If you’re paid in Pounds and mostly spend Pounds then Monzo is very good. For multiple currencies and currency conversion then use Revolut or Transferwise Boarderless.
I use Revolut and the extra step of moving money to Monzo for me is pointless.
What I mean is they are different products to Monzo and cannot be compared.
Thanks for the info @simonb. Decided I’ll open the Borderless account. Nice to weigh the merits of both.
There’s a whole thread of Transferwise discussion here if anyone is interested.
I got a Revolut card about 18 months ago for a trip abroad. I used it without any problems and benefited from the lack of forex fees. Just recently I needed to send a small payment in Euros to a Spanish bank account and was able to very quickly load the money in Sterling, exchange to Euros and then make a SWIFT payment - all without any charges. Admittedly I have only used it for a few routine transactions (not into crypto) but I have had wholly positive experiences so far.
Am I correct in thinking that for up to £5,000 per month - Revolut does not charge a fee for cross currency payments (0.5% there after) - Where as Transferwise will charge 0.35% on everything (plus 0.80p)?
https://www.revolut.com/faq#will-i-be-charged-to-transfer-money-via-revolut
https://transferwise.com/pricing/gbp-to-eur
I’m guessing for simple currency conversion to Euros, the price you’ll get will be the same (it looks that way).
Help is appreciated all!
As for the fees: Yes, you are right. [edit: except for weekends, where Revolut charge a markup of 0.5%-1%.]
As for simple conversion/exchange rate: They tend to differ slightly as wellmy experience, e.g. right now: Revolut offers a rate of 1.221 vs Transferwise 1.225
Marvellous, thanks for the clarification.
Transferwise make it significantly clearer (which I like) - But they are fractionally more expensive (up to £5000 per month) in regards to paying someone in a different currency.
Personally, I find it equally clear in Revolut:
As mentioned before
I’ve used Revolut to transfer funds over to relatives in France and Spain
Having TransferWise and Monese to hand I quickly did an online comparison and found Revolut the best option for this
With regards issues that people have had with accounts being locked, my wife very recently undertook a trip to Spain and paid all the expenses via Revolut. No issues
All the best
Yes, in my experience Revolut are usually the cheapest way transfer EUR or USD. (As long as not on the weekend. Worth a reminder that they charge 0.5% on weekends.)
Whoops
I forgot to mention that
However all is not lost when you actually understand what they do for weekends
Maybe just a little foresight is needed
Aha! I had seen this, but I’d somehow got confused and thought it was for converting your own money (not paying someone else).
But yes, that does make it very clear (and it also gives you the fee when you go over £5,000)!
You get the same rate, regardless. When I last paid someone in EUR I simply converted first, then paid. The payment page also lists the final GBP amount precisely, if you don’t convert first, although it doesn’t explicity mention the fee, but I’m not going to post a screenshot, as I’m too lazy to redact bank details from it 
A shame realy as this could potentially force the issue of using an alternative to Revolut over the weekend
Two cards and two accounts etc
Hang on. What we are saying is that I can convert on the Friday and place in the Euro account. This I can then tap into over the weekend 
with no extra charges
Yeah, I’m sure there may be times when people who regularly need this service find themselves short at the weekend… But they are also likely to be the same people who plan ahead!
I can’t see an issue with the weekend increase (other than the annoyance of forgetting) - But if it’s used rarely… You’ll probably have time to do it in the week.
On a side note - Is there an advantage to adding currency in Euros (from GBP) to your Revolut account, and then using that card in Spain, over simply using the Monzo/Starling standard debit card?
Potentially:
In summary: I think the advantage of Revolut for this scenario is the certainty in advance. This may or may not be an advantage to you.
They also obviously use a different exchange rate: Monzo/Starling use the mastercard rate, while Revolut use their “interbank rate”. These may differ, and sometimes the one may be better, other times the other. On average it probably balances each other out, but I haven’t studied the rates in detail.
I had two cards for the one account which meant that both I and my wife could use Revolut from a sort of joint account perspective
Not the case with Starling or Monzo
I think the above response answers my case very nicely in respect to what I want from the service
I want to be in control of what I spend and not necessarily wait a few days to find out what the actual cost was
Well @nanos and @Chad - Thanks for your answers, you’ve both been incredibly helpful!
I’ve always done a quick conversion in my head when on family holidays to Europe - But the idea of “thinking in Euros” due to locking in the exchange rate with Revolut is quite enticing (although I think I’ll still do the mental conversion in my head when spending).
I guess… Providing the markets don’t crash whilst I’m away, there is no huge advantage or disadvantage with either (Revolut/Starling/Monzo).
But it does seem that Revolut sneaks it on convenience of not having to wait the 1-5 days to see what the conversion rate was!
Thank you again!
That was my pleasure and I hope you can sit back and enjoy your holiday rather than worry about what that last round of drinks may have cost
Ha, thanks mate - The sad fact is, the kind of money we’ll be spending on a family holiday would make little difference to Revolut/Monzo/Transferwise etc.
I just like to know which gives the absolute best deal in my situation (“deal” to me means value/ease of use).
Last question…
Out of Revolut, Monzo, Starling, Transferwise Borderless… Is Revolut the only pre paid card?