New to the UK > Can your Revolut card improve your credit score?

Can your Revolut card improve your credit score?

Wollit Team2 minute read · Updated 28th July 2024

A Revolut card can be an attractive option for managing finances, especially if you just moved to the UK and are not eligible for a full bank account.

Many other people also use Revolut even if they’re eligible for a full account though, because of its low currency exchange fees, ability to invest inside the app (including in stocks and cryptos), and other bonuses.

Despite these bonuses, simply having a Revolut credit card won’t directly improve your credit score. However, there are ways in which it can contribute to it. Here’s how.

Why doesn’t Revolut directly improve my credit score?

Revolut just recently acquired a banking licence in the UK. It only had a licence to operate as an e-money operator, similar to Monese or Western Union. Until this point, it didn’t even show up on your credit report. You also didn’t need to pass a credit check to open a Revolut account.

Of course, if you opened your Revolut account in the EU and just moved to the UK, then your Revolut account is technically a bank since Revolut does have a banking licence in Europe. However, it still makes no difference for your UK credit file – it’s just an “overseas bank account”.

To understand why a bank or e-money account by itself doesn’t improve your credit score, you need to think about how credit scores work.

A credit score is a numerical representation of your creditworthiness, which lenders use to assess the risk of lending you money. Higher scores indicate better creditworthiness. A good credit score can help you secure loans, mortgages, and credit cards at favourable rates.

Credit scores are calculated based on several factors, including:

How timely you pay your loans and credit card bills.
How much of your credit card limit you use.
How long you’ve had your credit accounts.
How many different kinds of credit (like credit cards, loans, mortgages, mobile phone contracts, etc.) you have.
And how often you make applications for loans.

Revolut is right now a prepaid card, and once its licence is confirmed it will become a debit card. But it’s not a credit card yet, and it also doesn’t offer overdraft or personal loans – these are only available for Revolut customers living in Poland, Lithuania, Ireland, Romania, and Spain.

Because of this, a Revolut card doesn’t directly affect your credit score.

How could a Revolut card improve my credit score indirectly?

A Revolut card could indirectly improve your credit score in three ways:

By giving you a basic prepaid card, you will now have a bank account in which to receive a salary and pay bills. As you spend more time in the UK and establish a credit file, you can use Revolut statements to prove your address and open actual credit accounts, like mobile phone contracts or utility bills.
Having a Revolut card now will also fast-track you for the full Revolut bank account once its licence application is completed.
Revolut also has a very useful feature that tells you about upcoming payments. This can be crucial to make sure you have enough money to pay bills, direct debits, and to make sure that you don’t miss any payments on potential credit accounts.

In other words, a Revolut card can be an affordable and easy to use entry-level account in the UK.

However, to truly establish your credit score, you will need to open credit accounts and to make timely payments on them.

Here are some options:

Get a mobile phone contract (especially one that comes with a premium phone). If you’re new to the UK, this will likely be your first credit agreement.
Get some utility bills in your name.
Consider downloading a credit-building app like Wollit.

Wollit is an app that reports your monthly subscription as loan repayment to the credit reference agencies, helping you build your credit history and potentially improving your credit score. On top of this, Wollit can also report your monthly rent payment to Experian, adding another line in your credit report that shows lenders you're responsible and pay your bills on time. Eventually, this will give you access to the credit products you need, like credit cards, loans, and mortgages.