A brand-new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. How Can You Use Currensea Card Abroad…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an inexpensive way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You just spend as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your existing account– just without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to look for, which also helps.
There are likewise some interesting travel advantages if you choose a paid strategy, however the totally free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competitors
include more and more functions which your existing clients do not truly want or require
include costs, limitations or charges to the feature 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 hopefully stay there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Stage 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? How Can You Use Currensea Card Abroad
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing bank 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 want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which offer rewards and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which use a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anyone 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 said previously, an extremely basic process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your current account bank automatically verifies that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. adds a 0.5% cost if you have the totally free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automated spend alert via the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a few days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I decided to sprinkle out and buy 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:.
But converting pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is almost to take place (often in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In current years a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea promises big savings (85%) and a terrific app.
But I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less stress over running out of money and the additional step. That does not mean it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Vital Strategy of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make profits from our Necessary Strategy whilst remaining more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free quantity on all our strategies, full details can be found on our rates plans.
Membership fees.
We charge a yearly membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership charge likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we get a small % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. How Can You Use Currensea Card Abroad