Question about Revolut

Has anyone who is not a New Zealand citizen successfully obtained approval for a Revolut account?

Their online chat has advise that, at this stage, they only approve accounts for New Zealand citizens. I questioned them about this policy and why they still request individuals to upload personal documents such as a selfie, government ID, driver's license, and address proof when the registrant has selected "I am not a NZ citizen." They couldn't provide a reason but simply apologized.

Is there a way to file a complaint about this practice, considering they are aware that non-citizens won't be approved yet still ask for sensitive personal documents?

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Comments

  • +2

    Not an answer to your query, but can't you apply as a citizen of whatever country you are a citizen of?

    • Not every country allows dual citizenship and sometimes to give up the birth nationality isn't worth it if they still have bonds over there. Could be the case?

      • -1

        Lots of things are possible - but I was asking the OP?

        • Oh, someone is offended by getting an answer I gave in a nice manner? I didn't come here to bark at you or call you something rude, so no need to downvote and be mean. Everyone knows some citizenship processes are as easy as you think.

          Word from someone who went through the process.
          Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

          • +2

            @toomanywises: I didn't downvote you - where are you getting that from? Nor was I mean, but obviously you decided to take it that way, which is, of course, entirely up to you.

            In what way is dual-citizenship in any way relevant to the OP, who is not a citizen (dual or otherwise) of NZ?

    • I have tried that just now, change my citizenship and resubmitted the docs, got rejected also. Contact chat support and they just give me the same response and said only "NZ Nationals" can apply for our Revolut account.

  • +1

    I am not a user of this product nor have I studied all the terms and conditions, however this caught my eye on the New Zealand site:

    “4. Can I open a Revolut account?

    You’re eligible to open an account if:

    you’re 18 years old or over;
    you’re resident in New Zealand; and
    you provide us any information that we reasonably require to identify you and to meet our legal and regulatory requirements.”

    https://www.revolut.com/en-NZ/legal/terms/

    • Show them this T&C, they don't even response to that and just said sorry that's our policy now not accepting a non "NZ Nationals"

  • +1

    On this note, I have had no luck verifying my identity on Revolut. I've probably tried 20 times now and always get asked to try again. I don't know what the problem is.

    • +1

      same here. keep rejecting my license.

      • So did you manage to get the verification sorted? Ive been trying all morning with licence and passport.

    • Yes I find the chat support not knowledgeable or helpful at all, everyone of them just copy and paste the same message to me regardless what I ask and take forever to response.

    • +1

      Maybe try another phone or an ipad? could be the camera that the system doesn't like.

    • So have you managed to verify? Ive tried like 20 times today myself with licence and passport.

  • +1

    Not totally on topic but related, I went sour on Revolut some time ago and thank goodness Wise came along doing essentially the same job. I expressed an interest in getting a Revolut account in NZ about 5 years ago, since then I’ve received regular email updates about their progress towards opening in NZ. The thing is I decided I didn’t intend to pursue getting a Revolut card but there was no way to stop the emails (I thought by law you have to be able to unsubscribe to email lists), you couldn’t reply to the email address and there was never an unsubscribe link, eventually I just had to block Revolut from sending me anything, I figured that a firm that IT unsavvy wasn’t one I wanted to do business with.

    • +1

      The emails I received from Revolut when I went on the waitlist all had unsubscribe links.
      I only signed up towards the end of last year so maybe things have changed.
      You can also turn off email marketing from within the notifications setting of the app.

      Wise has always been my go-to card but had to use a Revolut for signing up to Netflix Nigeria as Wise wasn’t accepted.

      • +2

        I've never had a Wise account, only Revolut. Don't see the point when I stay below their minimum threshold for currency conversion and it's free.

        • +1

          Revolut only started in NZ less than a year ago what did you use before that?

          • @kyogui: I was just paying the fees on my Westpac Mastercard each time I made a purchase in another currency

    • Hopefully they stop emailing me I just closed the account and be informed they will still keep my data for 6 years.

  • +1

    That's interesting, I applied for a Revolut account a few months ago and was approved, despite only having NZ PR. Perhaps they've updated their policy recently?

    • Not sure, anything I ask they just tell me sorry we couldn't disclose any of this.

  • +1

    Im an expat and managed to open a Revoult account. I don't recall the questions I was asked but if the only option was nz citizen I would have just checked that.

    In any case I much prefer Wise to Revoult to be honest. They've been operating here a while now. Give them a go.

    • +1

      Yes I already have a Wise account, never have any problem with Wise. Only want a Revolut because it's free and can use it on Netflix Nigeria

      • +1

        Wise is free also no? I've only ever paid a small fee for paying in different currencies.

        The Netflix Nigeria thing could be fixed at any time so I wouldn't bank on that.

        • +1

          One thing i found was when you pay into your wise account with apple pay you'll be charged a small fee but it seems free on Revolut.

          • @kyogui: Bank transfer is free for Wise. Takes couple of hours max. Never used apple pay to transfer. Same goes for Revolut as well.

            • @ace310: I know you can do bank transfers but that's not my point, when you are overseas and need a quick top up bank transfer isn't an option.
              Apple pay is instant.

              • @kyogui: Can't you log into your bank account while overseas and transfer the money? At least with Revolut it goes into a NZ bank account and is shown in your Revolut account within a few hours.

  • Seem like I cannot complaint this with Privacy Commisioner as well as their policy is "We’ll only investigate a breach of your privacy if it’s caused you harm."

    • Would this cover it ?

      Loss of benefit – this is where the agency’s actions have adversely affected, or may adversely affect, the rights, benefits, privileges, obligations or interests of the individual;

  • They have a complaints page here https://www.revolut.com/en-NZ/legal/complaints-policy/ . On that page there's also contact details for the independent FSCL which is a NZ provider. You can complain to them if you don't get a satisfactory answer from Revolut.

  • When opening account you need to specify your citizenship, then on country of residence specify new Zealand, upload NZ drivers license as proof and you got it. Myself and multiple others I know (non NZ citizens) have opened it this way, and now revolut introduced paid plans just like in Europe, so yay!

    • this is the way! I'm not yet an NZ citizen and got approved with just driver's license.

  • Revolut doesnt even send me the verification text to sign up on their app

    am on on warehouse mobile

    • Revolut doesnt even send me the verification text to sign up on their app

      am on on warehouse mobile

      Revolut might be using a cheapo overseas SMS gateway - many of those don't seem to be able to send an SMS to some NZ numbers.

      Is it an 028 Warehouse Mobile number? If so, I've see that before. No idea if you have the same problem if you port an 021 (say) to WarehouseMobile though.

      • it's 021 number ported to warehouse mobile

        no text, no calls

        • it's 021 number ported to warehouse mobile

          no text, no calls

          I'm guessing you have no trouble receiving calls and SMS from friends and family?

          I've never heard of anyone saying they couldn't get a call through to an 028 (or any other mobile number) for account verification purposes, so that makes me think it might be something specific to Revolut, but no way to really be sure that I can think of.

          • @Alan6984: never encounter this problem before other with Revolut, might try a burner number later for giggles, but i dont have a burning need to get Revolut other than gotta catch em all reasons

            • @justaddwater:

              never encounter this problem before other with Revolut, might try a burner number later for giggles, but i dont have a burning need to get Revolut other than gotta catch em all reasons

              Fair enough - if possible, maybe try with a virgin number from Spark (say), and see if that works.

              • @Alan6984: It worked just now. Not sure what happened before. Guess it's the old 'have you tried rebooting the pc?'

    • Can you try email verification or maybe contact them?
      https://help.revolut.com/en-NZ/help/profile-and-plan/profile…

      • Thank you it works now. Not sure what happened before

  • I honestly had spent all morning and at least 20 attempts to get the verification to work for Revolut.

    Frustrating. Tried both Drivers Licence and Passport and finally the Passport worked. Then had to get the address verified, which i kept sending across but it kept getting rejected with the ID fails. You would think that they would run them separately.

    • I'm at the address verifying stage.

      But it does not seem compulsory? I.e. I don't any missing features if I don't send them my utilities bill? Or am I missingg something?

      • Tbh im not sure, but each time i tried and failed with ID verification, i got a submit address verification email as well. I submitted the proof of address the first time around and subseqeuently so it seems dumb that that would fail as well each time.

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