I have to admit when I had no alternative choice as an off shore bank account besides the online Revolut I was slightly concerned as I prefer the bricks and mortar type bank. My Revolut bank account has been open for a good year or so and my experience has been all positive with no complaints.
The hesitancy I once had has changed and has been far easier than what I had first expected. Change is always hard and being with a bank for over 30 years and being forced to change was not ideal. I am still feeling cheated how I was treated and rightly so as it could have and should have been handled far better. The people I spoke to at the call center was a very bad experience and do think this is going to be the weakness for most companies.
The only hiccup we had was the bank card would not fit the local ATM's in South Africa because they were outdated and had not been upgraded. A quick fix was to order a different card which then fixed the ATM issue.
Revolut on another positive received their UK banking license so they are officially going to have branches in the UK which is a plus for when I travel to the UK. I am not an online fan and rather deal face to face with things like banking. I mentioned I had problems with call centers so if there is a problem I know I can deal with someone which is more important giving me more confidence in the Revolut product. Banking for myself should always remain personal because it is so important and you want to know that the service is there for your needs.
What has impressed me is the tools the banking app has and they are all very useful and informative. Graphs showing your monthly spend versus incoming funds as a percentage which does help you as you are more aware of outgoing payments. When we were travelling overseas I could budget daily just by looking at the graph.
Earlier this week Revolut introduced the wealth management app which I am sure would be useful for those who are not aware of their total value. This is not something I would use as I know the value of my properties and other investments with a number in my head. I am sure most people have a ball park figure of their wealth so having an app tracking this is ideal. Revolut is still fairly new and will continue to improve and develop new things in order to offer the best service they can.
I know in the UK there are various sites that offer a valuation on your property and we do not have this in South Africa. All I can do is gauge the market in the area or ask an estate agent to give a rough valuation. I have done this annually for the Durban property and have a thumb suck valuation for our Johannesburg house. This is a project in progress so definitely not ready for sale and will be worth far more when completed.
