Somehow, the fact that Emma came into the world, for us meant a step back in international traveling. This fact had another consequence because exactly at the point when Revolut had a boom, I totally ignored it. Even more, it took me a while to understand its purpose and what are the real benefits for Metal and Premium versions.

You can find comparative tables with a long line of benefits on their site, but from my perspective, there are two big ones: 1. you can have the best exchange rate for card payments 2. You withdraw cash without a commission from an ATM, anywhere in the world. If you ask me, I think that at first, it’s better for you to try the Standard version, only if you don’t want to withdraw 500 euros from the ATM, to have included travel insurance or to have access to an airport lounge. And if it fits you, you must pay 8 € per month for Premium or 14 € per month for Metal.  

Revolut

We bought Standard Revolut and I think it’s the best option for us at this moment. It helped us save time because we didn’t have to go to an exchange office before traveling, and we got rid of the unfriendly exchange rate, in case we would make payments outside our country with a credit/debit card issued in Romania. The card came very fast -in 3 days and the courier must be paid by you. The interface of the mobile app is also very intuitive. The disadvantage is that the system is a top-up card, this means that you have to charge money (when you don’t have), and all this is time-consuming. I don’t know if there are any employers in Romania that are willing to make payments using Revolut or to do transfers in the Euro account that is associated with your account.

In case you don’t have Revolut, you can access the service here. If you join the community of users, you will receive the equivalent of $10 as welcome. And, yes!, I will also get $10, if you click on the above link because I convinced you, if so thank you for your choice.

Curve? Yes!  It’s great! In fact, it’s sensational!

I have discovered it when I was watching a travel blog (BackPackYourLife), and I couldn’t understand why this man was so happy with this card. Later I understood that it isn’t a top-up card\prepaid card, it is a wallet. To be more specific, Curve card can be an intermediary between the POS and your classic card (from BCR, Raiffeisen, ING, etc.).  When you pay in foreign currencies the money is taken from your local currency card but at the best exchange rate on the market (xe.com). All this means that there is no need to spend time adding funds on your card, you just pay with Curve and the money is taken from your local currency card.

When you order the card and you enter the code EA7RG2AN you get 5 GBP as a welcome gift. You receive the card via local post service in 5-6 days term, without any cost. The app is ok, a little bit less friendly than Revolut’s but the card’s design is beyond Standard Revolut.

If you are interested to buy one, you can do it here. To get the £5 mentioned earlier you enter the code EA7RG2AN and you follow the steps, it’s quite simple. I also get some money in this case too because I convinced you. 🙂

The best thing about Curve is that you can associate more than one card and only with a swipe in the app you can choose which one to use. If you have paid with the wrong card you can turn back in time and you can choose another one (this is one of my favorite things). In the same time, you get cashback 1% if you choose 3 retailers (you choose them from a long list) and you pay with it. I made a mistake here because I have chosen Spotify and when I wanted to pay the app said that I couldn’t use a card from Romania. Later edit: After some shopping from Lidl, I received 1%, so the system works.

Some general info about the two of them:

Until now I haven’t used customer service on either of the two, so I know nothing about it. Later edit: They withdraw my money from the account using Curve, although on the receipt from the POS said failed. I used the app to write to them about the problem and in 30 minutes I received the money back. 

At the same time, I can confirm that no commission was charged for the transactions I made from BCR (a local subsidiary of Erste Bank) and Raiffeisen Bank.