A brand-new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. Credit Card Currensea…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (offering you a low-cost method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is an advantage.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing current account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely spend as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your bank account– simply without the normal 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to get, which likewise assists.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you select a paid strategy, but the free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or cheaper than the competitors
add increasingly more features which your existing customers do not truly need or want
add constraints, charges or fees to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will ideally stay there. Revolut, curve and monzo are already in Stage 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Credit Card Currensea
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex fees, then you do not require a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, charge card which provide rewards and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which offer 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 credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you want a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no fees and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a really simple procedure. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your current account bank instantly verifies 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. If you have the free card, includes a 0.5% charge. There are no costs if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automated invest alert through the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is taken from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. With no 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 shows �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
Converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is just about to take place (often in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion costs happening in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In recent years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards Currensea promises huge savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I believe the finest bit may be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less fret about running out of money and the extra action. However that does not suggest it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Important Plan of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make earnings from our Necessary Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free amount on all our strategies, full details can be discovered on our prices strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge an annual subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership cost likewise eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Credit Card Currensea