A brand-new fintech company which I was introduced to previously this year. How Does Currensea Make Money…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (providing you an inexpensive method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is an advantage.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing bank account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply spend as you would on a typical debit card and the money is taken from your bank account– simply without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to get, which also helps.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you pick a paid strategy, however the complimentary plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or less expensive than the competition
include a growing number of functions which your existing customers don’t actually desire or need
add limitations, charges or fees to the function that made individuals get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will hopefully stay there. Curve, monzo and revolut are already in Phase 3 …
is basic 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? How Does Currensea Make Money
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex charges, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX costs are rare. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which use a partial option 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 impact your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to utilize abroad
you desire an item 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 cost beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a very 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 bank account bank instantly confirms that you have sufficient 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. includes a 0.5% charge if you have the complimentary card. There are no fees if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend notification through the app, if you select to install it.
The money is taken from your current account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I chose to splash 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 couple of days later:.
However transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is almost to take place (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion charges happening in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Fortunately in the last few years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards assures big cost savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
I think the best bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can spend money you have in your existing current account with less fret about running out of money and the extra step. But that does not mean it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Necessary Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make earnings from our Essential Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary amount on all our plans, full information can be found on our rates strategies.
Membership costs.
We charge a yearly membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership fee also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. How Does Currensea Make Money