A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. How To Add Money To Currensea Card…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (offering you a low-priced method to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing current account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply invest as you would on a regular debit card and the money is drawn from your current account– just without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to apply for, which also assists.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, but the totally free plan works fine. You can use here.
There is an organization model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competition
add a growing number of functions which your existing consumers don’t really need or want
include costs, limitations or charges to the function that made individuals get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will ideally remain there. Curve, monzo and revolut are already 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 To Add Money To Currensea Card
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you do not need a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX costs are couple of and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which provide a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to use abroad
you desire a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no fees and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, an extremely basic procedure. 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 current account bank automatically confirms that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the totally free card, includes a 0.5% charge. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automated invest alert through the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is taken from your current account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I decided 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 expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is just about to take place (often in a different language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Luckily over the last few years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards promises big cost savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of cash and the extra step. However that does not suggest it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the unsightly and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Plan of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make profits from our Important Plan whilst remaining more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free amount on all our strategies, complete information can be discovered on our prices plans.
Membership costs.
We charge a yearly subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription cost also eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we receive a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be charged to you. How To Add Money To Currensea Card