A brand-new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Vs Post Office…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing current account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely spend as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is drawn from your current account– just without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to obtain, which also assists.
There are likewise some fascinating travel benefits if you select a paid strategy, but the free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or cheaper than the competitors
add increasingly more functions which your existing customers do not actually need or desire
add charges, costs or limitations to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will hopefully remain there. Monzo, curve and revolut are already in Phase 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Vs Post Office
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex fees, then you do not require a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which offer rewards and charge 0% FX costs are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which offer 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 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 monthly without any charges and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a really easy process. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, globally).
Your current account bank immediately confirms that you have enough money 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 totally free card, includes a 0.5% charge. There are no costs 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 diary, I chose 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:.
Transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is practically to take place (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion charges happening in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Luckily over the last few years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards assures big cost savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of cash and the extra action. But that does not mean it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the great, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Important Plan of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make profits from our Vital Strategy whilst remaining more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary quantity on all our strategies, full information can be found on our prices strategies.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership fee also removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea Vs Post Office