A new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. Does Currensea Card Work In Peru…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good idea.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You just spend as you would on a typical debit card and the money is taken from your current account– just without the normal 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to apply for, which also helps.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you select a paid plan, 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 increasingly more functions which your existing clients don’t truly desire or need
include charges, costs or restrictions to the function that made people get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are already in Stage 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? Does Currensea Card Work In Peru
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex charges, then you do not require a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which offer rewards and charge 0% FX fees are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you want a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any charges and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who requires an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said 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 bank account bank automatically confirms that you have sufficient cash 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% cost. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automatic spend notice via the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is taken from your current account a few days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I chose to sprinkle 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:.
Converting pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is practically to happen (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion fees happening in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of great travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards Currensea assures big cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
But I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about lacking cash and the additional action. That does not suggest it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Vital Plan of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make revenue from our Vital Plan 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 free amount on all our plans, complete details can be found on our prices plans.
Subscription costs.
We charge a yearly subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription fee also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we get a small % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Does Currensea Card Work In Peru