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i've used: 1. revolut - these guys are complete jokers. closed after being asked to provide the proof of funding 3 times in 3 months. 2. hsbc/first direct - s
by kmlx 6y ago
i've used:
1. revolut - these guys are complete jokers. closed after being asked to provide the proof of funding 3 times in 3 months.
2. hsbc/first direct - somewhat decent. but i only use it to top up my other accounts. i try to avoid them, as they're just too big.
3. starling - simple, no-nonsense banking from a startup.
4. revolut business - had my account closed down by the "bank" because they didn't want my business. no reasons given. again, complete jokers.
5. freetrade - decent investing platform, but very very amateurish.
6. saxo bank - professional investing. they're a huge company, never had issues with them. and yes, they of course accept me buying gme and the like, plus they also support options. unfortunately it costs. a lot.
7. metro bank - what can i say. it feels like a 20th century bank with a nice app. had many issues with them, including a transfer that went missing for 2 weeks, and a EUR account that forced me to go to their branch every time i wanted to do a transfer.
8. ing bank nv - depending on the territory you're opening the account, they might be either really bad or somewhat bad.
9. rabobank - bank was constantly getting hacked and all account ops were blocked while the hacking was happening. also, the hackers managed to empty my account and the bank representative had to use a special card to withdraw some funds so that i could continue living.
later edit:
10. transferwise - very slick, minimal fees, used them from before they were a bank. no issues so far.
11. monzo - i'm not in their target market unfortunately. their features are not useful to me.
- nly 6y agoIf you need a EUR account with a good app, TransferWise, who power Revoluts multicurrency action on the backend, are pretty decent. Horrid luminous green card though. I'm an investor in Revolut due to their aggressive growth strategy, but I wouldn't use them personally. As for Monzo, I like their app but missing features like being able to view your full CVV number in app, or link the app to all your other bank accounts on the free tier, basically prevent me from using them as my primary bank
- nly 6y agoTo expand on my last paragraph: Revolut actually do spending analytics across all your linked accounts. on the free tier.
- youngtaff 6y agoTransferWise aren't a bank so the financial protects are slightly different I use them for some of my overseas customers, my only challenge with them is the limited number of currencies they support e.g. had to open a Revolut account to get payment from a Canadian customer
- nly 6y agoTW have all the functional features of a bank lots of people care about. A debit card, direct debits, standing orders etc. I of course recognize they aren't a fully licensed bank, but for EUR balances they are worth a look
- design-material 6y agoThe reason a Bank is strictly defined is that TW does not guarantee any cash that you have stored with them. With a bank you have up to £85,000 insured and guaranteed e.g. if the bank fails
- Gaelan 6y agoIIRC TransferWise holds all your money in escrow (as opposed to investing it or w/e), so they don't need to guarantee it. I'm not sure off hand if that's just what they claim, or if they actually make a legal promise to that effect.
- robotmay 6y agoAw I kinda like the brutally green card :D
- jozvolskyef 6y agoI set up a revolut account for currency exchange in 2018 and finally moved to use them as my primary bank in 2020. Never had any significant issues. Recently I was setting up a Revolut Business account and I didn't get a notification email requesting additional evidence. Me not getting an email is something they could improve, but the need for a thorough identity verification is understandable given their global ambitions. Edit: I'd like to add that revolut was very helpful after most of my valuables were stolen in 2019. While my other bank took three weeks to deliver a new debit card, a virtual card issued by revolut worked immediately via NFC.
- shafyy 6y agoI have been also using Revolut as my primary bank since 2017 and no issues at all. On the contrary, great customer service (I was a Metal customer and now Premium customer). Now I even do my trading through them.
- kmlx 6y agoall banks/co's are great until you face an issue. to me that's the defining moment. and again, for me revolut was a disaster and i will not recommend them.
- seer 6y agoYMMV of course - my experience with revolut has been nothing but positive. While I’ve had silly issues with my normal bank (like inability to close an account due to “technical reasons”), interacting with revolut has been stellar. Customer support, features roll out, chargebacks etc - all way better experience than the local banks. They singlehandedly forced all the banks in my country to implement apple pay / google wallet. For years nobody bothered, the moment Revolut entered the market, with apple pay support, the banks scrambled to add it themselves. One time I even had my card stolen while traveling abroad - got a new card within two days, global delivery. I was very pleasantly surprised. But I also understand the risks and don’t really use them for long term asset management for now. Just as a front for all of my expenses - their analytics are just awesome.
- einpoklum 6y agoAre these all platforms for investment in stocks? Or you talking about banking services generally?
- kmlx 6y agoall are banking, some offer trading/investments. i was replying to a monzo question, a banking startup. for trading/investments it really depends on your situation and location. (for example: some countries offer 0% taxes on capital gains for trading if done using special products, but not all available platforms will have them...)
- robotmay 6y agoI can second the problems with Revolut. Weird and dodgy, and they spend every second of your use of their app trying to sell you shitty addon services like mobile phone insurance. Starling, however, has been magic. I swapped my primary banking over to them and the only issue I've had is their dislike of rooted phones. That's only a minor inconvenience every few months when I forget to upgrade Magisk before the Starling app, though. Transferwise I've used many times to transfer money for larger purchases in Europe. No complaints, but haven't tried the banking side of it.
- Wildgoose 6y agoMy daughters have Starling accounts as their "day-to-day" accounts. They are very happy with them, as is a friend in my local Go Club.
- rattray 6y agoHave you tried Schwab? Somewhat limited in what they offer as a bank, but I've only ever had positive experiences. Their web/app aren't wonderful but they get the job done.