A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Card Where Can You Use…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (using you an affordable method to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is an advantage.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You merely spend as you would on a typical debit card and the money is taken from your current account– simply without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to apply for, which also assists.
There are likewise some interesting travel benefits if you pick a paid plan, but the complimentary strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or less expensive than the competitors
add a growing number of features which your existing clients don’t truly want or need
include charges, fees or restrictions to the function that made people get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will ideally remain there. Revolut, curve and monzo are currently in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Card Where Can You Use
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 small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline 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 don’t require a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX fees are couple of and far in between. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which use a partial option 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 charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any fees and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item 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 taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, an extremely basic 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 automatically verifies that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the complimentary card, adds a 0.5% cost. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automated spend notice through the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I chose to splash out and buy 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 couple of days later on:.
Converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is just about to happen (often in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Luckily over the last few years a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards promises big savings (85%) and a great app.
But I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street checking account.
What this implies is you can spend money you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of money and the extra step. But that does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make income from our Vital Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise 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 costs.
We charge a yearly subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we receive a small % of the deal, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea Card Where Can You Use