Revolut RevPoints Deposits

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Tea-eis

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Revolut has started offering 'RevPoints' (which are convertible 1:1 into airmiles) for maintaining cash on deposit with them.

At the top tier, they offer 270,000 points per year for a 100k deposit.The value of the points depends on what you use them for, but to buy 270,000 airmails would cost a couple of thousand euros.

This is separate from their Revpoints cashback offers, and looks (to me) a lot like a straight deposit account, which makes me wonder if this should be taxable.

Does anyone know if a scheme like this where the depositor is paid 'interest' in points rather than cash should be subject to DIRT or any other tax. No mention of tax anywhere in the terms one way or another. If no tax, actually looks like pretty good value for people who'd use the airmiles.
 
I think the points can be redeemed for 'stays' as well i.e booking a hotel. And it seems to represent decent value. I signed up for it and did 'spare change' (x10) for the last few weeks. Had forgotten about it but checked recently and somehow i have amassed about 32k points.
 
jim said:
I think the points can be redeemed for 'stays' as well i.e booking a hotel. And it seems to represent decent value. I signed up for it and did 'spare change' (x10) for the last few weeks. Had forgotten about it but checked recently and somehow i have amassed about 32k points.
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Wasn’t that very expensive? A 10x round-up is spend €1.10, round-up is €0.90, multiplied by 10 is €9.00! Sounds like they’re emptying your bank account for you!
 
Tea-eis said:
Does anyone know if a scheme like this where the depositor is paid 'interest' in points rather than cash should be subject to DIRT or any other tax.
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I doubt it. Isn't it similar to something like getting cash equivalent vouchers on your Tesco Clubcard?
 
ClubMan said:
I doubt it. Isn't it similar to something like getting cash equivalent vouchers on your Tesco Clubcard?
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There is a loyalty cashback part to the product that’s like a clubcard, which the poster above are describing

The feature I’m referring to one is more like a deposit account. The process is to place an amount of money on deposit in a special revpoints account and earn annual revpoints, paid daily, on the deposit. The more you deposit, the more revpoints you earn. Revpoints are not cash and can’t be converted into cash, but they are valuable and can be converted into loyalty currencies such as Avios.

Put it another way, if AIB decides to pay deposit interest at 1% in the form of Tesco vouchers instead of cash, wouldn’t that be subject to tax?

It sounds like a straight deposit interest product to me, and not like a cashback product. I’ve a feeling I’m missing something, but I’d hate to earn 5000 euros worth of points and then be expected to pay 2k of tax on them!
 
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conor_mc said:
Wasn’t that very expensive? A 10x round-up is spend €1.10, round-up is €0.90, multiplied by 10 is €9.00! Sounds like they’re emptying your bank account for you!
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Perhaps it was i dont know. How do i accurately calculate the value? either way iv disabled the 10x round up of 'spare change'.

It looks like i gets 100s euro off 'stays' now with the points i have
 
The details seem to be:
- Offer applies to savings "pockets" product.
- Does not seem to apply to main euro cash account nor the savings product nor the money market product.
- Savings Pockets pay zero interest.
- RevPoints must also be activated inside the app.
- This specific reward must be activated inside the app.
- Reward on 2,500 EUR minimum balance in a Pocket for 1 year is 54 EUR off hotels/stays* or 2,700 miles.
- Reward on 5,000 EUR minimum balance in a Pocket for 1 year is 126 EUR off hotels/stays* or 6,300 miles.
- Reward on 10,000 EUR minimum balance in a Pocket for 1 year is 288 EUR off hotels/stays* or 14,400 miles.
- Reward on 20,000 EUR minimum balance in a Pocket for 1 year is 720 EUR off hotels/stays* or 36,000 miles.
- Reward on 30,000 EUR minimum balance in a Pocket for 1 year is 1,260 EUR off hotels/stays* or 63,000 miles.
- Reward on 50,000 EUR minimum balance in a Pocket for 1 year is 2,520 EUR off hotels/stays* or 126,000 miles.
- Reward on 100,000 EUR minimum balance in a Pocket for 1 year is 5,400 EUR off hotels/stays* or 270,000 miles.
- Points accrue daily.
- *In my experience, the price for hotel/stays via Revolut is often higher than other websites.
- Points/offer could change.

Is 5,400 EUR for hotels a 100,000 deposit a good return?
- A deposit would return max. 4,000 EUR (Trading212) gross after 1 year and more likely less as rates seem to be declining.
- The 5,400 EUR must be spent with Revolut Stays which as stated above has higher prices. So the real reward might be hypothetically 10% less.
- You can't choose what to spend your money on unlike interest from a deposit. And not everyone spends this much on hotels each year.
- As @Brendan Burgess correctly says, there are risks with keeping such a high Revolut balance given their fraud and customer service reputation.

Overall, it seems like a good offer.

I will see how this could be added into the Best Buys.
 
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I think it's very good value indeed. The real value in Revpoints is that they can be traded for Frequent Flyer miles on a 1:1 basis. I can usually get about 1.5c-2c per point for Avios on economy long-haul and maybe 3c per point for long-haul business class, so this is very attractive indeed.

Agree with Brendan about the risk in placing cash in Revolut. I've never had trouble but heard so many horror stories that I'm very hesitant.

I still really struggle to understand how this isn't a deposit account and how the payments aren't interest and therefore subject to tax. If taxable, I'm not sure it represents such a great deal over opting for cash.
 
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Brendan Burgess said:
It is not a good idea to have more than a couple of hundred euro in Revolut.

If something goes wrong, you will not be able to get it back.

For whatever reason, Revolut customers seem particularly vulnerable to scammers.

Brendan
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I thought money up to 100k was safe in Revolut under the Deposit Guarantee Scheme? Is it a convoluted path to getting money back from them? Or just subject to lots of fraud?

Is there a better alternative in terms of safety? Is Raisin Bank reliable? My first time putting some money on deposit. Thanks.
 
I made a stupid online purchase without due diligence. Immediately tried to rectify it and the scammed website disappeared . Contacted Revolut and got refunded . I know the above is in relation to scammed accounts but for me they were pretty good . I might be wrong but there is extra protection from “stupid” purchases when you’re not on the basic free level. I might be wrong .
 
Tea-eis said:
I think it's very good value indeed. The real value in Revpoints is that they can be traded for Frequent Flyer miles on a 1:1 basis. I can usually get about 1.5c-2c per point for Avios on economy long-haul and maybe 3c per point for long-haul business class, so this is very attractive indeed.

Agree with Brendan about the risk in placing cash in Revolut. I've never had trouble but heard so many horror stories that I'm very hesitant.

I still really struggle to understand how this isn't a deposit account and how the payments aren't interest and therefore subject to tax. If taxable, I'm not sure it represents such a great deal over opting for cash
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That's good , which airline?

With Aer Lingus I get about 0.5 cent (e.g ,€23 off with 4000 points) if I've done the maths right.

On that basis, if the value stays static, 270,000 points would get me about €1,600 in flight value.

Whereas holding €100,000 in deposit at 2% with Revolut (which will likely drop in near future), would get me about €1,400 after DIRT.

So for now, for Aer Lingus, it's about the same for me to take deposit interest.

If my maths is correct!

So as a traveller and if deposit rates fall, this could be of better value.

Edit::: but hotel value even if not great with Revolut could be well worth it at €5,400.
 
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Tea-eis said:
I still really struggle to understand how this isn't a deposit account and how the payments aren't interest and therefore subject to tax. If taxable, I'm not sure it represents such a great deal over opting for cash.
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Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I now agree that it is difficult to see how this is not taxable.

If a depositor gets 50 EUR for opening a Raisin account - that can be argued as being "incidental" to the transaction.

But if a depositor is being paid exclusively in rewards, and the rewards are calculated in a similar-ish manner to deposit interest, then it is difficult to see how this is not taxable.

Perhaps taxable at the redeemed value?
 
podgerodge said:
That's good , which airline?

With Aer Lingus I get about 0.5 cent (e.g ,€23 off with 4000 points) if I've done the maths right.
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it's better value to redeem for flights on Aer Lingus (rewards.aerlingus.com) than it is to use for discounts as above, which are really just a way to use up a few orphaned Avios for a few quid.

Best value is on Ultra Long Haul Business Class - Qatar only charge 180k Avios round trip for Business Class to Australia or 90k Avios for economy.
 
Lightning said:
Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I now agree that it is difficult to see how this is not taxable.

If a depositor gets 50 EUR for opening a Raisin account - that can be argued as being "incidental" to the transaction.

But if a depositor is being paid exclusively in rewards, and the rewards are calculated in a similar-ish manner to deposit interest, then it is difficult to see how this is not taxable.

Perhaps taxable at the redeemed value?
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I assume Revolut would on the hook if there is any tax, as they're required to deduct tax at source?

Either way, I've decided I'm with Brendan on this and not going to put savings into a revolut account. Shame, it's an absolutely fantastic deal for anyone who flies long haul regularly.
 
Tea-eis said:
it's better value to redeem for flights on Aer Lingus (rewards.aerlingus.com) than it is to use for discounts as above, which are really just a way to use up a few orphaned Avios for a few quid.

Best value is on Ultra Long Haul Business Class - Qatar only charge 180k Avios round trip for Business Class to Australia or 90k Avios for economy.
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Is that true? I have 50,000 Avios points at the moment, it wouldn’t take much to get to 180,000. But 35,000 was only getting me €170 off an Aer Lingus flight.
 
Gordon Gekko said:
Is that true? I have 50,000 Avios points at the moment, it wouldn’t take much to get to 180,000. But 35,000 was only getting me €170 off an Aer Lingus flight.
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it’s true! The worst possible way to use Avios is for flight discounts on regular revenue Aer Lingus tickets at about 0.5c/avios. A very niche product for people who only have a handful of Avios.

Reward tickets are where it’s at. These are seats that are specifically released for frequent flyer redemption and not what’s described above. Avios can be redeemed for seats on a bunch of airlines and most airlines also allow you to book partner reward seats on other airlines as well. It’s rather complicated as every airline sets their own rates. Google for ‘best value Avios redemptions’ and you’ll find sites with some of the best sweet spots.

Tremendous value for Avios on long haul Qatar airways flights connecting via Doha these days (business class hard to find, economy always very easy to get). Using them via BA to book domestic flights on AA can be good value too. Using them to upgrade Aer Lingus to business can be ok value as well (and usually quite available)

Not foolproof, as availability isn’t always great, and they also tack on redemption fees, but great value to be found. I got an economy round trip to Australia last minute on Qatar last month for 90k + 200 in fees that was selling for €1900 that day. I’ve also redeemed 180k for Qatar Qsuites business class to New Zealand return (which would usually sell for about 7000 euros), but that’s a rare find

Going back to the topic, shows what a great deal the Revolut offer is if you have 100k to place in it, and can live with the risks of using Revolut
 
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