A new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Money Transfer…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-cost way to invest 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 just spend as you would on a regular debit card and the money is taken from your existing account– simply without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to request, which also helps.
There are likewise some fascinating travel advantages if you select a paid strategy, but the totally free plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or less expensive than the competitors
add a growing number of features which your existing clients do not truly want or need
add charges, restrictions or fees to the function that made people get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will ideally remain there. Revolut, monzo and curve are already 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 Money Transfer
It is a 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% charge.
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 do not require a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX costs are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which use a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to use abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any charges and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, 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, globally).
Your current account bank instantly validates that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. adds a 0.5% charge if you have the complimentary card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic invest notification via the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank 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 shows �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
However converting pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is practically to happen (often in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion fees happening in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Fortunately recently a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards guarantees huge savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I believe the best bit may be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can spend money you have in your existing current account with less worry about lacking money and the additional action. However that does not imply it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation 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 small FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make income from our Vital Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary amount on all our strategies, full information can be discovered on our prices plans.
Membership charges.
We charge an annual subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost also gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we get a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea Money Transfer