A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Elite Currensea Promo…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (providing you a low-priced method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is an advantage.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing current account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply spend as you would on a regular debit card and the money is drawn from your current account– simply without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to get, which also assists.
There are likewise some intriguing travel advantages if you select a paid strategy, however the complimentary plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a service model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or less expensive than the competition
include more and more features which your existing consumers don’t actually require or desire
include restrictions, charges or charges to the function that made individuals get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Curve, monzo and revolut are already in Stage 3 …
is simple 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? Elite Currensea Promo
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex fees, then you don’t need a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, charge card which offer rewards and charge 0% FX costs are scarce. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which use a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a very basic process. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your bank account bank instantly validates 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 complimentary card, includes a 0.5% cost. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automated invest notification by means of the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is taken from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I chose 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 on:.
However transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is almost to happen (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion fees happening in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Luckily recently a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards guarantees huge cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
However I think the very best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can invest cash you have in your existing bank account with less stress over lacking cash and the additional action. However that does not imply it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the awful and the options, 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 deal, enabling us to make income from our Essential Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free quantity on all our plans, complete details can be discovered on our prices strategies.
Subscription charges.
We charge an annual subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost also removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we get a small % of the deal, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Elite Currensea Promo