Buying sterling using Transferwise or Revolut

[Bronte]

I have been using Transferwise (TW) successful to pay for items in sterling. It's exceedingly efficient and cheap. As I will have to pay more going forward I was considering 'buying' 10K of Sterling once it lost value. Because when I first started to buy it the exchange rate was around .90 to the Euro and went to .83 last month. As my transfers in and out are immediate and not for very significant sums at any given time (less than 500 sterling) I wasn't too worried about Transferwise. But I am now. As they are not a bank like a traditional bank.

On 10K the difference between a few months ago and now is 1K.

What I really need to know is if I put 10K Sterling on deposit with TW is it safe. How would I find this out. They were recommended to me and I believe Revolut do the same thing.

Any advice appreciated.

 

[nest egg]

It's a question of how much risk you want to take. Have a read of their T&C. I quickly googled TW and found this, expect Rev have something similar. A win-win scenario could be to open a UK bank a/c and make use of an intermediary for the transfer, which would lower the risk.

 

[dublin67]

I'm not aware about TW but I do know that Revolut aren't a bank (the last time I looked). This means that any protection you have is limited to whatever is available under their electronic money licence. The Revolut website may be able to give more details on the level of protection. My view is this environment is that the counterparty risk, as it is called, is unacceptably high. I have a Revolut card but only have about €300 or on it at any one time.