A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to previously this year. Can I Get A Second Currensea Card Mastercard…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (providing you a low-priced way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing current account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely spend as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is drawn from your bank account– just without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to get, which also helps.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you choose a paid plan, however the complimentary plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or more affordable than the competition
include more and more features which your existing consumers don’t actually require or want
include costs, restrictions or charges to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will hopefully remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Phase 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Can I Get A Second Currensea Card Mastercard
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex charges, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which offer a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you want a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any charges and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a really simple procedure. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, internationally).
Your current account bank immediately verifies that you have enough money in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. adds a 0.5% cost if you have the free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automatic spend notification by means of the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. Without any 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 arranged 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 daytime burglary that is practically to take place (often in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In current years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards Currensea promises big cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I think the best bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of money and the extra step. But that does not mean it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Necessary Plan of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make revenue from our Important Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free quantity on all our strategies, complete information can be found on our rates plans.
Subscription fees.
We charge an annual subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost likewise eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be credited you. Can I Get A Second Currensea Card Mastercard