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Revolut raises $500M at a $5.5B valuation

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Re: Revolut raises $500M at a $5.5B valuation

#91

Post by luckylion »

khweroii wrote: post #82
luckylion wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did they give any explanation as to why they think that's legal, freezing accounts and blocking payments on a whim, without some court's decision?

AML/KYC laws require you to freeze accounts if you suspect anything. Traditional banks blocked my transfers a few times and required proof of source.

Did you do anything "weird" or was it just during your average months that they suddenly went ballistic?

I know they're supposed to alert the authorities on suspicious activity, but I believe(d) freezing an account unilaterally is the ultima ratio for extreme cases and wouldn't be done easily, as it will leave the bank open for damages claims, and really makes banks somewhat useless if it happens frequently.

Re: Revolut raises $500M at a $5.5B valuation

#92

Post by ValentineC »

khweroii wrote: post #84
thesimon wrote: post #6

Quite impressed with the valuation. Transferwise Borderless seems to have a better business model with sane prices and not "everything free". And Revolut still uses their e-money license instead of their proper Lithuanian banking license. Quite surprising.

I actually moved from TransferWise to Revolut, because Revolut has somewhat better FX rates (TransferWise rates are also good).

I've been using Revolut to transfer money between countries because of its near-perfect exchange rate on weekdays, but I fear the day my account would suddenly be locked for weeks because I hit some secret anti-money laundering limit, or because I'm suddenly seen as a customer who is just making them lose money.

Re: Revolut raises $500M at a $5.5B valuation

#93

Post by piva00 »

Matsta wrote: post #34
ascari wrote: post #9

I refused to interview with them due to their poor employment practises. A quick search reveals what's going on.

Funny enough their Head of HR reached out to me last month for a call. After rescheduling multiple times because she failed to join the call - I think I'm going to give up with them.

This is one of my fundamental red flags. I'm expected to never reschedule an interview, it consumes both the interviewer and interviewee time, it's stressful and something you generally try to prepare for. If the HR/TA from the company that is trying to hire me fails to join the call it's an instant pass.

I don't know what is your current work or life situation but there are many other places looking for people with similar skills that probably won't disrespect your time.

Re: Revolut raises $500M at a $5.5B valuation

#94

Post by ValentineC »

rjzzleep wrote: post #57
klausjensen wrote: post #38

Revolut closed my business account with them and would not give me any reason why (all documentation was OK, all my clients are lilly-white busineses). It is not clear to me if they would not tell me because they're not allowed to by law - or "just because". Anyway - then the remaining balance on my account - they simply sent that back to the last payment that had been made => They sent my remaining balance to one of…

As others have mentioned these are money laundering laws. But some of them are a bit open to interpretation and from what I've seen personally Revoluts interpretation is pretty broad depending on whether they like you or not. The problem with Revolut that cannot be compared to other banks is that you will NEVER be able to speak to anyone that isn't a mindless support chat drone. This is really where the big differenc…

> The problem with Revolut that cannot be compared to other banks is that you will NEVER be able to speak to anyone that isn't a mindless support chat drone.

I know quite a few people who were the target of Revolut's Source of Funds check (I believe the deposit limit when it first launched here in Singapore was an absurd $5,000 SGD, or approximately $3,500 USD) — what has happened is that the chat system would be unresponsive for weeks, because all "chats"/tickets would be routed to Revolut's understaffed compliance department without even notifying the user.

> The only way I would ever recommend Revolut to anyone is to attach it to your own credit card and fill it on demand when you travel.

I would recommend this too, except I don't dare to use it as my primary travel card as I might suddenly hit some undisclosed limit and get my account frozen while I'm travelling.

Re: Revolut raises $500M at a $5.5B valuation

#95

Post by peteretep »

sschueller wrote: post #65
throwaway9d0291 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't list things like this without making at least a 10-second effort to provide sources, it makes it very difficult to engage. > Unfair/illegal employment practices. Source? Elaboration? Best I could find is [0] which certainly looks bad but I can't find any references to court cases or employment authorities cracking down (and the UK has pretty decent worker protection). > Dubios crypto service (you can buy…

> Unfair/illegal employment practices. Requiring people to bring you new clients before you get employed and not compensating them is illegal in many places. Maybe not the UK. > Dubios crypto service They don't disclose that you can not transfer in or out. > Keeping a firewall between customers and company by only allowing communication via app chatbot I had to deal with this. If your app doesn't work you are screwed…

> They don't disclose that you can not transfer in or out.

What does this even mean in the real world though? You can instantly transfer your crypto back to fiat and have it in your bank account virtually instantly, which is better than any crypto exchange I’ve ever heard of. I’ll take this over Last Days of Mtgox any day...

Re: Revolut raises $500M at a $5.5B valuation

#96

Post by woutr_be »

Matsta wrote: post #34
ascari wrote: post #9

I refused to interview with them due to their poor employment practises. A quick search reveals what's going on.

Funny enough their Head of HR reached out to me last month for a call. After rescheduling multiple times because she failed to join the call - I think I'm going to give up with them.

Rescheduling upfront is fine, but just not showing up and rescheduling later is a huge red flag for me.

Re: Revolut raises $500M at a $5.5B valuation

#97

Post by peteretep »

CaptainZapp wrote: post #86
throwaway9d0291 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't list things like this without making at least a 10-second effort to provide sources, it makes it very difficult to engage. > Unfair/illegal employment practices. Source? Elaboration? Best I could find is [0] which certainly looks bad but I can't find any references to court cases or employment authorities cracking down (and the UK has pretty decent worker protection). > Dubios crypto service (you can buy…

> and the UK has pretty decent worker protection Really? What about zero-hour contracts? I don't know of any other rich country, which allows such scam contracts. I wouldn't call that decent worker protection.

Isn’t a zero hour contract just casual work where you’re Not guaranteed hours? Sounds like every bar job I’ve ever had.

Re: Revolut raises $500M at a $5.5B valuation

#98

Post by Aeolun »

ValentineC wrote: post #55
Kkoala wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the website it just says things like "No fee ATM withdrawals up to €200 per month", but what about after 200€?? I found a help section that is vague too saying "We can provide an estimate of the potential fees...", so not very transparent. Transferwise you can see/calculate on the frontpage what the fee will be.

> On the website it just says things like "No fee ATM withdrawals up to €200 per month", but what about after 200€?? TransferWise debit card's landing page [1] doesn't have the ATM fee either. Their pricing page [2] does. I was able to find Revolut's pricing page [3], which includes the ATM fee, with a simple search. [1] https://transferwise.com/gb/borderless/card [2] https://transferwise.com/gb/borderless/pricing [3…

2% of all withdrawals?! WTF is this insanity. I thought it might be interesting for a bit, but never mind.

Are they preying on people that live in countries without a working banking system?

Re: Revolut raises $500M at a $5.5B valuation

#99

Post by randunel »

KptMarchewa wrote: post #89
randunel wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Revolut also block the accounts of members of a certain political party ("PSD") in Romania, "blocking" (stealing) their money, but only if customers admit to being a socialist party member. Here's a screenshot with the questions https://universul.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/revolut-psd... Transcripted from the Revolut app: Have you ever held any of the following positions? Select all that apply - Member - Speciali…

That's due to PEP regulations.

So members of the other 20-30 parties are not PEP? What about councillors of other counties, would they not be PEP?

Specific organisations were targeted.

Re: Revolut raises $500M at a $5.5B valuation

#100

Post by interfixus »

I have kept a paid Revolut account for the last nearly two years, and it has performed flawlessly. The one time when I needed support, reply was prompt, polite, professional, and to the point. This is service I use for day-to-day business. I never keep large sums there, so if the whole thing goes belly up one day, it will cause a shrug and not much more. Topping up from my 'real' bank - or wherever - is easy enough to do on the fly: I sometimes do so while queueing in the supermarket. Features I like, and which are apparently beyond the ability of my regular bank to offer: Virtual and diposible cards. I use these for all web transanctions. No need to spread the details of my physical card around, and I can temporarily lock any card number, should I feel the need. Also, the physical card is discreet of appearance; just a grey piece of plastic, not screaming my banking preference for the world to see. And a handy ability to instantly create a payment link where anyone can pay me via credit card. I happily pay my monthly fee. Service well worth it.
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