Revolut Card in Switzerland

Howdy,

I heard about the Revolut Card which does not charge foreign transaction fees no matter which country you use it in. Could be interesting for travelers.

Can I get this card in Switzerland and what does it cost?

Thanks all.

Hi there,

The Revolut Card is a Mastercard prepaid card offered by Revolut - a UK based finanancial services provider. However, it is possible to hold a Revolut account in Swiss francs, as well as in multiple currencies (EUR, USD, GBP, CHF).

The fees for this prepaid card are very low and it has no annual fee. You can withdraw up to CHF 200 at ATMs without paying a withdrawal fee (a 2% withdrawal fee applies to withdrawals in excess of that amount).

You can reload the card via bank transfer, and only the charges levied by your bank apply. Because your account is held in the UK, you should make sure your bank does not charge you when you make a transfer to the UK. Most Swiss banks do not charge fees for SEPA transfers.

You can make up to CHF 6000 of foreign currency transactions per month without paying a foreign transaction fee. An 0.5% foreign transaction fee applies to transactions in excess of that amount. Most foreign currency transactions are performed at interbank rates without an additional spread (an 0.5% markup applies on weekends adn a 1% to 1.5% markup applies to certain currencies). The absence of foreign transaction fees and exchange spreads makes this card a good companion for short-term travelers.

Best regards from Moneyguru

More on this topic:
Swiss prepaid card comparison
Foreign Currency Credit Cards – Can They Save You Money?

Hi to all,

After spending a long period of time outside of Switzerland, I was pretty shocked by the foreign exchange fees on my card statement and the poor exchange rates. I did some research and finally discovered what I believe is probably the cheapest combo solution for getting money or charging purchases while traveling – a combination of Transferwise and Revolut.

Transferring money to the Revolut account is expensive because it is a British account. The rates used for euro transfers are poor and you pay extra for Swiss franc transfers to Revolut (minimum 5 francs per transfer).

Transferwise has a CHF IBAN and you don’t pay for a Transferwise account. I can transfer money directly to the Swiss Transferwise account, which costs me nothing.

Now here is the trick: Once the money has been credited to my Transferwise account (1 or 2 days), I use the Transferwise debit card to load my Revolut account, which is also free.

The Revolut exchange rates are way better than those used by Swiss credit card companies and by using this trick, you skip out on lots of hidden costs.

Transferwise does not have monthly or annual fees. Revolut charges just 7 francs to issue you a card.

It would be cool if more people could benefit from this combo solution.

Why not just use the Transferwise card and skip out on Revolut altogether? As far as I can see, the Transferwise card has lower charges than Revolut, and you don't pay to get it. What is the benefit of using Revolut if you already use Transferwise?

I'm a very happy Swiss Revolut customer with exposure to transactions in the Eurozone (mainly online shopping).

They now have a local CHF IBAN account where you can transfer funds free of charge. On top of that, you don't need to have your bank convert to Euro.

Better rely on Revolut which has highly competitive conditions!

You can even do local wire transfers in CHF at high speed and at no cost.

Downsides I can think of (unconfirmed):

- Card is prepaid, ie not suitable for car rental deposit, for instance

- No 3D security for online purchases: I had one instance of fraud (someone posing as Google charged me 15 CHF. I was able to complain and recover the funds no questions asked though, but one needs to keep an eye on transactions!)

What I especially like:

- Real-time blocking/unblocking of my cards (I unblock them just before usage and keep them frozen otherwise)

- No account keeping costs

- Instant wire transfers in Eurozone, e.g. Germany

- Excellent FX rates

- No-bullshit support (chat-based)

Highly recommended, especially in Switzerland where it has become common to levy account keeping fess (as if your money wasn't welcome) and card transaction/FX fees that close to a rip-off

I can confirm the many reports of Revolut’s poor customer service 110%.

My card statements have been incorrect for months now (old balance +/- new transaction is not always = to the new balance).

The amounts are small (les than 100 francs) but it’s still unacceptable.

This Revolut chat service (chatting is the only option for getting support with issues) is a good example of their customer service.

- First you waste time with some dumb chatbot. Only after reporting 2 answers as wrong do you get to chat a human.

- If the person you are chatting with cannot answer your questions, their shift conveniently ends and you get someone new. I assume they pass you on to a better-qualified support team member. This has happened to me more than once.

- It can take hours to get a semi-satisfactory answer.

This has been going on for months.

The last time it I had issues, I told them I was considering reporting Revolut to the relevant authority.

I don’t presume that Revolut is some kind of scam, but I do believe it is plagued by unsolved software bugs.

I bought a Ryanair ticket a few days ago. Since I recently got a Revolut card, I wanted to take advantage of the good exchange rate and I transferred the euro amount to the card.

When the euros were loaded to the Revolut account, they were first changed to Swiss francs at a very unfavorable rate. I never had the option of choosing the currency during the transaction, maybe because my address is in Switzerland. Is there any way to cancel this whole transaction (could Ryanair cancel it, for example) and pay directly in euros?

Hi there,

Revolut's Swiss account is denominated by Swiss francs. When you transfer money to the Swiss Revolut account, it is automatically exchanged to Swiss francs by the Swiss bank which hosts the Revolut account. That means the host bank's exchange rates apply.

A much better arrangement is to deposit Swiss francs into the Swiss Revolut bank account and then use Revolut to exchange the Swiss francs into euros. This way the exchange is made using Revolut's very favorable exchange rates.

Avoid transferring any currency other than Swiss francs into the Swiss Revolut account, as this will result in your losing money to unfavorable exchange rates. Always deposit Swiss francs and then exchange the Swiss francs to foreign currency using Revolut.

If you have euros and simply want to use Revolut to avoid credit card foreign transaction fees, you can transfer the euros directly to Revolut's euro account (not its Swiss account). Note that international bank transfer fees may apply and these can negate the advantage of using Revolut to avoid foreign transaction fees.

Also avoid performing currency exchanges in Revolut on weekends. Revolut exchange rates are only favorable on work days when forex exchanges are open.

Best regards from Moneyguru

You can see how Revolut compares to other neobanks available to Swiss consumers in this guide:
Neobanks in Switzerland: A comprehensive guide