A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. How To Add Card To Currensea…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (using you a low-priced way to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You just spend as you would on a regular debit card and the money is taken from your existing account– just without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to obtain, which also assists.
There are also some fascinating travel benefits if you select a paid plan, but the free strategy 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 something well, and for free or more affordable than the competitors
include a growing number of functions which your existing clients do not truly want or need
include charges, costs or restrictions to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully stay there. Revolut, monzo and curve are already in Stage 3 …
is basic 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? How To Add Card To Currensea
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex charges, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX charges are couple of and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which use a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you want an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no fees and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a very simple procedure. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, internationally).
Your bank account bank immediately 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. adds a 0.5% fee if you have the free card. There are no costs if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automated invest notification through the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is taken from your current account a few days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I decided to splash out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later:.
However transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight burglary that is practically to take place (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion charges happening in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Fortunately in the last few years a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards assures huge cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
But I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street savings account.
What this suggests is you can spend money you have in your existing current account with less fret about running out of cash and the extra step. That does not mean it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make revenue from our Essential 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 strategies, full details can be found on our prices strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge an annual subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription fee also removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a small % of the deal, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be credited you. How To Add Card To Currensea