A brand-new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. Can You Withdraw Money With A Currensea Card…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (using you an affordable way to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good thing.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You merely invest as you would on a typical debit card and the money is taken from your existing account– just without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to request, which likewise assists.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you select a paid plan, but the free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or cheaper than the competition
add increasingly more functions which your existing clients do not actually want or require
add charges, constraints or charges to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Revolut, curve and monzo 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 You Withdraw Money With A Currensea Card
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you don’t require a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX fees are couple of and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which offer a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not wish 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 per month with no costs and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a really basic procedure. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your current account bank instantly confirms that you have enough money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. includes a 0.5% fee if you have the complimentary card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic spend notification by means of the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is taken from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I decided to sprinkle 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 couple of days later on:.
Transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is practically to happen (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Luckily in the last few years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards assures big cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
However I believe the very best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street checking account.
What this suggests is you can invest cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of money and the extra step. That does not mean it is best.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Important Plan of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make profits from our Vital Plan whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary quantity on all our strategies, complete details can be discovered 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 cost also removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we get a little % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Can You Withdraw Money With A Currensea Card