Revolut
Excellent day-to-day banking and FX features undercut by a support process that leaves frozen accounts waiting.
Pros
- Instant multi-currency spending with real exchange rates
- One of the cleanest budgeting interfaces of any banking app
- Fast virtual card issuance for online purchases
Cons
- In-app support chat routes to bots for most account issues
- Account freezes for security review can last days with little explanation
What we tested
We used Revolut as a secondary account for six weeks of everyday spending, including foreign currency purchases while travelling, and deliberately triggered a support interaction by reporting a disputed transaction.
The good
Day-to-day, Revolut is one of the smoothest banking apps available. Currency exchange happens at the interbank rate with no visible markup for most currencies, and spending notifications land within seconds of a card being used. The budgeting and spaces features make it easy to ring-fence money for specific goals without opening a second account.
The problem
Support is the weak point. Our disputed-transaction query was handled entirely by a chatbot for the first two interactions, and reaching a human took over 24 hours. This matters more for a bank than for most apps: several publicly documented cases show Revolut accounts being frozen for “security review” with limited communication about timelines, which is the main reason this review carries a caution rather than a recommendation.
Verdict
Good for a secondary spending account, especially for frequent travellers. We would not recommend it as a sole bank account until support responsiveness improves.