Revolut vs. Chime

Revolut Review

Revolut is a British online bank that was initially available in some countries in Europe. However, in 2020 it finally opened its doors in the US right when online banks were garnering more and more popularity.

Whereas other online banks from Europe like N26 offer different services, Revolut offers the same model as it does in Europe. However, there are still some key differences to Revolut USA and the plans it offers, on which we'll base this review.

Here’s a deeper look into how this Revolut performs in a whole new different market:

#1 Domestic Fees

Revolut gets off to a rocky start because it's the only bank that limits its ATM withdrawals up to a certain monthly amount. Here's how each plan treats its ATM limits:

• Standard Plan: Up to $300
• Premium Plan: Up to $600
• Metal Plan: Up to $1,200
• Anything beyond that will incur a 2% fee.

In terms of cards, Revolut doesn't charge for sending the first card, but any replacements for the Standard and Premium plans will cost $12.99 per card. This is an expensive fee, but users get 2 free yearly replacements. It's also worth noting that a metal card replacement will cost $70.

Revolut is also the only online bank we've reviewed that charges a base fee for its standard delivery. Its standard delivery goes for $4.99 and its express delivery goes for $19.99, but it's free for Premium and Metal users.

Some other things to mention that were not added to our scoring metrics are the following:

• Revolut is the only bank we've reviewed that charges a monthly fee for its premium plans (Standard is free, Premium costs $9.99/month and Metal costs $16.99/month)
• Revolut is the only online bank that offers kids/junior accounts for minors
• Revolut needs a minimum account balance of $10 to keep the account open.

Revolut Domestic Fees Score: 4/10

#2 International Fees

As some other online banks do, Revolut also keeps its domestic fees structure for its international fees, which doesn't work that well in this case.

Users still get the same limits with foreign ATMs as with domestic ATMs with a 2% fee for any excesses. On top of that, Revolut also imposes an allowance on foreign spending and exchanges, which goes as follows:

• Standard Plan: No fees for up to $1,000
• Premium & Metal Plan: No allowance is imposed
• If the allowance is exceeded, a 0.5% fee will apply.

The online bank also charges a 1% fee on all currencies for using the card on weekends and another 1% fee on special currencies like the Thai Baht and Ukrainian Hryvnia.

However, Revolut is the only online bank we've reviewed that can send international money transfers and SWIFT transfers on its own.

Revolut International Fees Score: 3/10

#3 Everyday Usage

Here's where Revolut gets back up to speed applying its experience learned from Europe. Revolut offers the following features:

• Spending insights and transaction categories
• Real time spending notifications
• Apple Pay
• Google Pay.

These are the suite of features that most online banks should have in order to offer a seamless experience for users in their daily life.

Revolut is also the only online bank we've reviewed that offers built-in donations to certain charities. This isn't measured in our scoring metrics, but it's certainly worth mentioning.

Revolut Everyday Usage Score: 8/10

#4 Interface & Usability

Revolut has had 6 years in the online banking market to learn its way around. That's why according to our metrics, it has one of the more developed apps. From Revolut's app you can do the following things:

• Set spending limits
• Open Sub-savings accounts or “Personal Vaults”
• Split bills/share expenses with friends or family with “Group Bills”
• Track your online subscriptions and enable/disable them as you like.

However, users can't set withdrawal limits from the app, which is not a must, but certainly makes users feel more empowered over their money.

Revolut Interface & Usability Score: 8/10

#5 Mobile App Functionality

As we had mentioned earlier, Revolut has one of the more developed apps of all online banks. Revolut's app offers the following features:

• Toggling online payments
• Toggling online foreign payments
• Open group savings accounts, called “Group Vaults”

It's important to mention that out of all the banks we've reviewed, Revolut is the only one that offers group accounts, which is a rather useful feature..

Revolut's app also gets credit thanks to its highly intuitive design. It also gets the highest average score in popular app stores, garnering 4.8 stars in the Apple Appstore and 4.7 stars in the Google Playstore. On top of that, signing up with Revolut doesn't take longer than 10 minutes.

Revolut Mobile App Functionality Score: 9/10

#6 International Usability

Here's where Revolut gets to flex its international muscles and crush the competition with its experience. Revolut is the only online bank that lets users hold, exchange, send and receive 28+ currencies aside from USD. It's also the only bank that can send international transfers on its own, as we had already mentioned.

Another important thing to mention is that you can use your Revolut card in any place where Mastercard is accepted. Also, Revolut's ATM withdrawal policy applies anywhere, which means that you don't have to worry about looking for a specific ATM when travelling abroad.

Revolut International Usability Score: 10/10

#7 Customer Support

Here's where Revolut misses the mark yet again. Its support isn't inherently bad, it's just very limited since it's only available from the app's chat. No phone human telephone support (There's a phone line but it's automated) and no email support either.

However, Revolut does have priority customer support for the Premium and Metal plans, but it's still restricted to chat support.

Revolut Customer Support Score: 3/10

#8 Security & Regulation

The first thing to point out here is that Revolut allied with Metropolitan Commercial Bank when it launched in the US. This means that Revolut's accounts are insured for up to $250,000 thanks to FDIC regulation.

Revolut also has these other security features to benefit users:

• Freezing/unfreezing cards from the app
• Resetting PINs from the app
• Disposable virtual cards for one time online purchases (Only Premium and Metal)
• Biometric login authentication.

Overall, Revolut is one of, if not, the most secure online bank in the US.

Revolut Security & Regulation Score: 10/10

#9 Savings/Premium Benefits

This is again another category where Revolut excels due to being the online bank most focused in this aspect. With Revolut users get the following benefits:

• Metal card with Metal plan
• Cashback on exclusive offers through the use of the Revolut card
• Up to 30% discount on certain partners in the travel, entertainment and groceries departments
• Interest earned on account balance (Standard: 0.25%, Premium & Metal: 0.50%)

Revolut Savings/Premium Benefits Score: 9/10

#10 Extra Features

Here Revolut runs into the same issue that N26 does, by offering some extra features that are neat, but not the ones that are necessary. With Revolut users get access to direct debits, which means getting paid earlier. It also has a Network ATM finder, which is, again, neat.

Nevertheless, Revolut doesn't get extra points for missing features like an overdraft, which is a must for a lot of users out there.

Some other things to mention that weren't scored is the fact that Revolut also offers LoungeKey Pass access and the ability to trade in cryptocurrencies directly from its app.

Revolut Extra Features Score: 5/10

Chime Review

Chime is an already established online bank in the US since 2013. The service that Chime offers isn't the same as a brick and mortar bank, rather it's a mix of a challenger bank and a second chance bank. It bases its service on offering a free way to handle financing from the palm of your hand without doing a credit score check.

Chime has already garnered 8 million users as of 2020, and it's expected to keep growing. However, there are a lot of online banks in the US as of now, so let's see how Chime performs in general terms.

Here’s a deeper look into how Chime performs in 10 categories we consider as the most important for online banks:

#1 Domestic Fees

Chime gets off to a great start thanks to the fact that it doesn't charge fees nor sets limits on most of its features. Ordering your first card or any other replacement is free and the same applies to their delivery service.

Users are also exempt from any ATM fees as long as they use MoneyPass or Visa Plus Alliance ATMs. Otherwise, a $2.5 fee will apply for an out-of-network ATM withdrawal.

Chime also doesn't require any monthly fees nor a minimum balance to keep the account functioning, which is always a plus.

Chime Domestic Fees Score: 10/10

#2 International Fees

Chime keeps up the great score even if it applies the same fee structure on an international basis. It doesn't charge special foreign ATM fees nor foreign spending or even exchange fees. It also doesn't charge fees for using your card or withdrawing cash on weekends nor on special currencies.

However, It's worth noting that MoneyPass ATMs are only located in the US and Puerto Rico. This means that if you travel somewhere else and are in need of withdrawing cash, you will incur the $2.5 fee.

Chime International Fees Score: 10/10

#3 Everyday Usage

Chime keeps up on a good roll due to a focus on powerful and easy to use features such as:

• Spending/Transaction categories
• Real time spending notifications
• Apple Pay
• Google Pay

On top of that, Chime is also one of the only online banks we've reviewed that accepts cash deposits. These can be done at retail stores like:

• Walmart
• 7-Eleven
• Walgreens 
• Duane Reade
• Speedway

Chime is the only online bank that gets a perfect score for presenting a seamless, powerful and well designed app for everyday usage.

Chime Everyday Usage Score: 10/10

#4 Interface & Usability

Here's where Chime's performance takes its first dive because even though it presents a easy to use interface, it lacks on some specific features. From your Chime account you can and can't do the following things:

• You can set spending limits from the app
• You can't set withdrawal limits from the app
• You can't open sub savings accounts (Only fully-fledged savings accounts are available)
• You can split bills/share expenses with friends or family
• You can't track nor enable/disable online subscriptions.

Chime Interface & Usability Score: 4/10

#5 Mobile App Functionality

Chime gets back up to speed with a fairly customizable experience in terms of the functionality of its app. From Chime's app you can do the following things:

• Toggle online payments
• Toggle online foreign payments
• Toggle ATM withdrawals on/off

Chime also gets some extra points for its overall app rating. It scores 4.8 stars in the Apple Appstore and 4.5 in the Google Playstore based on user reviews, which are great scores.

However, one small nick we can mention here is that Chime does not permit opening group savings accounts.

Chime Mobile App Functionality Score: 9/10

#6 International Usability

Here's where Chime's performance misses the mark again. Chime has no features in order to be able to hold multiple currencies nor send international money transfers on its own.

However, as we had mentioned, Chime's Visa debit card can be used internationally, even if the ATM network its subjected to doesn't operate in other regions beside America.

Chime International Usability Score: 4/10

#7 Customer Support

Chime gets a good score in this category because it features the three main ways of offering customer support, which are:

• Telephone support: 844-244-6363
• Email support: [email protected]
• In-app support chat.

However, Chime does not feature priority customer support and it normally takes around 3 days for them to get back via email, which could be faster.

Chime Customer Support Score: 8/10

#8 Security & Regulation

Chime does perform averagely in this scenario not because it's an unsafe or risky institution, just because it's missing some features that could make your spending safer.

All Chime accounts are secured for up to $250,000 thanks to Chime's partner banks, The Bancorp Bank and Stride Bank N.A., which are FDIC members. So, your funds are totally protected in Chime. However, here are other ways in which you can and can't protect yourself:

• You can't have disposable virtual cards for one-time online purchases
• You can freeze/unfreeze your card from the app
• You can't reset your PIN from the app (Only through a phone line)
• You can set up biometric login and authentication to log in.

Chime Security & Regulation Score: 6/10

#9 Savings/Premium Benefits

Here's where Chime possibly gets its lowest overall score, because it simply wasn't designed with these features baked into it. Chime doesn't offer metal cards, cashback features nor partner discounts at all.

However, all Chime accounts gain interest on their account balance, which is always a base 0.50% APY (Annual Percentage Yield).

Chime Savings/Premium Benefits Score: 2/10

#10 Extra Features

Chime is certainly not a premium bank, but it's a bank with a lot of neat features. Several of those are the following:

• Getting paid early through Direct Deposits
• In-app network ATM finder
• Being able to overdraft your account (Eligible transactions don't get declined)
• Overdraft protection (Eligible users are able to borrow up to $100 without fees)

It's worth mentioning that Chime is the only online bank we've reviewed that lets users overdraft without any fees whatsoever, which actually makes it pretty unique in our eyes.

Chime Extra Features Score: 10/10

Revolut Or Chime?

When recommending a certain product, here at Yore Oyster we always thrive to really give you the best advice. This is why we always give a final recommendation comparing the products we talked about. So, here's our final take on both banks.

In terms of a general perspective, Revolut is a premium product. This means that its fees structure might be too daunting for some if not most users. On top of that, Revolut has subpar customer support and not a lot of extra features that come for free, which makes it less appealing for the average bank user.

Chime performs exceptionally well as an online account. It has a set of user-friendly domestic and international fees, and the smooth feel and functionality of the app is a nice bonus, too. Strong customer support and unique extra features are just the cherries on top of it all.

Without doubt, Chime is one of the top online accounts in the US.

If you're deciding between Chime and Revolut, we recommend Chime.