A brand-new fintech company which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Card Advantages…
It has actually won a couple of awards over current 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 idea.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You simply spend as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your present account– simply without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to get, which also helps.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you pick a paid strategy, but the free 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 something well, and for free or more affordable than the competition
add increasingly more features which your existing consumers do not actually desire or need
add charges, charges or restrictions to the function that made individuals get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will ideally remain there. Monzo, curve and revolut are currently in Stage 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? Currensea Card Advantages
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing bank 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 charge card offering 0% foreign exchange fees, then you do not require a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX costs are couple of and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ options which offer a partial solution 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 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 enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any fees and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a very basic procedure. You utilize 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 automatically verifies that you have sufficient cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. adds a 0.5% fee if you have the complimentary 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 money is drawn from your current account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I decided to splash out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later:.
Transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is just about to take place (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards Currensea guarantees big savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can invest cash you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking money and the extra step. However that does not mean it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Important Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make revenue from our Essential Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free quantity on all our strategies, complete information can be discovered on our pricing strategies.
Subscription fees.
We charge an annual membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a small % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Currensea Card Advantages