A brand-new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. Can You Rent A Car With Currensea Card…
It has actually won a few awards over current months for what it does (offering you a low-cost method to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, effectively, 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 typical debit card and the cash is drawn from your current account– simply without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is totally free to look for, which also helps.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you choose a paid strategy, but the complimentary plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competition
add a growing number of functions which your existing clients do not really desire or require
add fees, limitations or charges to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Monzo, curve and revolut are already in Stage 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Can You Rent A Car With Currensea Card
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly 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 wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex fees, then you do not need a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX charges are couple of and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which offer a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no charges and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, an extremely 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, globally).
Your bank account bank automatically verifies that you have sufficient money in your account and authorises the transaction.
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 charges.
You get an automated spend notice by means of the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is drawn from your current account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I chose to splash out and purchase 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 couple of days later on:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is just about to happen (often in a various language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Luckily over the last few years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards assures big savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I believe the finest bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can spend money you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of money and the extra action. However that does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Vital Strategy of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make profits from our Important Plan 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 free quantity on all our plans, full information can be found on our rates strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge an annual membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership charge also removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be credited you. Can You Rent A Car With Currensea Card