A new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. Can I Use Currensea Card At An Atm…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive method to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is an advantage.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You simply invest as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your present account– just without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to apply for, which also assists.
There are likewise some intriguing travel benefits if you choose a paid strategy, but the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or more affordable than the competition
add a growing number of functions which your existing consumers don’t really want or require
add fees, constraints or charges to the function that made individuals get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Curve, monzo and revolut are currently in Stage 3 …
is simple 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 Use Currensea Card At An Atm
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex fees, then you do not require a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX charges are couple of and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which use a partial service 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 credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to utilize abroad
you want a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any fees and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little 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 travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a very simple process. You utilize 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 automatically confirms that you have adequate 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. If you have the complimentary card, includes a 0.5% cost. There are no charges if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend notification via the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is taken from your current account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I decided to sprinkle out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later:.
However converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is just about to occur (often in a different language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Fortunately in the last few years a handful of great travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards guarantees big savings (85%) and an excellent app.
However I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less stress over running out of cash and the additional step. That does not indicate it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Vital Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make profits from our Essential Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary amount on all our strategies, complete information can be discovered on our prices plans.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership cost also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Can I Use Currensea Card At An Atm