Revolut, a way to pay while in UK?

The service works via a phone app and you have a pre-paid Mastercard which you can top up with money from the online account.

You can use it to transfer money to friends or to pay bills. Revolut says it uses the (favourable) interbank exchange rate for exchange between currencies and has no fees for foreign transfers of up to €6,000 a month.

There is a 0.5% fee for sums above this, unless you have an optional special account at a monthly fee.

The interbank rate applies only on weekdays. At the weekend, Revolut fixes a rate with a 0.5% increase to protect itself from fluctuations until markets open the following week.

You can make international cash machine withdrawals of up to €200/month for free, with a 2% fee over this.

You can set up regular payments but there is no facility for an overdraft, chequebook or loan. It also offers ways to see how much you spend on different items, such as restaurants.

Revolut, a UK company, is not a full bank and is not covered by the FSCS compensation scheme in the event of going bust.

However, it is an FSA-authorised “electronic money institution” and keeps your money in a segregated account away from company funds.

Banking information site Cbanque states there may be risks to keeping large sums in it as it is experiencing some management and UK regulatory difficulties.

You can contact it only by online chat on its app.