A brand-new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Add New Card To Currensea…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an affordable method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is an advantage.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You just invest as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your present account– simply without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to request, which also helps.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you pick a paid strategy, but the complimentary plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or less expensive than the competitors
include increasingly more functions which your existing clients don’t actually want or need
include restrictions, charges or costs to the function that made people get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will ideally stay there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Add New Card To Currensea
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex fees, then you do not need a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX costs are couple of and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ options which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to use abroad
you want a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no fees and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a very basic process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, globally).
Your bank account bank immediately validates that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. includes a 0.5% fee if you have the complimentary card. There are no fees if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic invest notification by means of the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is taken from your current account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I chose to sprinkle out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later:.
Converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is just about to occur (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion fees happening in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Thankfully over the last few years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards assures big savings (85%) and a great app.
I believe the finest bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can spend money you have in your existing current account with less stress over lacking cash and the extra step. But that does not indicate it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the great, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make revenue from our Vital Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary amount on all our strategies, full information can be discovered on our prices plans.
Subscription charges.
We charge a yearly membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription fee also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Add New Card To Currensea