A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea Linkedin…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You merely spend as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is taken from your present account– just without the typical 3% charge.
Oh, and is totally free to request, which also helps.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you select a paid strategy, however the complimentary strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or cheaper than the competitors
add a growing number of features which your existing consumers don’t truly need or want
add constraints, charges or charges to the function that made individuals get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will ideally remain there. Curve, monzo and revolut are currently in Phase 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Linkedin
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex fees, then you don’t need a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which offer rewards and charge 0% FX costs are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which use a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to use abroad
you want a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month 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 anybody else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, an extremely simple process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your bank account bank immediately confirms that you have sufficient money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. adds a 0.5% charge if you have the free card. There are no fees if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic invest alert through the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a few 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 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
But converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is almost to occur (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion fees taking place in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Thankfully in recent years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards guarantees big savings (85%) and a great app.
But I believe the very best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street savings account.
What this implies is you can invest money you have in your existing current account with less fret about running out of cash and the additional step. That does not mean it is best.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, 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, allowing us to make profits from our Important Plan whilst remaining more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free amount on all our strategies, complete details can be found on our prices plans.
Subscription charges.
We charge a yearly subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership charge likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we receive a little % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea Linkedin