A new fintech company which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Promo…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-priced way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is an advantage.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You simply invest as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– just without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to obtain, which also assists.
There are likewise some intriguing travel advantages if you choose a paid plan, however the complimentary strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or cheaper than the competition
add more and more features which your existing customers don’t really need or want
include charges, fees or restrictions to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Revolut, monzo and curve are already in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Promo
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex costs, then you do not require a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX charges are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ options 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 don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to use abroad
you want a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any fees and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, parents, 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 operate in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a really simple process. 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 verifies that you have sufficient money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the free card, adds a 0.5% fee. There are no costs if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automated spend alert through the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I decided to splash out and buy 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:.
But converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight burglary that is practically to take place (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion fees taking place in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In recent years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards Currensea promises huge cost 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 savings account.
What this implies is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less fret about running out of cash and the extra action. However that does not imply it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Vital Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make income from our Important Strategy whilst remaining more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free amount on all our plans, full details can be found on our prices plans.
Membership charges.
We charge a yearly membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription cost also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we get a little % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Currensea Promo