A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to previously this year. Currensea Maximum Card Payment…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an affordable way to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You just invest as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– just without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to get, which also helps.
There are likewise some intriguing travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, but the free plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or cheaper than the competitors
include a growing number of features which your existing clients don’t really need or desire
add limitations, charges or charges to the feature that made individuals get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will ideally stay there. Monzo, curve and revolut are currently in Stage 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Maximum Card Payment
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex fees, then you don’t require a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which use a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to utilize abroad
you desire a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little cost beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a very basic process. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, internationally).
Your current account bank instantly verifies that you have enough 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% fee if you have the complimentary card. There are no charges if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic invest notification through the app, if you select to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a few days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I decided to splash out and purchase 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 couple of days later:.
Transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is almost to occur (often in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards Currensea guarantees big savings (85%) and a great app.
But I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street checking account.
What this implies is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less stress over running out of cash and the additional step. That does not indicate it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Essential Plan of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make earnings from our Important 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 totally free amount on all our plans, complete details can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Subscription charges.
We charge a yearly subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership cost also removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a small % of the deal, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Currensea Maximum Card Payment