To (at least) my Facebook friends: Download the Revolut app

Honestly - they don't pay me for this, but they've saved me so much money and, a little extra. It's a great feeling to know that you don't waste money on something you shouldn't. Currencies are numbers. As long as we all transact with electronic forms of currencies exchange rates should always be spot. And this is exactly what Revolut gives, but with some further extras that should make most banks be ashamed. Banks are sending us now, in 2016, newsletters stating that they charge the lowest fees - while still not mentioning margins! They should be ashamed.

What is the exchange rate margin?

I'm in Thailand. Local currency; TBH. I want to withdraw TBH with my UK debit card in £ (GBP). Here's what the cash machine gives me:

As you may notice, it gives me 52.05 TBH / GBP. Now, this might sound ok. Let's see what Google says the SPOT FX rate is (at the same time)?

This means that if there was no margin, I would get 54.17 TBH / GBP. THAT'S 3.9% LOST, on spot, by the time you click that button. This is without considering the 200 TBH fee that I pay for the cash machine and any other explicit (surprise!) fees banks will charge me on my bank account. They are unlucky though, because I have with me the Revolut debit card which acts as local debit card at every place (I've been) in the world. It arrived a few days after I downloaded the Revolut app; a zero-fee, pay as you go, multi-currency cloud wallet (I just invented this description.)

At the cash machine I tell them to NOT convert and charge me in TBH instead. As soon as my cash is out, I receive this notification on my mobile:

And that's what Revolut is. Spot Fx, zero fees, everywhere. Free, no subscription fees, no nonsense. They make every bank be ashamed!

How do they make money? I don't know and I don't care. Somebody told me by the margins every credit/debit card makes when you buy something from a merchant.

Is it sustainable? I don't know... I hope it is! :) If it's not, take advantage of it while supplies last.

The fact is, I think, that it clearly demonstrates that it's not Visa / Mastercard or local cash machines that charge all those insane margins. It's banks! They charge insane amounts for a multiplication. That's enough!