You plan to live abroad for a period of time or to travel outside your country?

In case you have to convert your currency, most banks charge a fee and when you are a student you want to avoid these fees. Even paying for a credit card can be expensive for some people. That’s why online banking has emerged.

When i made my regular bank account i didn’t subscribe for a credit card or a debit card. I was in my parent’s house and paid in cash or transfer for personal assistance services by an elderly lady.

Advantages of Revolut

So the real problem was to pay items online because most of the case, websites require credit card information. In such situation, i used Paypal to make purchases but not available on every site.

Until the moment I ordered a debit card with 10 euros free following an offer. It’s a Revolut debit card and i’m still satisfied. I haven’t already had any issues with this bank account (that might be coming soon 🙂 ). Revolut is a totally free debit card meaning nor fees or taxes. In Norway, when i have to pay my rent i can exchange my money with the inter-bank exchange rate e.g without any mark-up excepted the week-end ( on Sat-Sun London time). You can find more information about that fact on this link :

https://www.revolut.com/help/getting-started/exchanging-currencies/what-foreign-exchange-rate-will-i-get

With the corona virus outbreak and the oil crisis in Norway, i managed to save up to 49 EUR.

Month	EUR	NOK	Rent paid (price = 3978.80 NOK)
February	1	10.11	393.54
March	1	11.54	344.78

The app allow you to check your previous purchases, the history of exchange rates and many other useful features.

I often use the auto-exchange functionality to catch the best exchange rate and use some security ones.

Revolut’s drawbacks

There is a poor customer support. If you encounter any problems you will probably wait a long time.

When you use a monthly automatic payment take care to have enough money ! They will block your card otherwise. I saw many threads about blocked accounts with Revolut. Check twice time the amount of your account before the monthly netflix withdrawal, amazon prime or whatever you use.

A Revolut bank account cannot be a substitute for a regular account. Just store the money you need on it. Problems are solved but take time as it is a free service.

This bank account can save you money as a student and especially for people staying abroad for a while.

I don’t know the other neo-banks well but N24 seems to be Revolut’s main competitor. Find out which bank to choose. In case you would like to try, I have an affiliate link allowing you to benefit from the free card.