Alternative to revolut

[polb]

Wondering if anyone has a recommendation for an alternative to revolut. Their customer service is atrocious, but I’ve put up with it because of the ability to have a gbp account with local sort code and account number. I use it like this; top up my euro account from Dutch bank account-exchange € to £ to my revolut £ account -transfer £ to a U.K. based account. I accept being charged to exchange € to £, but I haven’t used it in a while and when I used it today, it’s also now charging me to make transferee in £ from my £ to a U.K. bank account. This is a new charge, I’ve been back through my last few payments (March 2021) and I was not charged to sending £ to £ then. I checked with revolut and they’ve confirmed that this is now the case. I am not happy being charged twice, one to convert € to £ and again to send £ to £. Does anyone know of an alternative where you can truly use your £ account as a local account, or failing that somewhere where at the very least they have better customer service.
Thanks.

[DanGK]

Have you considered Wise (Was Transferwise)?

[BuildBackBetter]

+1 for Wise. Great customer service and one of the best rates. Been using it for 4 years.

[polb]

I’ll give wise a look. Thanks.

[Meadowlark]

You could try opening accounts with Starling Bank. You get a sterling and euro account as standard and they charge 0.4% conversion fee to move funds between the two currencies. I’ve found them to be excellent – available 24/7. Wise are good too, but a bit more of a process to move between currencies imo.

[polb]

Do you need to be a U.K. resident to open a Starling account though?

[Meadowlark]

Good point. Their website gives this info:
“You can apply for a Starling account as long as you’re over 16 and live at a UK address. As you’d expect, we welcome all nationalities and you don’t even have to be a UK tax resident.”

[cinereus]

Be warned: I know Revolut is also pretty bad but Starling customer service is truly awful.

[memesweeper]

cinereus wrote:

Be warned: I know Revolut is also pretty bad but Starling customer service is truly awful.

As a converse datapoint, I’ve had only one run-in with Starling customer service, and was impressed. Compared to Monese, Revolut and Curve it feels like a ‘proper’ bank. I believe it is actually a proper bank too, so funds are protected.