N26 vs Revolut in 2024: Which is best for you?
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N26 and Revolut are digital banks focusing on low currency exchange fees. They are both doing that well and are well-established. So, how can you choose between the two?
Which is best for you will ultimately depend on your needs.
But we can still compare their features and characteristics. In this article, I compare in detail N26 vs Revolut.
I start by introducing the two companies. And then, I compare them based on many different aspects: fees, limits, security… At the end of the article, you will know which of N26 or Revolut is best for you!
If you want to know which of N26 vs Revolut is better for you, keep reading!
I focus on the free accounts of both N26 and Revolut. They also have premium options. But they are out of the scope of this article!
What is N26?
N26 is a German company created in 2016. It started under the name Number 26 but quickly changed it to N26. Their main offering is digital bank accounts without any fees for converting currencies.
N26 is an official bank from the European Union. It is called a direct bank. They have no offices. They are available through a mobile application and a web application.
You can get either a Mastercard debit card or a Maestro card with your account. However, only a few countries can get a Maestro card. You get a personal IBAN in EUR, and you can use this as your bank account. You can do bank transfers from your account or directly transfer money to other people using N26.
They previously offered investment services, but this service has been discontinued. They are now focusing on their core business.
In early 2020, N26 claimed more than 3.5 million customers in 26 countries. It has more than 1300 employees and offers its services in most of Europe and the United States.
If you want more detail, I have an entire article about N26.
What is Revolut?
Revolut is a company from the United Kingdom. It was created in 2015. Mostly, they offer digital money transfer services. Most of their services are based on their cheap currency exchange systems. However, they have started having many offer money-related services.
You can get a Mastercard (sometimes a Visa) debit card or a Maestro card with your account. It can be practical in some cases to have both.
It is also an online direct bank since they do not have offices. However, since they are not yet an actual bank (they already have the license), they are not a direct bank per se.
Once you have deposited money into your account, you will use it as a payment card. You can also use it as a bank account and transfer money to other accounts or Revolut users.
They also have started offering access to cryptocurrencies and stocks. They want to expand their money services over time. The features you can get from Revolut will depend on which country your account is registered in.
In 2019, they announced that they have about four million users. To serve these customers, they employ about 600 people in many locations. They started early, only in Europe. But they are also available in the United States.
I have been using Revolut for a long time now. You can learn more about it in my full review of Revolut.
What are their premium options?
Both companies offer free services. We will focus on these free services for the rest of the N26 vs Revolut comparison.
However, talking about the different premium options both companies offer is still interesting.
We can start with Revolut. Revolut has three different account types:
- Revolut Standard account. It is the free account I focus on in this article.
- Revolut Premium account. This account will cost you 6.99 EUR per month. It offers priority support, increases the withdrawal limits, removes the monthly restrictions, and adds some insurance forms.
- Revolut Metal account. This account will cost you 12.99 EUR per month. On top of the Premium account, Metal will add a concierge service, a 0.1% cashback on European purchases, and a 1% cashback outside Europe.
As for N26, they also have three different accounts:
- N26 account. It is the free account that we focus on in this article.
- N26 You account. This account will cost 9.90 EUR a month. It will give you free withdrawals, an insurance package, and some discounts and offers from partners.
- N26 Metal account. This account will cost you 16.90 EUR a month. On top of the advantages of N26 You, it also offers dedicated customer support, many partner discounts, and a card in tungsten.
There are many advantages to each of these premium offerings. We can see that N26 premium accounts are more expensive than Revolut premium accounts. However, only N26 will offer free withdrawal worldwide. It can save a lot of money for people traveling a lot. On the other hand, the cashback from Revolut premium accounts can also be attractive.
Both companies offer business services, but I focus on standard accounts for this comparison.
Which is more available – N26 vs Revolut
We start by checking where are the two services available.
Both services are widely available in Europe. First, N26 is available in 23 countries in Europe. Then, Revolut is available to each country part of the European Economic Area (EEA). It means it is available in 31 countries. It is also available in Switzerland.
On top of that, N26 is also available in the United States. Revolut just launched in the U.S. in early 2020. However, they are still in the early stages.
Finally, Revolut is also available in Australia, Canada, and Singapore. N26 is not available in these countries.
Depending on where you live, you may have access to some extra features for both services. For instance, if you are German, you can access real savings accounts with an interest rate of N26. And if you are French, you get access to stock trading on Revolut. Unfortunately, in Switzerland, we do not get any extra fancy features, but we probably do not need them anyway.
One difference for people living in a country is that they are not residents. N26 accepts people living in countries that they support to open an account. But this is not the case for Revolut. With Revolut, your residence does not matter as much as your nationality.
Since Revolut is available in more countries than N26, Revolut is the winner for availability.
Support in Switzerland
Both services are available in Switzerland, which means Swiss citizens can open accounts with N26 and Revolut.
But there is a considerable difference between these two services in Switzerland.
With Revolut, you can withdraw some money for free in Switzerland (up to 200 euros a month). But you cannot do it with N26. I do not think this is a big deal if you live in Switzerland since you will probably keep a Swiss bank account.
With Revolut, you will get a Swiss IBAN to deposit CHF directly into your account. However, you will only get a EUR IBAN with N26. This means depositing money for free on your N26 account is more complicated.
Since neither offers a personal IBAN, you cannot use either service for your main bank account. So, being unable to withdraw in CHF with N26 is not a big deal. However, sending money to your account from Switzerland complicates it. You could use Revolut or Wise to send money to your N26 account. But then, it makes it more complicated.
Since Revolut has a Swiss IBAN, Revolut is the winner for availability in Switzerland.
Money Transfer Services – N26 vs Revolut
We can also compare the essential services of the two companies: their money transfer services.
Both services focus on offering cheap currency exchanges in many different currencies.
Both services offer a MasterCard (or Visa) card. You can use it everywhere, like a credit card. But you need to have money charged on it. The transactions will appear in real time on both services. It is an awesome advantage of debit cards compared to credit cards. Both services will execute payments extremely fast.
However, there is a slight difference with a real credit card. The two companies do not even provide the same kind of card. N26 provides a MasterCard Debit Card. And Revolut provides a MasterCard (or Visa) prepaid card.
Generally, a MasterCard Debit Card can be used the same way as a credit card without credit (you can only spend what you have). On the other hand, a prepaid card has some limitations. Many companies do not accept prepaid cards for pre-authorization transactions. This is often the case when renting a car or reserving a hotel. So there is a slight advantage with N26 here since they have a real Debit Card.
You could make the reservation with your standard credit card and then pay with Revolut. However, this is not as practical.
Most of the time, you will probably use the card directly to pay for purchases in other currencies. But you can also use the account to directly transfer to other accounts. And you can also send money directly to other customers.
With Revolut, you can also hold other fiat currencies directly in your account. So, you can have CHF, USD, and EUR simultaneously in your account. Having multiple currencies on your account is a great thing. And you can also receive these currencies directly into your account. When you spend currencies with your card or with a bank transfer, the money from the specific account will first be used if there is enough. So, these purchases will not result in currency exchange.
For N26, you will receive a real personal EUR IBAN. This IBAN is unique to you. However, with Revolut, you will not get a unique IBAN. You will still get an IBAN to receive money as a beneficiary. But this IBAN is shared with many people. It is just a slight difference.
Both accounts are also usable from Apple Pay and Google Pay. So you can use their cards directly from your phone if you like this service!
Both accounts are available on the phone and the web.
For money transfer services, when we compared N26 vs Revolut, I would say that they are both at a draw. Their core services are the same and are both great! However, only Revolut lets you hold different currencies in the account. This feature could be great if you need it!
Other Services
Both companies offer different services as well. We can see how they compare to each other.
N26 focuses entirely on its core business. As a result, they do not have many other features. On the other hand, Revolut has many other features.
With N26 and Revolut, you can track your expenses. They automatically categorize each expense. If you opt for their premium products, you can purchase travel insurance. Both premium options give you access to some perks.
Revolut also has a system of Vaults where you do spare change savings. This could be interesting if you want to save a little on each purchase automatically.
One very cool feature of Revolut is that you can have virtual cards. You can create a secondary card directly in the app. And then you can use this card on the Internet. You can delete the card once you do not need the car anymore. Virtual cards are a great way to protect your online finances.
Revolut offers simple access to crypto-currencies. Remember that this is not a free service (1.5% fee on buy and sell). And this is not a wallet. You will not be able to take your crypto coins outside of Revolut.
Finally, Revolut recently started offering trading access to stocks. This service is free up to a certain number of trades per month. However, it is only accessible to Metal customers.
Overall, Revolut has many more features than N26. Of course, it only matters if you want to use these features.
N26 vs Revolut – Who has higher limits?
We can also see what the limits of both companies are.
We start with Revolut. They have a straightforward system for limits. You can withdraw up to 3000 GBP per day.
And you can also transfer a lot of money with Revolut. The daily limit on Revolut is 100’000 GBP. And the weekly limit is 250’000 GBP. The equivalent in GBP is considered if you are working with other currencies. It is a straightforward system with high limits.
How does that compare to N26? With N26, you can withdraw up to 2500 EUR per day. You can spend up to 5000 EUR daily in a store or online using your card.
You can transfer up to 50’000 EUR per day with N26. You can transfer up to 100’000 EUR per month. It is also a straightforward system with relatively high limits.
Revolut has higher limits than N26. All their limits are significantly higher than N26.
Which is cheaper – Revolut or N26?
Price is probably what most people are interested in. So, we must ask ourselves: how much fees we will pay for these services?
We start with withdrawal in Euros. N26 allows you five withdrawals in euros per month. After this limit, you will pay 2 EUR per withdrawal. With Revolut, you will get a 200 EUR withdrawal free per month. After this, you will pay a 2% fee on the total withdrawal.
For other currencies, N26 charges a 1.7% fee on each withdrawal. Revolut is free up to the 200 EUR equivalent. After this, you will also pay a 2% fee.
So, for withdrawal, N26 is significantly better than Revolut.
N26 is free for paying and transferring in other currencies!
On the other hand, Revolut has about a 0.40% surchage on average on the interbank exchange rate. Indeed, in 2023, they dropped the interbank exchange rate and are using the Revolut Exchange Rate, which means nothing.
On top of that, Revolut has extra fees under some conditions! Indeed, there is a limit of 1000£ (GBP) per month. Once you reach this limit, you must pay an extra 1.0% fee on each transfer. Moreover, you will have to pay an extra charge of 1.0% for each transfer on the weekend.
The limit for Revolut used to be 5000 GBP. But in June 2020, they decreased it to 1000 GBP. And they also increased their weekend fees. These changes make them less interesting compared to N26!
As for the exchange rates, N26 offers the Mastercard exchange rate, while Revolut offers the meaningless Revolut Exchange Rate. Both of these rates are about 0.40% worse than the interbank exchange on average. But it depends on each currency and on the time of the day. It will only make a difference if you transfer a large amount of money.
Example of exchange fees for spending by card
We can directly compare the prices for a few examples of conversions when you pay by card:
| Amount | From | To | N26 | Revolut | Revolut Weekend |
| 1000 | CHF | EUR | 0 CHF | 0 CHF | 10 CHF |
| 5000 | CHF | EUR | 0 CHF | 50 CHF | 100 CHF |
| 10000 | CHF | EUR | 0 CHF | 100 CHF | 200 CHF |
| 1000 | EUR | USD | 0 CHF | 0 CHF | 10 EUR |
| 5000 | EUR | USD | 0 CHF | 50 EUR | 100 EUR |
Since both have about the same 0.40% surcharge, I did not account for the surcharge in the table.
If you look at this table, it should be clear that N26 is the winner! They are always at least as cheap as Revolut. And they are always free! Revolut has a much more complicated system for fees.
Reputation
If you plan to put money into a bank, it is good to check their reputation.
Neither of them has an excellent reputation. Revolut and N26 have generated quite a controversy at different times in their short history.
In 2016, N26 introduced a limit of 5 withdrawals per month. It made a lot of customers angry. Also, in the same year, there was a significant security breach at N26. Once again, it generated a lot of negative feedback about N26.
In 2019, both N26 and Revolut were accused of not doing enough to avoid money laundering.
Revolut has a bad reputation for its workplace. People have reported it as very toxic many times. Also, the customer service of Revolut has a bad reputation. And some people think that the Kremlin controls Revolut. But for that, there has never been any trustworthy source. So I would not care about that fact.
Overall, I would say that both N26 and Revolut have the same bad reputation. They probably have both been growing too fast and cannot keep up.
Which is more secure? N26 or Revolut?
We also need to take a look at the security of both systems.
First, knowing that your money at Revolut is not insured by anything is essential! On the other hand, the money inside your N26 account is protected by European law up to 100’000 EUR! This protection is a great advantage of N26 over Revolut. If Revolut fails, you are very unlikely to see your money again.
As for pure security, both companies are using 3D Secure (3DS) for their transactions. It means you will get a push notification on the app when you pay with your card on some websites. And the transaction will only be validated once you confirm the transaction on the app. 3DS adds a second layer of security, which is great. Interestingly, Revolut has offered 3DS only since August 2019, while N26 has offered it since July 2017!
In 2016, there was a big security breach in N26. It is slightly scary. But since that point, they have taken security very seriously. And they are now much better. But, of course, no service is 100% secure.
With both services, you can limit the account from the app. For instance, you could turn off some swipe payments from your app.
Overall, I think that N26 offers greater security than Revolut. It is mainly due to the bank insurance of your money. However, for transactions, both companies should provide the same relative security.
If you care about security, I have an article on how to protect your online personal finances.
N26 vs Revolut Summary
Finally, we summarize what we have seen so far.
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4.0
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3.0
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- Great availability
- High limits
- Good mobile and web applications
- Bad during the weekend
- Bad reputation
- Bad customer service
- Little transparency on exchange rates
Overall, we can see that both services have advantages and disadvantages.
However, I feel like N26 is superior to Revolut. It is because you can convert more money for free. With Revolut, you have to pay extra during the weekend. And you will have to pay extra for some currencies. N26, on the other hand, offers free currency exchanges!
Here are the main differences between N26 and Revolut:
- N26 currency exchanges are always free!
- Your money on N26 is insured up to 100’000 EUR!
- N26 offers many more free withdrawals in euros than Revolut!
- Revolut has more features.
- Revolut has higher limits than N26.
- Revolut has a Swiss IBAN to transfer CHF directly.
FAQ
Is N26 cheaper than Revolut?
Yes! N26 offers free currency exchanges for all currencies without limit. With Revolut, they are only free up to 5000 GBP a month. And Revolut charges you more during the weekend.
Is N26 better than Revolut?
It depends. They both have good features. N26 is cheaper but offers more features. And the premium options of N26 are more expensive than the premium options of Revolut.
Conclusion -N26 vs Revolut
N26 is a better fit than Revolut for Europe. You will get many free withdrawals. And all currency exchange will be free, even during the weekend.
However, Revolut is a better fit in Switzerland. Since N26 has no Swiss bank account, it is difficult to top it up for free! Also, you cannot withdraw any CHF for free with N26. But this could change in the future.
However, since Revolut reduced the total of free transaction exchanges to 1000 GBP (1250 CHF) in June 2020 and dropped the interbank exchange rate in 2023, they are becoming less interesting.
An awesome thing with N26 is that your money is insured! If they get busted, your money is safe. And I like the fact that all currency exchanges are free with N26. And five free withdrawals in Euros per month is a great thing!
Of course, nothing prevents you from having both! Having both cards could optimize your strategy to the maximum. You could also use Revolut to top up N26 for free! It makes a lot of sense! But if you prefer simplicity, you choose Revolut or N26.
Another alternative is to use the Swiss bank Neon. They also offer free purchases abroad with their Mastercard. That way, your money stays in Switzerland, and you get insurance for your cash.
Whether you choose N26 or Revolut, having a travel card can save you a lot of money. And this should be an essential part of your credit card strategy. It is likely the thing that can save you the most money with your payment card usage.
Regardless of the N26 vs Revolut debate, you probably want to use your local credit card in your country. That way, you will have more cashback. These two services are awesome when you work with other currencies. But they are not so great in Swiss francs, for instance.
What about you? Are you using N26 or Revolut?
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I think you are right…
I though that if they have a bank license this means that deposits are secured by European Deposit Insurance Scheme… But it seems they are not. Link which you provided is more then a year old and I`m wondering if they are working on securing deposits or not..
This “WILL” from their blog post sounds a little bit misleading…
Hi Ivan,
I really hope they are using this license. And I completely agree that the tone of the blog post is really misleading. Saying that any funds will be protected, but then saying “not yet” is not really honest marketing.
I have not heard any news about doing anything with the license which is a bit weird. Let’s hope it’s the plan.
Thanks for stopping by!
Revolut account is also protected by European law up to 100’000 EUR
Hi Ivan,
Are you sure about that? I really do not think so. They got a banking license after they starting operating. I do not think the license applies to accounts created before the license.
When they received the banking license, they even stated that for the time being it would not change anything and the protection was not yet applied.
Thanks for stopping by!
ONE aspect one should consider when living close to the border and using Aldi’s “Tax Free”-Card for VAT-returns:
it requires a CH/FL or DE-IBAN.
If you want to avoid exchange-rates or fees for “payments in foreign currencys”, you’d need a EUR-account somewhere…
Until recently, Transferwise offered a good option for that – similar conditions to Revolut (working a little better and more reliable, with excellent support), they changed the IBAN from DE to one from Belgium (due to them moving offices)…
So customers using the Aldi-TaxFree-card would find the only alternative to be N26…
NOTE: this does not apply to the normal “Global Blue Tax free”-card, which can make use of every account as long it’s one from the card-owner… Only Aldi Süd applied these special conditions…
Hi Grenzgaenger,
Wow, this is a really cool thing. I did not know they had cards like this. I have never liver near the border and never shopped abroad, so this is definitely not my area of expertise!
This sounds really practical to shop at Aldi near the border and don’t have to mess with VAT-returns.
Too bad you do can’t use TW, but at least N26 is still a good alternative for the time being.
Thanks for sharing!
Hey Mr Poor Swiss,
That is the first time, that I am commenting, but I couldn’t stop myself. I am very sorry, but I think the article is not good.
I do have both accounts, N26 and Revolut, so I think I know both of them.
You did compare the key benefits of Revolut, like
– keeping multiple fiat currencies in one account (without additional costs)
– using on debit card and get only charged in the “right” currency, also on holidays in the USA, if you have USD in your account
I am living in Switzerland and EU for 14 years and Revolut made it a whole lot cheaper and easier.
Also I think your example about the “Example of exchange fees” is really bad.
“Interbank rate is slightly better than the Mastercard” – Really?
Who cares about 0.5 % charge for transfering money on the weekend, if the exchange rate has a 1.5 % surcharge?
You would need to compare
1000 CHF exchange on the N26 will result in 930.75 (4.05 CHF fee, as they are using transferWise in the background, as far as I know)
1000 CHF exchange on the Revolut will result in 934.91 (I did change money last week).
Do the same for 10000 CHF. That would be the real story.
I don’t know if you consider changing 1000 CHF much, but 5 CHF I do find a significant amount of money, that I lost by using a different service / bank.
Please do a real comparison, that would help people.
Thanks
The MadScheff
Hi MadScheff,
I am sorry you do not like this article.
I will mention the fact that you can keep several currencies on a Revolut account and not on N26, this is indeed a great advantage of Revolut.
As for the fees, I was talking about spending by card here, not bank transfers. I should have made it more clear. I think this is the main use case for most people (but maybe not all people indeed). In that case, N26 does not use TransferWise. It only uses TransferWise when you do bank transfers I believe.
So this is a real comparison even though you do not like it.
Thanks for stopping by!
Careful using Revolut to send francs – they send it from abroad (not using their swiss account) so banks here charge to receive it.
Also, if you setup your N26 with a German address you get more banking features, such as a savings account with interest.
Hi Jacob,
Thanks for mentioning that. I actually did not know that. I never used it to send francs. I only use it to spend :P But that’s very good to know.
And thanks too for the N26 extra features. I will mention that in the article. I did not know that either :P
Thanks a lot for sharing that!
I have Revolut, and I’m trying out two Nordic offerings, Lunar and Rocker. I looked at N26, but they don’t (unless I missed some important information) offer an account in Swedish kronor, so it’s of no use to me. Revolut had been pretty good so far, I’ve not had any issues with it, and as long as you’re prepared, and aware of potential weekend fees (and as fire people we’re pretty good at planning, no?) they’re pretty easy to avoid.
Hi Jude,
Yes, weekend fees are really easy to avoid indeed. You can always do the conversion in advance and still use your card during the weekend.
What are these two Nordic offerings?
Thanks for stopping by!
Nice article. A small remark, none offer a credit card. They offer pre-paid cards. This works for most places but I still have a proper credit card that allows “pre-authorizations”. You usually can’t use a revolut/n26 in a hotel, gas station, Rent-A-Car or in highway tolls for example.
Hi Lumo,
That’s a good point! You can use them like a credit card, but you will have some limitations indeed as you mentioned. I will add a mention of it to the article.
Thanks for pointing that out!
I don’t know where you live but in Europe you can pay for all of that with Revolut. I traveled the world with Revolut and had no problem whatsoever with renting a car, booking a hotel or paying for tolls
Hi Alen,
I have not tried a lot, but I have had issues in the United States with Revolut for a hotel. And a colleague of mine had the same experience in Canada for a hotel and a car.
But it’s possible that in Europe it’s better. I have not had to authorize a transaction for a long time in Europe.
Thanks for sharing!
Actually, Revolut offers a Pre-Paid card (stating Prepaid); N26 offers a Debit Card; they work differently; the Mastercard (or Visa) Debit works like a credit-card, though you don’t have a credit, but only the balance on your account. Prepaids Mastercard/Visa often can’t be used to book a service that reserves a certain amount (eg. Carsharing, Hotels)… So N26 has some advantages to Revolut…
(same issues btw with Neon Mastercard -> that one’s a prepaid, too – good luck when using in hotels – it may work, it may not…)
Hi Grenzgaenger,
Thanks for clarifying this! I did not know the difference. I will add a note about that in the article!
Yes, neon has just “invented” no or low fares on currency exchanges.
In 2019 I was very happy with revolut because I was able to top up the account with my Migros Cumulus creditcard from Cembra.
Unfortunately Cembra introduced a 1.5% fee for top up a revolut account.
But I think with a standard bank transfer to the CS account of revolut it should still be for free (but I’m not sure).
Perhaps I’ll use more my neon card.
Hi Daniel,
Obviously, they did not invent anything ;) They just added a nice feature that no other Swiss banks have. This makes them extremely interesting.
With a standard bank transfer, it will be free indeed. It seems that transfers using the Cumulus credit are still free if you are below a certain limit. But I do not know which limit that is.
I have used my card from Neon in Hong Kong and London recently and it worked like a charm!
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Mr. The Poor Swiss,
I actually tested it myself to top up Revolut with a Cumulus credit card. I tested it with the lowest amount possibel: CHF 10. And I still got charged the 1.5% fee.
I think, this is a general new development in the credit card scene in Switzerland. They call it something like CHF transaction outside Switzerland. Also PostFinance is doing this since 2020. UBS and Swisscard have been doing it for a while, not sure about other banks.
It is obvious, that if you do a transaction in another currency than CHF, they charge you their foreign currency fee. New is now, that they charge you the same amount of fees for transactions in CHF, if the beneficiary is outside of Switzerland. This is especially important for online shopping and Revolut or similar. There don’t seem to be clear rules about this. PostFinance for instance recommends to check the web store for their head quarters. If the company is listed there as outside of Switzerland, they will charge you the fee. For Revolut for example, this would apply. But there are exceptions to this rule, which are not really foreseeable.
This is upsetting to me, as there are a lot of online shops in Switzerland of companies from other countries. So you shop on a web shop with a Swiss domain, they charge you in CHF and still you pay fees. I am a bit surprised, that there are not more people complaining about this.
I would be interested, what other people think about this. Thanks again for another interesting article!
Hi RetirementDreamer,
Sorry to hear that!
It seems true that more and more people get charged for this. And it sucks. It seems like we will have to rely on bank transfers again. But it’s not that bad. We have been spoiled by instant transfers now!
I knew that some credit cards always charged for transactions outside of Switzerland even in CHF, but I did not see that Cumulus did the same thing now. Your explanation makes a lot of sense to me!
Do you have an example of an online shopping website where this would apply? If we have some examples, I could talk about this.
I never ran into an issue like this. But this is indeed upsetting!
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Mr. The Poor Swiss,
Thank you for your response! For me it will be even, that I will start using my Revolut card for those shops in Switzerland. Because the fee will be higher than the cash back. With that new offer from Neon (no exchange fees), I might also consider using that instead of Revolut.
Here are a few shops, that would fall into this category. Swiss domain, prices in CHF, but the company is actually outside Switzerland:
– https://www.jack-wolfskin.ch/
– https://www.bikester.ch/
– https://www.campz.ch/
I don’t know, if you actually would be charged the fee with these companies. I have not made purchases with them since my credit card introduced those fees. And different credit card companies might handle this differently, but according to what PostFinance told me, the fees would apply with these web shops.
Thanks for sharing the list. This is indeed worrying that people would not know about that once on the website since it looks Swiss.
It would be interesting if someone had some experience with paying the fee on a Swiss-looking website with an account on another country.
I have an update concerning this. When I got the monthly statement from the Cumulus credit card, I noticed, that they reimbursed me for the fee they initially charged me for the Revolut top up. It just says at the end of the transactions under miscellaneous: “Correction for the Revolut-fee”.
This is great, but I don’t know if this was a one time courtesy, or if it is below a certain amount or whatever. So it could be, that we are fine charging Revolut with the Cumulus credit card again, or not. I will probably not do it, as long as it is not clear how they handle the fee.
Hi RetirementDreamer,
Thanks a lot for sharing the update with us! It’s great that they reimbursed you. But indeed, it’s concerning to know that we do not know whether it will happen again or not.
For now, I still have enough money on my Revolut account, but I will update this post once I do this.
Getting some cashback is good, but the savings from Revolut are more important than the cashback. So I would not mind using wires again to Revolut.
Thanks for stopping by
Hi !
Thanks for the article and the comparison.
When speaking about Revolut, what do you mean by “if you want to receive money in other currencies, you will not get a personal account.” ?
It is in my understanding that the English IBAN GB80 XXX we all have is already a multi currencies account.
As long as the currency of your choice is activated within Revolut, you can transfer in and out using the said currency.
When receiving JPY for example, if the Japanese yen account is activated, Revolut will allocate the sum on it directly.
Some Swiss banks follow the same principle, using a unique IBAN to deal with multi currencies. Other banks will open one account with one unique IBAN per currency.
Guillaume
The same principle applies with several Swiss banks. Some of them setup
Hi Guillaume,
Actually, you are right, I was not very clear. I meant to say you will not have a unique IBAN account for you. You are still using the IBAN from Revolut with your name as a beneficiary.
I know you can receive money in every currency as long as it’s enabled. I will clarify the fact that the IBAN is not unique.
Thanks for stopping by
What about Neon? They provide you with a personal Swiss IBAN and they have no fees for paying and transferring other currencies.
Hi Carol,
This is an excellent question :)
When I wrote this article, Neon did not have free currency exchanges. This is a bit bad timing :P
But I will write an article comparing Neon en Revolut, it should probably come this month. Stay tuned!
Thanks for stopping by!