Mikaela
commented
5 years ago I was once asked for Revolut vs N26 and here is a bit filtered version, maybe this could be a blog post?
Mikaela Suomalainen, [18.01.19 11:23] [In reply to FRIEND] I think the easy answer would be both, but if I had to pick just one, it would probably depend on what you value more, A) banking license and European protection up to 100 000 € or B) features.
Currently N26 beats Revolut only in A and having a webbank while Revolut has all other kinds of features that are missing or worse in N26. You can login to the same Revolut account on multiple phones.
N26 supports holding only euros in the account and all transactions in other currencies go through TransferWise.com which is roughly equal to Revolut's course, but lives also when banks are closed. Revolut does transfers by itself with interbank rate and transactions late at night or on not-bank days get the course of when the banks open again, but that is only a few cents difference compared to traditional banks.
I think N26 requires bank transfers to add money while Revolut can be topped up with other debit/credit cards and that can be made automatic after you do it a few times with the same card, so Revolut can be faster to use.
Revolut also supports virtual cards, where I am not sure if the issuance costs, I had understood that it would cost, but I didn't get any fee for it and I think virtual card is good for peace of mind as if the details got stolen, there would be no need to wait for the new card to arrive.
R also has better security options for the card, restricting it to saame place where your phone is, disabling the magnet stripe, disabling NFC, disabling ATM withdrawals and disabling online transactions (where would you need them on physical card if you have a virtual card?). Then they have ability to hold crypto-currencies (even if you can exchange them only with Revolut and other Revolut users) and there is some sort of device insurance and smart overseas medical insurance, but I didn't get either, because it requires a new device and Nokia 1 would likely be cheaper to replace with my use and I have persistent travel insurance in addition to EHIC so I don't see the point for my personal use.
The main advatange of N26 for me is that they issue a MasterCard, while both of my Finnish banks are Visa. Revolut again randomly gives you either Visa or MasterCard and I got Visa as offline and online cards and as their banking license isn't in force, they issue Visa Prepaid cards or something like that. I also prefer the transparent card of N26 below which I can put my HRT travel card and see it instead of using pockets for the Revolut Visa.
I haven't encountered a situation where either hasn't worked, but I mainly use N26 REST OF PARAGRAPH IS NOT FOR PUBLIC.
I think I originally got more professional picture of N26 than Revolut, but I really don't have anything bad to say about either, and I guess I would still suggest both as I said at first :)
Mikaela Suomalainen, [18.01.19 11:27] I do also have TransferWise card, but I am holding it separately from the other X cards (SNIP) as I don't see much point in it, because PARTNER isn't using it (but said that THEY would most likely register to it as it doesn't need a phone) and the currency conversions happen realtime with N26/Revolut with reasonable rates so it would probably just confuse myself to have money on it. However it's also MasterCard in case you happen to mostly have Visas.
Introduced by https://github.com/Mikaela/mikaela.github.io/commit/e6f9c670ee4537c602fdacaab6d35b4e52e1f67d .
It seems that N26 has also removed their minimum usage, so there is no need to add a link to that tweet.
I am not sure if there is any reason why I would use TransferWise as they are in partnership with N26 which does all their foreign currency transactions through them (this should probably be mentioned), except that it's an extra MasterCard. Revolut again is said to be the cheapest for foreign currency during the workday until evening and can simultaneously hold multiple currencies while N26 is EUR-only as far as I know of.