A brand-new fintech company which I was introduced to previously this year. How To Get A Physical Currensea Card…
It has actually won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You simply spend as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your existing account– simply without the normal 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to apply for, which also helps.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, however the totally free plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or less expensive than the competitors
include more and more features which your existing consumers don’t actually want or need
add restrictions, charges or charges to the function that made people get your product in the first place, eliminating 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 easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? How To Get A Physical Currensea Card
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing bank 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 charge card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you do not need a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which provide a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to utilize abroad
you want a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any charges and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs 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 really simple process. You use 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 automatically verifies that you have sufficient money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the free card, adds a 0.5% fee. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic spend alert by means of the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is taken from your current account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I chose to sprinkle out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 arranged to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is practically to occur (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Thankfully in the last few years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards promises huge cost savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
But I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street checking account.
What this indicates is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less stress over running out of cash and the additional step. However that does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Essential Plan of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make income from our Essential Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary quantity on all our plans, full details can be discovered on our prices plans.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership cost likewise removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we get a small % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. How To Get A Physical Currensea Card