A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to previously this year. Can Someone Send Money To My Currensea Card…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (using you a low-cost way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good thing.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing bank account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You just spend as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is drawn from your bank account– just without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is totally free to apply for, which also assists.
There are also some fascinating travel advantages if you pick a paid plan, but the totally free plan works fine. You can use here.
There is an organization design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or more affordable than the competition
add increasingly more features which your existing consumers do not actually want or need
include fees, charges or constraints to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will ideally stay there. Revolut, monzo and curve are already in Phase 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Can Someone Send Money To My Currensea Card
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex charges, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX costs are few and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which use a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no charges and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a very 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, worldwide).
Your bank account bank immediately verifies that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the totally free card, adds a 0.5% charge. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automatic spend notice by means of the app, if you choose 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 diary, I chose to splash out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 arranged to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
But transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is almost to take place (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion fees taking place in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Fortunately in recent years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards assures big cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I believe the finest bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can spend money you have in your existing current account with less fret about running out of money and the additional action. That does not mean it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Plan of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make income from our Necessary Strategy whilst remaining more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary amount on all our strategies, full information can be found on our rates strategies.
Subscription charges.
We charge an annual membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription cost likewise removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we get a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be credited you. Can Someone Send Money To My Currensea Card