in the bot chat you get connected to an agent. The fact that it's the only support channel available - no phone - is frustrating, and it's even worse that it's in-app only. It gets tiring trying to type up your problem on a phone keyboard, especially when it takes multiple chats to get resolved.
  - terrycody 7y ago
    And it seems does not support US customers, only support in EU.
isusmelj 7y ago
I heard a lot about N26 and Revolut here in Europe. Is there any US company doing the same?
- Hamuko 7y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neobank https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neobank lists two US companies. Interestingly enough, it doesn't list Revolut, even though I think it qualifies.
interfixus 7y ago
I have kept a paid Revolut account for the last nearly two years, and it has performed flawlessly. The one time when I needed support, reply was prompt, polite, professional, and to the point. This is service I use for day-to-day business. I never keep large sums there, so if the whole thing goes belly up one day, it will cause a shrug and not much more. Topping up from my 'real' bank - or wherever - is easy enough to do on the fly: I sometimes do so while queueing in the supermarket. Features I like, and which are apparently beyond the ability of my regular bank to offer: Virtual and diposible cards. I use these for all web transanctions. No need to spread the details of my physical card around, and I can temporarily lock any card number, should I feel the need. Also, the physical card is discreet of appearance; just a grey piece of plastic, not screaming my banking preference for the world to see. And a handy ability to instantly create a payment link where anyone can pay me via credit card. I happily pay my monthly fee. Service well worth it.
- rsync 7y ago
  "Features I like, and which are apparently beyond the ability of my regular bank to offer: Virtual and diposible cards." I am interested in using virtual/disposable cards ... Is it, in fact, correct that no "proper" US bank offers these ? What about paypal ? What is the most stable, boring, financial services provider that offers virtual cards ? Does anyone allow me to create a virtual card via API, the same way I can "create" a new phone number with Twilio ?
  - ValentineC 7y ago
    > I am interested in using virtual/disposable cards ... > Is it, in fact, correct that no "proper" US bank offers these ? What about paypal ?* > What is the most stable, boring, financial services provider that offers virtual cards ? Most US-issued bank debit cards work with Privacy.com, I think.
- angry_octet 7y ago
  You may soon discover (depending on your jurisdiction) that topping up is no longer an option, because your actual bank starts treating these transactions as cash advances, 3%-4% fee (and trashing your credit rating too). Revolut has been completely useless about this, and their chat teams are just there to waste your time. Multiple currencies and cheap exchange are great when you travel a lot, and virtual credit cards and a nice spending UI are nice to haves. But nothing makes up for being jerked around for hours because their system is broken and they won't fix it. Also, from an investment pov I think Apple Pay is going to crush them.
cosmodisk 7y ago
Revolut is where WeWork was a few years ago. Eventually a few guys will make some nice money and the whole thing will go down the drain. VC money is nice, however at some point you need to start making your own money and how they are planning to do so is a question nobody has an answer to.
- mantap 7y ago
  You could say the same about Transferwise. Revolut is setting themselves up as a bank for millenials/gen Z. It is light years ahead of traditional banks in terms of user experience. Banks are a proven way of making money.
  - ValentineC 7y ago
    > It is light years ahead of traditional banks in terms of user experience. Their app experience is mostly stellar, but I wouldn't say the same of their support, and the fear that one's account would be locked because they hit some undisclosed limit. I haven't had to deal with TransferWise's support yet, but I've heard that it's one of the "better" ones.
    - mantap 7y ago
      Any bank account can be locked at any time because an algorithm disagrees with you, traditional or online. That's just the reality of banking, especially in the post-HSBC scandal era. I wouldn't keep my savings in Revolut for sure, but it's not really designed for that.
    - ritz_labringue 7y ago
      If you pay for the premium/metal plan, the support is stellar as well (or at least, it has been for me)
  - chx 7y ago
    Transferwise though is not playing the free game. They charge you fees and they have been profitable for three years now. https://transferwise.com/gb/blog/annualreport2019 https://transferwise.com/gb/blog/annualreport2019
gdsdfe 7y ago
what's interesting about this is : judging from the comments they have a horrible customer service, yet they seem to be in hyper growth mode
chx 7y ago
I find it absolutely astonishing people would pour half a billion into a fintech company which puts real money transactions on the same platform as a betting game and even worse, a betting game which claims it's some sort of digital money. (bitcoin) I never used Revolut because of this and never will. To be fair, I never used Revolut because I thought bitcoin is a scam but since last November I know better. http://jpkoning.blogspot.com/2019/11/bitcoin-11-years-in.html http://jpkoning.blogspot.com/2019/11/bitcoin-11-years-in.htm... and also https://www.aier.org/article/bitcoin-as-a-novel-financial-game/ https://www.aier.org/article/bitcoin-as-a-novel-financial-ga...
wtf1234 7y ago
There is no web application, no API, no Linux client and the android client works only with google app crap. And, on top of that, the customer support is nonexistent.
- imnotreallynew 7y ago
  Do you have an alternative to suggest with better support?
Yellowjellowjam 7y ago
I've used revolut for the last to years and it seems to me that most people here are misunderstanding the way the app is used. It is a prepaid credit card - cash without cash, which lets you send cash to your friends, top up from your actual bank account, change currency when you are visiting another country. I wouldn't use it for big currency exchanges.
bkinnard 7y ago
I'm also very sceptical of that 10 million customers line. Do you think its just people that have opened an account with them at any point? I bet the DAU (a reasonable metric for someones main bank, especially in today's cashless society) is a very small percentage of that.
- jermaustin1 7y ago
  I'm less skeptical that they have a high number of active users, but probably not a high number of users that use this "bank" like a real bank. I use another "neobank" called Simple in the US. It is not a primary account. It is how I divvy up allowance to my wife and I for our weekly fun money ($70/person/week). Can be spent on anything we want, but once it's gone its gone. I use mine for lunches, she packs a lunch and uses hers for shopping. We both save a certain percentage of that to pay for vacations. Our typical average monthly balance is in the low 3 figures. Like currently I have $110 in savings and $45 in checking. I have no clue about how much my wife has, and that is the beauty of it.
  - johnday 7y ago
    I'm with Monzo in the UK and use it similarly, Twice a month or so, £100 goes in there to pay for things like dining out and the occasional grocery shop. It's a nice way of separating the dailies from the monthlies. It means my Old Fashioned Bank's statement is readable.
- ferongr 7y ago
  I'm one of those "customers". I tried using connecting to my old account to check out the app after 4 years but I was asked for ID verification, which for some reason failed, in order to be able to do anything. I can't close my account since there's a 20 eurocent balance on it, so it probably still counts as a "customer" account even though I can't use it in any way.
- Youden 7y ago
  > a reasonable metric for someones main bank, especially in today's cashless society In Europe, the primary region for Revolut at the moment, cashlessness is highly variable. In a country like the UK or The Netherlands, DAU might be a reasonable measure but in say Germany, which is largely still cash-based, it's less relevant. I'd say MAU or something like that makes more sense for a predominantly European financial service (Revolut is not a bank, it does not offer bank accounts).
RomanPushkin 7y ago
Revolut was funded with the money stolen from Russia. Father of the founder was one of the top Gazprom managers.

152 points by vwvw 7y ago

nrki 7y ago

Please can we stop linking to articles with Cookie-walls. https://outline.com/9cuRRS https://outline.com/9cuRRS

BaitBlock 7y ago
Try https://baitblock.app https://baitblock.app It can remove cookie walls on many websites automatically
- uulbiy 7y ago
  It looks good. When should we expect firefox support?
- koolba 7y ago
  With NoScript they never show up in the first place.
tomhoward 7y ago
Dang and others addressed the paywall complaint recently here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22306181 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22306181 You're helping the community out by pasting the link. Don't need to spoil it :)
tiborsaas 7y ago
So stop linking to 99% of websites?

sschueller 7y ago

Revolut is predatory and walking on the line of legality. I would stay as far away as I can from them. - Unfair/illegal employment practices. [1] - Dubios crypto service (you can buy and sell but there is no way to transfer in or out) [2] - Keeping a firewall between customers and company by only allowing communication via app chatbot [3] - Accusations of money laundry. [4] - Many people have had their accounts frozen or even money stolen. [5] [1] https://www.wired.co.uk/article/revolut-trade-unions-labour-fintech-politics-storonsky https://www.wired.co.uk/article/revolut-trade-unions-labour-... [2] First hand experience [3] First hand experience trying to deal with customer support [4] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47751945 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47751945 [5] https://old.reddit.com/r/Revolut/ https://old.reddit.com/r/Revolut/, https://www.20min.ch/finance/news/story/Betrueger-stehlen-Revolut-Kunde-30-000---26322505 https://www.20min.ch/finance/news/story/Betrueger-stehlen-Re...

rcMgD2BwE72F 7y ago
Sources?
- dx034 7y ago
  The lack of in-person or even phone support is practiced by quite a few banking start ups. This also means that if they block your account for any reason (e.g. suspected fraud), it can be very hard to get hold of them. N26 has had similar issues with people not being able to access their money for weeks after their account got blocked. Not sure where the rest of the accusations comes from.
  - tasogare 7y ago
    Yep, N26 has utterly crappy user service that don't even know how to browse a governmental webpage when you send them the link. I was able to withdraw my money before they lock my account, be now I stay far from them. Anyway, this is bad because the service provided by these two banks (mainly low international or inter-device fees) are really a must for anyone living in a foreign country, or moving frequently internationally.
- committed 7y ago
  Revolut has quite a big customer base in Lithuania and recently many articles have been published about people having their accounts frozen without notice. Article in Lithuanian: https://www.delfi.lt/verslas/mano-eurai/revolut-klientai-pranesa-apie-isaldomas-saskaitas-pinigai-sulaikomi-atsakymo-nesulaukia.d?id=83303695 https://www.delfi.lt/verslas/mano-eurai/revolut-klientai-pra...
  - KptMarchewa 7y ago
    Freezing without notice is exactly the point of money laundering laws. https://monzo.com/blog/2019/10/18/watchdog-response https://monzo.com/blog/2019/10/18/watchdog-response
fauria 7y ago

thesimon 7y ago

Quite impressed with the valuation. Transferwise Borderless seems to have a better business model with sane prices and not "everything free". And Revolut still uses their e-money license instead of their proper Lithuanian banking license. Quite surprising.

Kkoala 7y ago
Yep, Transferwise Borderless is quite great. They also offer things that Revolut doesn't such as U.S. bank account, plus Revolut just feels bloated and complex with hidden fees.
- romasato 7y ago
  Not sure what hidden fees are you referring to? As far as I can tell, all the fees are explained on their website and in the app.
  - Kkoala 7y ago
    On the website it just says things like "No fee ATM withdrawals up to €200 per month", but what about after 200€?? I found a help section that is vague too saying "We can provide an estimate of the potential fees...", so not very transparent. Transferwise you can see/calculate on the frontpage what the fee will be.
    - ValentineC 7y ago
      > On the website it just says things like "No fee ATM withdrawals up to €200 per month", but what about after 200€?? TransferWise debit card's landing page [1] doesn't have the ATM fee either. Their pricing page [2] does. I was able to find Revolut's pricing page [3], which includes the ATM fee, with a simple search. [1] https://transferwise.com/gb/borderless/card https://transferwise.com/gb/borderless/card [2] https://transferwise.com/gb/borderless/pricing https://transferwise.com/gb/borderless/pricing [3] https://www.revolut.com/legal/fees https://www.revolut.com/legal/fees

ascari 7y ago

I refused to interview with them due to their poor employment practises. A quick search reveals what's going on.

dx034 7y ago
I found a TechCrunch article[1], is that what you're referring to? Hadn't heard of these issues before (but also never tried to apply there). [1] https://www.wired.co.uk/article/revolut-trade-unions-labour-fintech-politics-storonsky https://www.wired.co.uk/article/revolut-trade-unions-labour-...
- fasicle 7y ago
  This line from the article is interesting: "An analysis of the start and end dates of 147 former Revolut employees on LinkedIn suggests that over 80 percent had lasted less than a year, and over half stayed at the company for less than six months."
- kasperni 7y ago
  -------------- She did a 30-minute job interview over Google Hangouts with the London-based head of business development, Andrius Biceika, and was immediately told she had passed to the next round, which would involve a small test. “The surprise came when I received the task and it asked me to get the company as many clients as possible, with each one depositing €10 into the app,” says Laura. The instructions on the exercise said the applicants should recruit at least 200 clients in a week to have a chance at passing to the next interview phase. -------------- Wow.....
  - namdnay 7y ago
    To play devils advocate, it was a business development position... so it’s a bit like asking a developer to do a homework exercise no?
    - charlesu 7y ago
      It's like asking a developer to build out a feature that will be put into production. For free.

sdan 7y ago

Fintech this week is on fire. First we have intuit and now this... wow.

klausjensen 7y ago

Revolut closed my business account with them and would not give me any reason why (all documentation was OK, all my clients are lilly-white busineses). It is not clear to me if they would not tell me because they're not allowed to by law - or "just because". Anyway - then the remaining balance on my account - they simply sent that back to the last payment that had been made => They sent my remaining balance to one of my clients! Great API, great interface, great app, great prices - but I do not trust them any more, obviously.

shawabawa3 7y ago
Randomly closing accounts with no explanation or recourse unfortunately seems to happen with basically every bank or payment provider these days Transferring your entire balance to an arbitrary account though....yikes
- s_dev 7y ago
  > Randomly closing accounts with no explanation or recourse unfortunately seems to happen with basically every bank or payment provider these days I suspect aggressive anti money laundering measures getting a few false positives to be the context.
  - bostik 7y ago
    Very likely true. Fact: the regulations forbid telling the customer that they are being investigated for AML violations. Because absence of signal is itself a signal, the banks are highly incentivised to keep all kinds of communications and explanations to a minimum.
smcl 7y ago
That’s incredible, did you manage to recover the balance?
- klausjensen 7y ago
  Yes, I did - from the client, which I fortunately had (and still have) a good relationship with. Revolut support could not see what the problems was and refused to help.

errrmaybenot 7y ago

You have to watch the news to know what Revolut is up to and when to revisit the privacy settings to turn off a new toggle - social media platform this month, credit agencies the next

ro-_-b 7y ago

There valuation is currently almost 1/3 of the Deutsche Bank market capitalization. Just for your reference.. VC & tech are in a big bubble

qaq 7y ago
Deutsche Bank Total assets €1.34 trillion Market Cap 19.91B JPM Total assets US$2.687 trillion Market Cap 414.52B There is a reason Deutsche Bank has such a low valuation

appleshore 7y ago

On the name, I doubt it would be successful in the US. The “lution” part of revolution makes the word sound better. Without it, it invokes “revolting”. Incidentally, Revolution Money in the US became American Express Serve. Also the no human support, chat bot only thing is frightening on various levels. It’s great until something actually goes wrong or the system deems you unfavorable.

whylo 7y ago
I've had various issues with Revolut, but there is human support available (eventually) - if you type 'human' in the bot chat you get connected to an agent. The fact that it's the only support channel available - no phone - is frustrating, and it's even worse that it's in-app only. It gets tiring trying to type up your problem on a phone keyboard, especially when it takes multiple chats to get resolved.
- terrycody 7y ago
  And it seems does not support US customers, only support in EU.

isusmelj 7y ago

I heard a lot about N26 and Revolut here in Europe. Is there any US company doing the same?

Hamuko 7y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neobank https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neobank lists two US companies. Interestingly enough, it doesn't list Revolut, even though I think it qualifies.

interfixus 7y ago

I have kept a paid Revolut account for the last nearly two years, and it has performed flawlessly. The one time when I needed support, reply was prompt, polite, professional, and to the point. This is service I use for day-to-day business. I never keep large sums there, so if the whole thing goes belly up one day, it will cause a shrug and not much more. Topping up from my 'real' bank - or wherever - is easy enough to do on the fly: I sometimes do so while queueing in the supermarket. Features I like, and which are apparently beyond the ability of my regular bank to offer: Virtual and diposible cards. I use these for all web transanctions. No need to spread the details of my physical card around, and I can temporarily lock any card number, should I feel the need. Also, the physical card is discreet of appearance; just a grey piece of plastic, not screaming my banking preference for the world to see. And a handy ability to instantly create a payment link where anyone can pay me via credit card. I happily pay my monthly fee. Service well worth it.

rsync 7y ago
"Features I like, and which are apparently beyond the ability of my regular bank to offer: Virtual and diposible cards." I am interested in using virtual/disposable cards ... Is it, in fact, correct that no "proper" US bank offers these ? What about paypal ? What is the most stable, boring, financial services provider that offers virtual cards ? Does anyone allow me to create a virtual card via API, the same way I can "create" a new phone number with Twilio ?
- ValentineC 7y ago
  > I am interested in using virtual/disposable cards ... > Is it, in fact, correct that no "proper" US bank offers these ? What about paypal ?* > What is the most stable, boring, financial services provider that offers virtual cards ? Most US-issued bank debit cards work with Privacy.com, I think.
angry_octet 7y ago
You may soon discover (depending on your jurisdiction) that topping up is no longer an option, because your actual bank starts treating these transactions as cash advances, 3%-4% fee (and trashing your credit rating too). Revolut has been completely useless about this, and their chat teams are just there to waste your time. Multiple currencies and cheap exchange are great when you travel a lot, and virtual credit cards and a nice spending UI are nice to haves. But nothing makes up for being jerked around for hours because their system is broken and they won't fix it. Also, from an investment pov I think Apple Pay is going to crush them.

cosmodisk 7y ago

Revolut is where WeWork was a few years ago. Eventually a few guys will make some nice money and the whole thing will go down the drain. VC money is nice, however at some point you need to start making your own money and how they are planning to do so is a question nobody has an answer to.

mantap 7y ago
You could say the same about Transferwise. Revolut is setting themselves up as a bank for millenials/gen Z. It is light years ahead of traditional banks in terms of user experience. Banks are a proven way of making money.
- ValentineC 7y ago
  > It is light years ahead of traditional banks in terms of user experience. Their app experience is mostly stellar, but I wouldn't say the same of their support, and the fear that one's account would be locked because they hit some undisclosed limit. I haven't had to deal with TransferWise's support yet, but I've heard that it's one of the "better" ones.
  - mantap 7y ago
    Any bank account can be locked at any time because an algorithm disagrees with you, traditional or online. That's just the reality of banking, especially in the post-HSBC scandal era. I wouldn't keep my savings in Revolut for sure, but it's not really designed for that.
  - ritz_labringue 7y ago
    If you pay for the premium/metal plan, the support is stellar as well (or at least, it has been for me)
- chx 7y ago
  Transferwise though is not playing the free game. They charge you fees and they have been profitable for three years now. https://transferwise.com/gb/blog/annualreport2019 https://transferwise.com/gb/blog/annualreport2019

gdsdfe 7y ago

what's interesting about this is : judging from the comments they have a horrible customer service, yet they seem to be in hyper growth mode

chx 7y ago

I find it absolutely astonishing people would pour half a billion into a fintech company which puts real money transactions on the same platform as a betting game and even worse, a betting game which claims it's some sort of digital money. (bitcoin) I never used Revolut because of this and never will. To be fair, I never used Revolut because I thought bitcoin is a scam but since last November I know better. http://jpkoning.blogspot.com/2019/11/bitcoin-11-years-in.html http://jpkoning.blogspot.com/2019/11/bitcoin-11-years-in.htm... and also https://www.aier.org/article/bitcoin-as-a-novel-financial-game/ https://www.aier.org/article/bitcoin-as-a-novel-financial-ga...

wtf1234 7y ago

There is no web application, no API, no Linux client and the android client works only with google app crap. And, on top of that, the customer support is nonexistent.

imnotreallynew 7y ago
Do you have an alternative to suggest with better support?

Yellowjellowjam 7y ago

I've used revolut for the last to years and it seems to me that most people here are misunderstanding the way the app is used. It is a prepaid credit card - cash without cash, which lets you send cash to your friends, top up from your actual bank account, change currency when you are visiting another country. I wouldn't use it for big currency exchanges.

bkinnard 7y ago

I'm also very sceptical of that 10 million customers line. Do you think its just people that have opened an account with them at any point? I bet the DAU (a reasonable metric for someones main bank, especially in today's cashless society) is a very small percentage of that.

jermaustin1 7y ago
I'm less skeptical that they have a high number of active users, but probably not a high number of users that use this "bank" like a real bank. I use another "neobank" called Simple in the US. It is not a primary account. It is how I divvy up allowance to my wife and I for our weekly fun money ($70/person/week). Can be spent on anything we want, but once it's gone its gone. I use mine for lunches, she packs a lunch and uses hers for shopping. We both save a certain percentage of that to pay for vacations. Our typical average monthly balance is in the low 3 figures. Like currently I have $110 in savings and $45 in checking. I have no clue about how much my wife has, and that is the beauty of it.
- johnday 7y ago
  I'm with Monzo in the UK and use it similarly, Twice a month or so, £100 goes in there to pay for things like dining out and the occasional grocery shop. It's a nice way of separating the dailies from the monthlies. It means my Old Fashioned Bank's statement is readable.
ferongr 7y ago
I'm one of those "customers". I tried using connecting to my old account to check out the app after 4 years but I was asked for ID verification, which for some reason failed, in order to be able to do anything. I can't close my account since there's a 20 eurocent balance on it, so it probably still counts as a "customer" account even though I can't use it in any way.
Youden 7y ago
> a reasonable metric for someones main bank, especially in today's cashless society In Europe, the primary region for Revolut at the moment, cashlessness is highly variable. In a country like the UK or The Netherlands, DAU might be a reasonable measure but in say Germany, which is largely still cash-based, it's less relevant. I'd say MAU or something like that makes more sense for a predominantly European financial service (Revolut is not a bank, it does not offer bank accounts).

RomanPushkin 7y ago

Revolut was funded with the money stolen from Russia. Father of the founder was one of the top Gazprom managers.