Revolut raises $500M at a $5.5B valuation • Hacker News Board

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

#131

Post by rsync » Tue, Feb 25, 2020, 3:55 PM UTC

interfixus wrote: post #100

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 t…

"Features I like, and which are apparently beyond the ability of my regular bank to offer: Virtual and diposible cards."

I am interested in using virtual/disposable cards ...

Is it, in fact, correct that no "proper" US bank offers these ? What about paypal ?

What is the most stable, boring, financial services provider that offers virtual cards ?

Does anyone allow me to create a virtual card via API, the same way I can "create" a new phone number with Twilio ?

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

#132

Post by angry_octet » Tue, Feb 25, 2020, 3:57 PM UTC

thefounder wrote: post #118

netcan wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>Like most of the banks, right? Yes and no. "Predatory" can mean different things. Most banks are super-cautious, day-to-day. They can be predatory in certain way, taking advantage of customers with things like outrageous overdraft fees, exchange rates and such. They can be feckless, accumulating long-tail, systemic risk with Heads-I-Win-Tails-You-Lose games.^ The old banks are bad in lots of ways, but actually very…

>> They're also prone to the start-upy customer service "minimalism" math. I have found their customer service to be very good. They respond within 2-3 minutes so I don't know what you could ask more. It's nothing like Paypal.

When you have a real problem with some aspect of Revolut their chat agents are not empowered to actually fix anything, they just follow a script. If the UI won't allow it, they can't help, and they won't escalate. The only path is to get your solicitor to send them a letter.

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

#133

Post by netcan » Tue, Feb 25, 2020, 4:01 PM UTC

thefounder wrote: post #118

netcan wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>Like most of the banks, right? Yes and no. "Predatory" can mean different things. Most banks are super-cautious, day-to-day. They can be predatory in certain way, taking advantage of customers with things like outrageous overdraft fees, exchange rates and such. They can be feckless, accumulating long-tail, systemic risk with Heads-I-Win-Tails-You-Lose games.^ The old banks are bad in lots of ways, but actually very…

>> They're also prone to the start-upy customer service "minimalism" math. I have found their customer service to be very good. They respond within 2-3 minutes so I don't know what you could ask more. It's nothing like Paypal.

Personally, I haven't had trouble, but I also haven't had problems to fix.

But, I know a lot of people that use Revolut. They're big here (ireland), because we often use multiple currencies.

Anyway, I've heard several first hand accounts of very bad C's on bigger issues, account lock-outs and such. It seems there is not an effective escalation.

There have also been media reports.

This is fine for a 2nd debit card account. I wouldn't use them for my current account.

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

#134

Post by Matsta » Tue, Feb 25, 2020, 4:09 PM UTC

piva00 wrote: post #93

Matsta wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I just don't understand why you would even reach out in the first place if you have no intentions of actually making the call. As you say, it's a waste of time.

And yes it was more being curious.

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

#135

Post by bkinnard » Tue, Feb 25, 2020, 4:21 PM UTC

I'm also very sceptical of that 10 million customers line. Do you think its just people that have opened an account with them at any point? I bet the DAU (a reasonable metric for someones main bank, especially in today's cashless society) is a very small percentage of that.

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

#136

Post by ValentineC » Tue, Feb 25, 2020, 4:25 PM UTC

bradvl wrote: post #25

sschueller wrote: post #4

Revolut is predatory and walking on the line of legality. I would stay as far away as I can from them. - Unfair/illegal employment practices. [1] - Dubios crypto service (you can buy and sell but there is no way to transfer in or out) [2] - Keeping a firewall between customers and company by only allowing communication via app chatbot [3] - Accusations of money laundry. [4] - Many people have had their accounts froze…

I am not an employment law expert, but there is nothing remotely illegal about those other things. In fact, the way they do crypto is very clever - it reduces money laundering risk massively.

> In fact, the way they do crypto is very clever

I don't know if it makes a difference practically, but it's probably different if they actually held the crypto balance in a cold wallet, versus the balance just being a number on a ledger that's pegged to an exchange rate.

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

#137

Post by virgilp » Tue, Feb 25, 2020, 4:26 PM UTC

thefounder wrote: post #118

netcan wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>Like most of the banks, right? Yes and no. "Predatory" can mean different things. Most banks are super-cautious, day-to-day. They can be predatory in certain way, taking advantage of customers with things like outrageous overdraft fees, exchange rates and such. They can be feckless, accumulating long-tail, systemic risk with Heads-I-Win-Tails-You-Lose games.^ The old banks are bad in lots of ways, but actually very…

>> They're also prone to the start-upy customer service "minimalism" math. I have found their customer service to be very good. They respond within 2-3 minutes so I don't know what you could ask more. It's nothing like Paypal.

My experience is that if you need to get past the chatbot to talk to a real person, it takes an undisclosed amount of time (minutes, but could be easily towards 30minutes), and then if you're not immediately attentive when chat representative responds, you go back as being "out of contact", and need to restart. And it's not like the app gives you a notification or anything if the chat representative comes online.

I've never had to do something tricky like e.g. challenge a transaction with them, and I dread that perspective. What I read from people who had that problem is not encouraging.

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

#138

Post by ValentineC » Tue, Feb 25, 2020, 4:32 PM UTC

rsync wrote: post #131

interfixus wrote: post #100

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 t…

"Features I like, and which are apparently beyond the ability of my regular bank to offer: Virtual and diposible cards." I am interested in using virtual/disposable cards ... Is it, in fact, correct that no "proper" US bank offers these ? What about paypal ? What is the most stable, boring, financial services provider that offers virtual cards ? Does anyone allow me to create a virtual card via API, the same way I ca…

> I am interested in using virtual/disposable cards ...

> Is it, in fact, correct that no "proper" US bank offers these ? What about paypal ?*

> What is the most stable, boring, financial services provider that offers virtual cards ?

Most US-issued bank debit cards work with Privacy.com, I think.

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

#139

Post by cosmodisk » Tue, Feb 25, 2020, 4:32 PM UTC

jermaustin1 wrote: post #112

cosmodisk wrote: post #101

Revolut is where WeWork was a few years ago. Eventually a few guys will make some nice money and the whole thing will go down the drain. VC money is nice, however at some point you need to start making your own money and how they are planning to do so is a question nobody has an answer to.

It feels like they are going the traditional bank route, give away a basic product and charge fees for everything over a threshold. Looking at their business pricing page, it looks like they are going to get into commercial lending, which could prove profitable. I don't know if it is VC-scale, though. Most big, successful banks that have withstood the test of time have grown VERY slowly over nearly 200 years and acqu…

It's one thing to get high growth among millennials with a shiny app and completely another to get into commercial banking.The reason why majority of the banks rather do mortgage and some other 'easier' products is because of how difficult and complex commercial lending is. I don't think it's fair to compare a local town bank in the US to challenger bank in Europe. I suspect a very high percentage of revolut accounts were opened purely to support alternative banking, however these customers aren't and won't be the ones that will bring fortunes to the bank's coffers.

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

#140

Post by jermaustin1 » Tue, Feb 25, 2020, 4:37 PM UTC

bkinnard wrote: post #135

I'm also very sceptical of that 10 million customers line. Do you think its just people that have opened an account with them at any point? I bet the DAU (a reasonable metric for someones main bank, especially in today's cashless society) is a very small percentage of that.

I'm less skeptical that they have a high number of active users, but probably not a high number of users that use this "bank" like a real bank.

I use another "neobank" called Simple in the US. It is not a primary account. It is how I divvy up allowance to my wife and I for our weekly fun money ($70/person/week). Can be spent on anything we want, but once it's gone its gone. I use mine for lunches, she packs a lunch and uses hers for shopping. We both save a certain percentage of that to pay for vacations.

Our typical average monthly balance is in the low 3 figures. Like currently I have $110 in savings and $45 in checking. I have no clue about how much my wife has, and that is the beauty of it.