Revolut is now worse than your local bank

Not long ago, I’ve complained how revolut is degrading their service.

Yesterday I’ve found it’s even worse than expected. The last email that I received, stated that the free limit for payments and withdrawals was 2000 BGN (around 1000 EUR),
however, the email that came recently showed that they have silently lowered the limit 5 more times - down to 450.

As a reminder, there is currently a BGN 450 limit on free monthly ATM withdrawals on our Standard plan. After this, you begin paying a 2% fee.

But wait - it becomes even better… To top it off, they have also added a withdrawal number limit and after that they will be charging 1BGN per withdrawal or 2% - whichever is greater.
Here’s a list of the new ways they’ll take your money:

  • Your BGN 450 free monthly limit will remain the same, and once you hit it you will still begin paying a fee.
  • We are also introducing a limit of five ATM withdrawals as well. Once you hit this, you will also begin paying a fee.
  • Both of these limits apply independently. You will start paying a fee as soon as you hit one, even if you don’t hit the other.
  • The fee is still 2%, but we are adding a minimum fee of BGN 1. This means you will pay the greater of BGN 1 or 2% of the withdrawal.

So what’s the big deal? They are a business and have to make profit, right?

At this point, the only thing they can offer that is better than what the local banks have is their mobile application - and that is also debatable with the latest changes they have made.
For example, here are some benefits of using a local bank:

  • The taxes on my account are a fraction of the taxes that Revolut wants to collect - 0.3 BGN fixed fee for withdrawar compared to 1BGN or 2% in revolut
  • No limit on withdrawals
  • No limits on whoever I can exchange money with, while Revolut limits all stock markets and cryptocurrency markets - fair competition, eh?
  • Exchange rates are similar and sometimes even better in my local bank
  • There is no exchange fees! Revolut will have a fee from 0.5 to 2% depending on how much money you throw at them every month.
  • Cheap yearly maintenance fee - ~24 BGN, compared to 96 of BGN with the cheapest revolut plan.

Takeout

Revolut was nice and promising in the beginning, but not anymore. I’d strongly recommend not using their services, but if you find it alluring, you can drop a comment how you use the fintech app in your daily life.

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