A brand-new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea Business…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing 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 in between you and your existing bank account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely invest as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is taken from your bank account– just without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to make an application for, which also assists.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you select a paid plan, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is an organization design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or more affordable than the competition
include more and more features which your existing customers do not actually need or desire
add costs, charges or constraints to the function that made individuals get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will hopefully stay there. Monzo, curve and revolut are currently in Phase 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Business
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn 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 charges, then you do not need a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX charges are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ options which offer a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS potentially 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 credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no fees and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, 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 automatically confirms 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 upon the currency. includes a 0.5% fee if you have the free card. There are no costs if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automated spend notification by means of the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is drawn from your current account a couple of 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 reveals �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
However transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is almost to occur (often in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs happening in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards Currensea assures huge savings (85%) and a terrific app.
However I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street checking account.
What this indicates is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less fret about running out of money and the extra step. However that does not imply it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Necessary Plan of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make income from our Important Plan whilst remaining more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free amount on all our strategies, complete details can be found on our pricing plans.
Membership fees.
We charge a yearly membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership fee likewise removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea Business