A new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea Free Card…
It has actually won a few awards over current months for what it does (providing you a low-priced method to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good idea.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You just spend as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your existing account– simply without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to get, which also assists.
There are also some fascinating travel advantages if you select a paid plan, 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 free of charge or cheaper than the competition
add more and more functions which your existing customers don’t really desire or need
add charges, charges or constraints to the function that made people get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will ideally remain there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are currently in Phase 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Free Card
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% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, charge card which use rewards and charge 0% FX costs are rare. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which offer a partial service 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 wish to impact your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to use abroad
you want a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any fees and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a very 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, internationally).
Your current account bank instantly verifies that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the free card, includes a 0.5% charge. There are no fees if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend notice via the app, if you select to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no 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 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
However transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is practically to take place (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Fortunately in the last few years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards promises huge savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I believe the finest bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about lacking cash and the additional step. But that does not mean it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the unsightly 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 Vital Strategy of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make revenue from our Necessary Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary amount on all our plans, complete information can be found on our pricing strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge a yearly membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership charge also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Currensea Free Card