Is Revolut Ultra Really Worth £45/€50 a Month?

Revolut Ultra is one of the boldest products we’ve seen in banking: £45/€50 a month for lounge access, travel insurance, boosted savings, and 16 subscriptions Revolut claims are worth over £4,000 a year.

In this Banking Without Borders episode, Jonny and Jan break down:

• The core financial features (ATM limits, FX, savings, RevPoints)
• The subscription bundle and where most of the value lies
• Our own testing of perks like eSIMs and lounges
• The cancellation pitfalls you need to watch for
• How Ultra compares (and where cracks show vs Amex Platinum)

Stick around to the end for our verdicts, and who Revolut Ultra really makes sense for. 

Connect with us (via LinkedIn)

Jan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-watermann/

Jonny: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonny-pease

Got a question or topic you want us to cover? Drop us a message at jonny@technicallymoney.com

Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:07:03
Unknown
Revolut Ultra is one of the boldest products we've ever seen in banking. And at 45 pounds or €50 a month, it comes fully loaded.

00:00:07:07 - 00:00:14:02
Unknown
You've got airport lounge access, travel insurance, unlimited effects and over 4,000 pounds worth of subscriptions.

00:00:14:02 - 00:00:14:23
Unknown
But here's the question.

00:00:14:23 - 00:00:20:05
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Is Revolut Ultra really worth the price? Or is it just clever bundling designed to let you in?

00:00:20:05 - 00:00:23:20
Unknown
Well, in this episode of Banking Without Borders, Yana and I are going to break it all down for you.

00:00:23:20 - 00:00:25:13
Unknown
We'll look at all the benefits you get

00:00:25:13 - 00:00:28:14
Unknown
also how ultra compares the likes of Amex Platinum.

00:00:28:14 - 00:00:32:20
Unknown
We'll also look at the rest points earn rate, the cancellation policies, which you need to know about,

00:00:32:20 - 00:00:37:05
Unknown
and we'll end on who ultra really makes sense for and who should steer clear.

00:00:37:05 - 00:00:42:00
Unknown
first, John, shall we just begin with the core banking benefits of ultra?

00:00:42:00 - 00:00:45:19
Unknown
core financial benefits for us. And those are, in my opinion, a little underwhelming.

00:00:45:19 - 00:00:50:14
Unknown
got 2,000 pounds of monthly fee free ATM withdrawals. After that, fees apply.

00:00:50:14 - 00:00:50:23
Unknown
We have

00:00:50:23 - 00:00:52:18
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unlimited, currency exchange

00:00:52:18 - 00:00:59:16
Unknown
without any weakened surcharge. But you do have, the revolute rate that it's applied. So that's, slightly worse in a mid-market rate.

00:00:59:16 - 00:01:01:15
Unknown
got some indirect fees involved here.

00:01:01:15 - 00:01:02:02
Unknown
And then

00:01:02:02 - 00:01:05:08
Unknown
you can collect ref points of your Revolut Ultra card.

00:01:05:08 - 00:01:19:20
Unknown
can collect a point per every pound spend. And if you're living in the European Union, it's a point for every euro that you spend, can be quite attractive, but, definitely nothing that would just justify getting the card alone, in my opinion.

00:01:19:22 - 00:01:27:05
Unknown
And then you get some, favorable interest rates, if you're interested in, in, saving some some cash on your Revolut account,

00:01:28:08 - 00:01:32:01
Unknown
UK, I believe it's 4.5% interest rate.

00:01:33:08 - 00:01:37:13
Unknown
standard, standard subscribers, they only get 3.5%

00:01:37:13 - 00:01:40:08
Unknown
Yeah you're right. The core banking features are a little bit underwhelming

00:01:40:08 - 00:01:43:16
Unknown
for an account that costs 45 pounds or €50 a month.

00:01:43:16 - 00:01:48:11
Unknown
Let's just break it down then. Let's go through this. So you get 2,000 pounds of fee free ATM withdrawals.

00:01:48:11 - 00:01:55:13
Unknown
You know, that's really difficult to justify, I think. I think most people aren't going to go for ultra just purely for ATM withdrawal fees

00:01:55:13 - 00:01:58:04
Unknown
rep points on rate is certainly something that's quite interesting.

00:01:58:04 - 00:02:11:14
Unknown
then finally those savings rates can they are quite compelling 4.5%. I mean, that's one of the better easy access savings accounts you can get here in the UK, 4.75% is currently the best with Chase UK, but you do have to be a new customer

00:02:11:14 - 00:02:13:09
Unknown
that's certainly an opportunity,

00:02:13:09 - 00:02:15:10
Unknown
To supplement the fees,

00:02:15:10 - 00:02:23:11
Unknown
If you can say 50,000 pounds. And so an easy access account with Revolut earning 4.5%, you're going to be paying for the account in interest,

00:02:23:11 - 00:02:34:08
Unknown
Do I think that any of these banking features are enough to to really drive someone to ultra? Yeah, no, I don't think so, buddy. I think maybe we need to get straight into the perks that truly matter.

00:02:34:08 - 00:02:36:08
Unknown
And those are the subscription benefits.

00:02:36:08 - 00:02:45:11
Unknown
Yeah. Subscription benefits. Probably one of the main reasons why someone would, would choose Revolut Ultra. Anyways. So we got 16 subscriptions that are included, and revolute.

00:02:45:11 - 00:02:46:22
Unknown
Estimates the value of

00:02:46:22 - 00:02:52:13
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them. If you would go ahead and buy them individually. At 4,200 pounds per year.

00:02:52:15 - 00:02:58:05
Unknown
Yeah, that's quite a lot more than the 540 pounds per year that, the Revolut Ultra plan cost.

00:02:58:05 - 00:02:59:22
Unknown
went through each one individually.

00:02:59:22 - 00:03:14:05
Unknown
although some of these companies aren't that transparent about pricing, is actually quite difficult. For example, Tinder gold is actually quite hard yet to identify a price. And as a married man, I actually found myself signing up for Tinder, which I'm which I notified my wife about, of course,

00:03:14:05 - 00:03:17:19
Unknown
so she doesn't just stumble across an email from Tinder saying, you have been signed up.

00:03:17:19 - 00:03:22:23
Unknown
did go through each one to, to to check the prices in that 4,200 pound figure from Revolut is

00:03:22:23 - 00:03:25:10
Unknown
pretty accurate. I think I calculated that it was roughly

00:03:25:10 - 00:03:26:05
Unknown
4000,

00:03:26:05 - 00:03:27:02
Unknown
and 50 pounds

00:03:40:11 - 00:03:51:19
Unknown
You get 50 pounds in Turo. Credit. So to do that this this car hiring company lets you hire costs from from yeah. Private people. Quite interesting. Not available everywhere.

00:03:51:19 - 00:03:54:22
Unknown
and, Tinder gold could be also quite interesting for some people.

00:03:54:22 - 00:03:55:19
Unknown
However,

00:03:55:19 - 00:04:03:14
Unknown
is that something you would really need a a yearly subscription for? Isn't that something you go ahead and use in order to find a partner? Johnny.

00:04:04:22 - 00:04:12:20
Unknown
I think so, I believe that's the point. Although in defense of Tinder, through research, I discovered, I think Tinder gold allows you to

00:04:12:20 - 00:04:23:17
Unknown
match with people that aren't within kind of your location. So if you're traveling from the UK to Spain, you can look ahead and try and find potential dates in Spain

00:04:23:17 - 00:04:38:14
Unknown
Which I figured could probably be a really good way to score yourself some free accommodation as well. If you if you get lucky. So you might be able to save on hotel fees, but just have to pay for ultra and get tend to go. So yeah, there is there is something there with Tinder gold but I don't.

00:04:38:14 - 00:04:44:20
Unknown
Yeah. No, I don't understand the idea of having like an annual subscription to Tinder when the goal should be to try and get off it as quickly as possible.

00:04:44:20 - 00:04:51:00
Unknown
But Tinder gold doesn't actually hold the majority of the value. I mean, I know 26.48 pounds is what we calculated our monthly rate, but

00:04:51:00 - 00:04:56:16
Unknown
like Yann said, those three at the top we work for digital and Turo have significant value.

00:04:56:16 - 00:05:01:17
Unknown
I think it's around 67% of the total value of those subscriptions lies with those three.

00:05:01:17 - 00:05:05:00
Unknown
Look people out there, you're not going to be able to tick off every single subscription.

00:05:05:00 - 00:05:10:22
Unknown
But you need to look at these one by one and ask yourself, can I utilize these subscriptions. Because this is where the value lies. And,

00:05:10:22 - 00:05:19:13
Unknown
you know, if you don't live somewhere close to a work office like I live in, like the East Anglia of the UK, and the nearest one is about 45 minutes away. That's definitely not feasible,

00:05:19:13 - 00:05:21:02
Unknown
but I can make use of digital.

00:05:21:02 - 00:05:24:06
Unknown
I can certainly make use of things like ClassPass,

00:05:24:06 - 00:05:29:20
Unknown
I don't know if you have heard of ClassPass. Yeah. And if that's available in Panama.

00:05:29:20 - 00:05:51:10
Unknown
if I look at these subscriptions, those wouldn't be subscriptions I would personally sign up for. But it's just me. And, if someone's interested in Revolut, I really recommend them to look at these subscriptions and, rationally ask themselves whether that's something they truly need. Right? If that's something they would, they would get their the credit card for and sign up individually.

00:05:51:10 - 00:06:01:01
Unknown
And if that's not the case, just don't, don't use these subscriptions to justify the value of Revolut Ultra, because then it's not worth it for you, at least from a subscription

00:06:01:21 - 00:06:08:02
Unknown
Do you find do you find it interesting that Turo car credit is available when it's a debit card, which you typically wouldn't use to hire

00:06:08:02 - 00:06:08:21
Unknown
a car with

00:06:09:00 - 00:06:11:21
Unknown
Yeah, absolutely. I believe Turo doesn't require, credit

00:06:12:13 - 00:06:13:16
Unknown
Okay.

00:06:13:16 - 00:06:16:17
Unknown
accept debit cards as well. That's probably why it's included here.

00:06:16:17 - 00:06:25:19
Unknown
But yeah, as you said, Revolute Ultra is truly unique in the, in the sense that it's, a debit debit based plan, right? Not a credit based plan. And,

00:06:26:12 - 00:06:30:09
Unknown
honest, I don't I don't know if any other similar product in that price range, at least.

00:06:30:09 - 00:06:31:12
Unknown
These subscriptions

00:06:31:12 - 00:06:38:01
Unknown
do hold the majority of the value. They are one of the main lifestyle perks, so to speak. But there are others.

00:06:38:01 - 00:06:41:23
Unknown
There are this you get unlimited airport lounge access through Lounge Key,

00:06:41:23 - 00:06:42:14
Unknown
which,

00:06:42:14 - 00:06:45:09
Unknown
according to Trustpilot at least, isn't the most highly rated,

00:06:45:09 - 00:06:48:03
Unknown
I've had some experience with it, like Dragon Pass.

00:06:48:05 - 00:06:54:23
Unknown
You know, sometimes you book lounges ahead of time and you arrive and you're told that it's full and you have to wait. And in some cases you don't get any access at all.

00:06:54:23 - 00:07:00:22
Unknown
So it's a bit hit and miss at times, but you do get unlimited lounge pass access. One downside is that if you have a guest,

00:07:00:22 - 00:07:11:13
Unknown
and this is probably when we begin to find cracks, if we compare Revolut Ultra Time Platinum, which also has unlimited lounge access. If you have a guest with Revolut Ultra, you have to pay for it.

00:07:11:13 - 00:07:31:15
Unknown
you are already somewhat constrained by that. And I think that that is definitely a drawback, I think. Guest. You should be able to have a guest come with you, and with Amex Platinum, you can bring a guest for free with their unlimited lounge access, which I think is really nice. I mean, you can add a supplementary card yan to Amex Platinum and they get lounge access and the guest as well.

00:07:31:17 - 00:07:37:06
Unknown
So ultimately you can get for guests. Yeah, that's where the cracks begin to show. You already.

00:07:37:06 - 00:07:40:01
Unknown
Revolut ultra also has travel insurance

00:07:40:01 - 00:07:49:07
Unknown
Yeah. Travel insurance. Determinate insurance that's that's include is quite compelling, if you ask me. At least if you compared to other, other yeah, insurance options that you can buy individually in the market.

00:07:49:07 - 00:07:57:02
Unknown
So it only is valid for trips of up to up to 90 days and you have to pay the trip using a Revolut Ultra card, otherwise it's not covered.

00:07:57:02 - 00:07:59:04
Unknown
And include things like medical emergency,

00:07:59:04 - 00:08:00:17
Unknown
but also a flight delay.

00:08:00:17 - 00:08:02:06
Unknown
believe you lost baggage as well.

00:08:02:06 - 00:08:05:18
Unknown
then also refund on on trip cancellation. So

00:08:05:18 - 00:08:18:08
Unknown
there's some in short reasons. For example, death, if you are a family member or your trip companion dies. That's that's a reason you could definitely cancel the trip for and get, 100% of the money that you spend on a refunded,

00:08:18:08 - 00:08:20:09
Unknown
yeah, it's a good travel insurance. Not a reason

00:08:20:09 - 00:08:26:09
Unknown
on its own, not a standalone reason to purchase Revolut Ultra for to nice to happen if you're if you're looking for new travel insurance

00:08:26:09 - 00:08:29:22
Unknown
you know and you you like these other benefits that revenue neutral provides.

00:08:30:00 - 00:08:32:10
Unknown
Might as well might as well would be worth it for you.

00:08:32:10 - 00:08:51:10
Unknown
Well when we compare the two as well Ultra and Amex Platinum I should probably say that. Yes platinum comes with a pretty comprehensive travel insurance as well which must be booked using the platinum card. But something to note here is that if you're booking with your Amex Platinum card and you're booking an international hotel that's in a foreign currency, you'll pay 3% on that

00:08:51:10 - 00:09:11:18
Unknown
There is a couple of other small benefits with Revolut Ultra eSIM data, right? Yeah, three gigabytes of worldwide data per month, over 100 countries. It's okay. It's not a good enough reason solely to get ultra, obviously. But again, it's just layering, you know, a little extra value. And if you're someone that can make use of that then that could be beneficial.

00:09:11:18 - 00:09:15:18
Unknown
Personal experiences with revolutionary sims haven't been that good, if I'm being honest.

00:09:15:18 - 00:09:22:12
Unknown
I've tried them as well. Yeah. Me too, to be honest. I'm not sure that's that's, like, fully due to Revolut. Not,

00:09:23:00 - 00:09:24:06
Unknown
A great.

00:09:24:06 - 00:09:34:15
Unknown
Could have been also quite random. Right. Where were two, two people living in different countries. It's it's not like we've done a comprehensive study. But it's. Yeah, the first impressions weren't good when I tested it.

00:09:34:15 - 00:09:37:18
Unknown
We got some investment benefits to discuss, like commodity trading,

00:09:37:18 - 00:09:45:17
Unknown
crypto trading, stocks and shares. You want to talk about that a little bit because we have talked about stock trading with Revolut. And it's questionable.

00:09:45:17 - 00:09:50:20
Unknown
Revenue ultra includes ten commission free traits every month after that point, 1%,

00:09:50:20 - 00:10:09:11
Unknown
portrait in fees. It's quite attractive. But if you're if you're planning to to invest a lot of money, using Revolut Ultra, I would advise against that just because there are other fee after these ten free trades per month, it's, it's not, you know, fixed it's not a fixed fee, but it's a, it's a, it's a commission, a percentage that's,

00:10:09:12 - 00:10:22:08
Unknown
Yeah. Deducted from, from the amount you invest. So it's not, not interesting for, yeah. For, for, professional more professional investors, if you ask me, you have a favorable commodities trading fee of 0.49%.

00:10:22:08 - 00:10:31:06
Unknown
Not sure if that's, very compelling if you ask me. And, I believe also the the crypto exchange fees are also a little, a little more attractive.

00:10:31:06 - 00:10:37:03
Unknown
believe it's. Yeah, they say it's free on for investments that are. Yeah, up to 250,000 pounds

00:10:37:03 - 00:10:42:17
Unknown
I mean if you're trading that much money, you know, over 250,000 pounds, I don't think you're doing it on Revolut.

00:10:42:17 - 00:10:43:10
Unknown
So Johnny,

00:10:43:10 - 00:10:50:18
Unknown
who do you think this is really for? If you look at all these benefits, if we just summed up, who do you think, ultra is good for?

00:10:50:18 - 00:10:56:23
Unknown
think there's like a large proportion of people that could look at the subscriptions and go at least 3 to 4 of them

00:10:56:23 - 00:10:57:17
Unknown
will be useful.

00:10:57:17 - 00:11:02:06
Unknown
But if you're looking at the lower value subscriptions, I don't think that's a reason to go for ultra.

00:11:02:06 - 00:11:07:04
Unknown
Like if you're looking at the athletic subscription, which we calculated has the lowest value, 2 pounds per month,

00:11:07:04 - 00:11:10:21
Unknown
you know, if you're looking at chess.com, if you're looking at free latex, even then,

00:11:10:21 - 00:11:15:10
Unknown
if you're someone that can possibly take the work passes or the FTX subscription or,

00:11:15:10 - 00:11:22:11
Unknown
you know, maybe the ClassPass credits and then couple it with NordVPN, possibly with Pixar, possibly the Sleep Cycle Premium, then.

00:11:22:11 - 00:11:37:01
Unknown
Okay, brilliant. That's definitely someone that could start to consider this now. Are you someone as well that has a need to send money internationally? Possibly you, you know, possibly your sole trader who sends money, or a freelancer who sends money to people that work for you,

00:11:37:01 - 00:11:38:09
Unknown
or possibly someone

00:11:38:09 - 00:11:43:09
Unknown
As a result of traveling so much, you can see yourself utilizing the ATM withdrawals as part of this

00:11:43:09 - 00:11:50:01
Unknown
It definitely has to be someone who uses all these benefits combined, right? There's no standalone benefit of. Would, Yeah. Justify

00:11:51:09 - 00:11:54:15
Unknown
There are some things to look out for. Yeah. And and one of those is the cancellation policy.

00:11:54:15 - 00:12:08:15
Unknown
It's a little bit convoluted, but I'll try and lay it out as simply as possible. And it is important that you know about this because otherwise you could get stung. So if you sign up for Revolut Ultra, whether it's monthly or annually, you get a 14 day cooling off period.

00:12:08:20 - 00:12:21:00
Unknown
So you're 14 days to make your choice and you can get a full refund. However, if you do decide to get the ultra platinum sophisticated fancy card, which is this one,

00:12:21:00 - 00:12:28:18
Unknown
regardless of the cooling off period, you'll still pay 50 pounds if you cancel plus delivery, so the card will never be free and you can't return it.

00:12:28:18 - 00:12:29:22
Unknown
I did ask,

00:12:29:22 - 00:12:35:11
Unknown
now. After the 14 day period, if you sign up for the annual plan, I'm afraid to tell you you will not get a refund.

00:12:35:11 - 00:12:37:03
Unknown
So be very careful about that.

00:12:37:03 - 00:12:38:15
Unknown
There's no pro-rata refunds.

00:12:38:15 - 00:12:41:14
Unknown
So the sensible option if you're undecided about this is to go monthly.

00:12:41:14 - 00:12:47:05
Unknown
things do get a bit tricky with monthly. If you cancel between months 1 to 6,

00:12:47:05 - 00:12:51:08
Unknown
you'll lose the current month and be cut off entirely as well.

00:12:51:08 - 00:12:55:20
Unknown
So you'll have to pay for that current month and they'll cut you off. So if you're going to cancel, your best to cancel right at the end of the month,

00:12:55:20 - 00:12:57:15
Unknown
but you'll also be charged a fee

00:12:57:15 - 00:12:59:12
Unknown
for canceling of a month

00:12:59:12 - 00:13:00:16
Unknown
and you get nothing for that.

00:13:00:16 - 00:13:09:05
Unknown
so if you cancel after month six, you can just finish out the month that you've already paid for, which is good. And then you get dropped. Then you can just drop to like standard and there's no exit fee.

00:13:09:05 - 00:13:09:18
Unknown
So

00:13:09:18 - 00:13:10:15
Unknown
the sort of

00:13:10:15 - 00:13:16:08
Unknown
prime time to cancel if your month, if you're paying per month, is between month seven and

00:13:16:08 - 00:13:16:15
Unknown
12.

00:13:16:15 - 00:13:37:13
Unknown
So just be very, very mindful of that, particularly that annual plan. Yeah. No refunds at all. And it auto renews buddy. So if you pay for annual and you're not sure about it will make sure you're ready to cancel it just before or turn off the auto renew because otherwise you'll get rolled over again. Of course, you have your 14 day cooling off period,

00:13:37:13 - 00:13:59:13
Unknown
yeah. Johnny, being mindful about it is a good advice if you ask me. To me, seems like a very niche product, which is only interesting, from a financial perspective for a minority of people. Most people are probably better off one of the other Revolut plans or just choosing. Yeah, totally free debit card, right? If they're not heavy spenders, that's probably the best, the best choice.

00:13:59:13 - 00:14:07:21
Unknown
So, look at the benefits. Ask yourself if that's something you really need, especially subscriptions, and then make a wise decision. That's what what I would recommend.

00:14:07:21 - 00:14:16:19
Unknown
Can we pinpoint, I mean, who this is exactly for? And I don't,

00:14:16:19 - 00:14:35:02
Unknown
and people that are really interested in these subscriptions and probably, the the best match for Revolut Ultra would be, a person. This, like these three characters combined, right? So just just look at this, from a neutral perspective and make an informed decision.

00:14:35:02 - 00:14:36:03
Unknown
That's all I ask.

00:14:36:17 - 00:14:46:20
Unknown
Yeah. Agreed. Agreed. Factor in that cancellation policy. If you go for the annual plan make sure you are committed because otherwise it will cost you 540 pounds or the euro equivalent,

00:14:46:20 - 00:14:57:14
Unknown
If you do want to learn more about this account, I do have a full review on the channel as well, although it's a bit dated and I also have a full unboxing experience for the card as well that you're welcome to check out.

00:14:57:14 - 00:14:59:12
Unknown
We'll link that in the description box on YouTube.

00:14:59:12 - 00:15:09:06
Unknown
let us know in the comment section. If you currently use ultra, I would love to hear your reasoning for it. Like what subscription benefits you making use of? Like, what other perks you're making use of?

00:15:09:06 - 00:15:12:17
Unknown
Let us know! And if you're considering going with ultra and you have any other questions,

00:15:12:17 - 00:15:23:20
Unknown
feel free to ask them in the comment section. As always, if you want to support the channel. If you enjoyed the video, please do like the video and subscribe. If you're listening to us, please rate the podcast, whether it's on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

00:15:23:20 - 00:15:27:20
Unknown
Give us five stars. That's the best way you can support myself. And yeah.