Beware: I was charged “cash advance fee” for Revolut top up

UPDATE 5 AUG: Received an SMS from HSBC that my (cash advance fee) waiver request is successful.

Revolut has been in my list of the best cards in Singapore since its launch last year. This is because it offers free cash withdrawal from ATMs overseas.

I have been using my HSBC Revolution for Revolut top ups as it used to earn 2 MPD for amounts up to $200 a month. Although HSBC does not reward points for e-wallet top ups since 1 July 2020, I kept using it out of convenience as it is the only card saved in my Revolut account.

Upon checking the latest transactions on my HSBC card, I found that there is a “cash advance fee” of $15 charged to my card. As I did not have any other transactions on this card besides Revolut top-ups, I knew that this must be the reason why and probably caused by an MCC change.

So, I called HSBC and true enough, Revolut top ups are now seen as MCC 4829 – Wire Transfer Money Orders. Before this change, it was seen as MCC 6012 – Member Financial Institution Merchandise And Services and I was never charged cash advance fees. My latest top-up was on 28 July and the one before that (before MCC change) was on 15 July.

Refund requests

The HSBC phone operator was very firm on the fact that this fee cannot be refunded. Upon checking on the MCC codes of my Revolut transactions over the past few months, she acknowledged that it is unfair that I am being charged this amount even though the bank has no control over the MCC code of the merchant. She offered to raise this issue to the relevant department for the possibility of a refund.

I then went on to start a chat with Revolut (via the app) to check on this matter and attached a screenshot of my latest transactions on my HSBC card. The refund was issued within a minute. When asked about the MCC change, the customer service officer mentioned that “relevant teams are looking into this and trying to resolve”.

What now for Revolut?

The guys in Revolut’s unofficial Telegram channel shared some data points on this matter. It seems like cash advance fees are not charged by local banks like POSB/DBS, OCBC and UOB for Revolut top ups. I will be using a card from these banks for future top ups and will be providing further updates if necessary.

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