A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Can I Have More Than One Currensea Card…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an affordable method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is an advantage.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing current account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You just spend as you would on a normal debit card and the money is drawn from your current account– just without the normal 3% charge.
Oh, and is totally free to obtain, which also helps.
There are also some fascinating travel advantages if you select a paid strategy, however the totally free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competitors
add increasingly more features which your existing consumers do not truly want or require
include restrictions, costs or charges to the function that made people get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Monzo, curve and revolut are currently in Phase 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? Can I Have More Than One Currensea Card
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you don’t require a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, charge card which offer rewards and charge 0% FX costs are rare. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which provide a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you desire an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no fees and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire 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 conserve them cash when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a really easy process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, internationally).
Your bank account bank automatically confirms that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. includes a 0.5% cost if you have the totally free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automated invest notice via the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I decided to splash 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 few days later:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is almost to occur (often in a various language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Fortunately in the last few years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards assures huge cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can invest money you have in your existing current account with less worry about lacking cash and the extra step. That does not indicate it is perfect.
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 nominal FX markup on our Important Plan of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make earnings from our Essential Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free quantity on all our strategies, full details can be discovered on our prices strategies.
Membership costs.
We charge a yearly subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription charge likewise eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we get a little % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Can I Have More Than One Currensea Card