A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea Apply For Card…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good thing.
is, efficiently, 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 merely invest as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is drawn from your current account– simply without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is totally free to look for, which also assists.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you select a paid strategy, however the free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or cheaper than the competition
add more and more functions which your existing consumers don’t really need or desire
add charges, limitations or fees to the function that made people 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 Phase 3 …
is simple 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? Currensea Apply For Card
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you do not need a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX costs are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which provide a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges 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 affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no costs and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, parents, 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 said earlier, a really easy process. You use 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 instantly verifies that you have enough 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. If you have the free card, adds a 0.5% cost. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automatic spend notice by means of the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, 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 arranged to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
Transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is practically to occur (often in a various language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion fees happening in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards Currensea guarantees huge cost savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
But I think the very best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street checking account.
What this suggests is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking money and the extra action. But that does not suggest it is perfect.
In this Currensea review 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 Vital Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make earnings from our Essential Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free quantity on all our strategies, full information can be discovered on our pricing strategies.
Membership costs.
We charge an annual membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription charge also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we get a small % of the deal, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea Apply For Card