Revolut launches its bank in Ireland - but for loans only

Brendan Burgess

Founder
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Press release today


Revolut announces launch of the first Revolut Bank product in Ireland, with a waitlist for its market-leading personal loans opening today
  • Other lending products such as credit cards will follow later this year.
  • Revolut Bank has received a full banking licence from the European Central Bank, which will facilitate the provision of bank accounts backed by Deposit Guarantee to all Irish users later this year, subject to regulatory approval from the Bank of Lithuania.
  • Groundbreaking move follows the successful launch of Revolut Bank in EEA - and the exit of Ulster Bank and KBC from the Irish market.


Dublin, February 1, 2022, Revolut, the payments business with over 1.7m customers in Ireland has opened a waiting list for its market-leading personal loan product, marking the fintech's first steps to launch its Revolut Bank services to Irish customers.
To apply for a Revolut personal loan, customers can apply instantly without needing to fill out complex forms, and will receive an answer on their loan application within seconds. Revolut Loans are also available to new customers, meaning even users who sign up today will be eligible to apply for a loan. Other lending products such as credit cards will follow later this year.
The move to launch Revolut Bank in Ireland follows the imminent withdrawal by Ulster Bank and KBC from the market. Revolut Bank credit products, and in time additional services, will be available to any new or existing Revolut customers.

Deposits held in Revolut Bank will carry deposit guarantee protection of up to €100,000 per user backed by the Lithuanian Deposit Guarantee Scheme.
To date, Revolut Bank has launched in 28 countries across the EEA and has proven enormously popular with customers seeking a new bank.
Revolut Europe CEO Joe Heneghan said
“We are delighted to launch Revolut Bank in Ireland, offering Irish consumers more competition and innovation.
With the imminent withdrawal of KBC and Ulster Bank from the market, it is clear that a new bank is needed to compete with legacy banks on price and service.
Customers can now register their interest in a Revolut Personal loan, and we look forward to delivering more innovative products this year.”

Currently, Revolut e-money customers in Ireland benefit from a standard plan that has no monthly or quarterly subscription fees and no charge for basic electronic payments within offered limits, as well as a host of innovative functionality including:
  • Free instant transfers to any other Revolut customers anywhere in the world
  • Free debit card payments
  • Free instant Euro transfers across Europe under the SEPA Instant scheme
  • Multi-currency wallets
  • Low-cost foreign exchange rates
  • Open Banking, allowing users to link and oversee external bank accounts
  • Savings vaults - including shared vaults
  • Budgeting tools and analytics
  • Revolut Junior accounts for children aged 6-17
  • A wide variety of customer Rewards
  • Cashback on hotel bookings using Revolut’s Stays feature
  • Disposable virtual cards for safer online shopping (a single-use card number)
 
This means that deposits are now covered by the guarantee system

And people can apply to Revolut for loans

Other than that, it makes no difference.

It's still not a good idea to have large amounts of cash in Revolut as if there is a problem, they are impossible to deal with.

Brendan
 
The credit card (when launched) could be handy with KBC and UB exiting though - Revolut's application process is definitely more scalable than that of our pillar banks.
 
This means that deposits are now covered by the guarantee system

And people can apply to Revolut for loans
Other than that, it makes no difference.
"All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?"
 
"All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?"

I use medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system and public health.

I would not use the Lithuanian bank guarantee (because I would not have large amounts in a current account with no human contact) and I would be unlikely to use a loan from a company which does not allow human contact.

If they offered a current account with an overdraft, it would be something. But they would still have to be able to support it with real people.

They refer to the departure of Ulster Bank and KBC. This is no substitute.

Brendan
 
The Revolut Credit Card is interesting. Appears to be on offer to a limited number of Lithuanian customers at the moment. The credit limit is twice monthly salary to a maximum of €6,000. Interest rates at 13.5% are competitive in comparison to those on offer in Ireland.

More information here:
 
This means that deposits are now covered by the guarantee system

And people can apply to Revolut for loans

Other than that, it makes no difference.

It's still not a good idea to have large amounts of cash in Revolut as if there is a problem, they are impossible to deal with.

Brendan
You find Revolut impossible to deal with? They are far the easiest to deal with out of any bank I've ever interacted with!
 
I never managed to get set up with Revolut because my passport expired at the start of COVID, I haven't renewed it because I've no plans to travel and they don't accept any form of identification other than passport/ID card. So, for me, they were impossible to deal with.
[broken link removed]
 
You find Revolut impossible to deal with? They are far the easiest to deal with out of any bank I've ever interacted with!

Interesting. Do you have a phone number for them?

Day to day, it works well.

But if you have a problem and you need to talk to someone, you can't.

You can go online and wait for a long, long time to get someone who sends you messages but they are clearly dealing with about 10 people at the same time.

It was very frustrating. It was a relatively small issue, but I would not like to have had a big problem which needed to be dealt with urgently.

I have not had to cancel a payment, so I don't know how that would work.

Brendan
 
This means that deposits are now covered by the guarantee system

Forgive me, Mr Burgess, but I don't think that's quite accurate.

My understanding is that any deposits placed with Revolut Bank will be covered under the DGS, but all existing Irish customers have not automatically been moved into Revolut Bank (so aren't automatically covered by the DGS), unless I've missed something?

I think we are all still customers of Revolut Payments UAB, are we not?

Thinking out loud, so Revolut actually need to even bother migrating us all across to Revolut Bank, at least in the short term? They could just roll out their loans and other credit products, through the Bank (as I assume they are awash with funding, so don't need or cash to fund the Irish loan book on Day 1).

Finally, I could not agree with you more, regarding the extremely poor customer service from Revolut. Its downright dreadful (assuming you can actually get to speak with someone, that is).
 
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Guys I have moved the discussion of licensing to a new thread


Keep this one purely for the consumer experience.

Brendan
 
Interesting. Do you have a phone number for them?

Day to day, it works well.

But if you have a problem and you need to talk to someone, you can't.

You can go online and wait for a long, long time to get someone who sends you messages but they are clearly dealing with about 10 people at the same time.

It was very frustrating. It was a relatively small issue, but I would not like to have had a big problem which needed to be dealt with urgently.

I have not had to cancel a payment, so I don't know how that would work.

Brendan
I don't have a phonenumber for them no.

But, any trivial issues I've had have been resolved from the comfort of my own home while keeping a loose eye on the chat. I can do other things during this period unlike any other bank where I either have to attend in person or spend an hour on the phone between being on hold and being passed from department to department.
 
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