The review
Revolut got the restrictions lifted from its UK banking licence in March 2026, which changed what it is. Money in a Revolut Bank UK current account is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £120,000. The catch is that customers are being moved onto the bank in batches, and anyone who joined recently may still be on the older e-money account, which has no such cover. It is worth opening the app and checking which entity holds your money rather than assuming.
The weekend markup is the cost most people here do not see coming. On the free plan, every currency exchange between 17:00 on Friday and 18:00 on Sunday New York time carries an extra one percent — and 17:00 in New York is 22:00 in London, so Friday night in Europe already counts as the weekend. Paying for a Saturday dinner in a currency you do not hold costs more than the same dinner on Tuesday. Premium at £7.99 a month removes it, along with the £1,000 monthly exchange allowance.
The disqualifying one, if you genuinely move about, is residency. Revolut’s own help pages say you cannot keep an account once you no longer live in the country you opened it in, and that you cannot move money between your own Revolut accounts — so you close one, push your balance out through somebody else, and start again. One last thing worth knowing: Revolut generated more fraud complaints to the UK ombudsman than any major bank, despite being far smaller than them.
What works
- FSCS protection up to £120,000 once migrated to the bank
- £400 to £2,000 of free cash withdrawals a month on paid tiers
- Holds more than 30 currencies
- Premium at £7.99 removes both the exchange cap and the weekend fee
What does not
- Moving country permanently means closing and reopening
- 1% added to exchanges from 17:00 Friday to 18:00 Sunday, New York time
- Free plan only covers £1,000 of exchange a month, then 1%
- Your euro details are a Lithuanian IBAN, which some employers reject