A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. How To Load Money Into Currensea Card…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (using you a low-cost method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good idea.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing current account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply spend as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your bank account– just without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to request, which also assists.
There are likewise some interesting travel advantages if you select a paid plan, however the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or less expensive than the competitors
include more and more functions which your existing customers don’t really want or need
include constraints, fees or charges to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Revolut, curve and monzo are already in Phase 3 …
is simple 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 To Load Money Into Currensea Card
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX fees are couple of and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which offer a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you desire a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no fees and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, an extremely 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, worldwide).
Your current account bank automatically confirms that you have sufficient money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the complimentary card, includes a 0.5% fee. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automated spend notice via the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, 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 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 happen (often in a different language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion fees taking place in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Thankfully recently a handful of great travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards promises huge cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
However I believe the very best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less stress over running out of cash and the additional step. But that does not indicate it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Vital Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make income from our Necessary Plan whilst remaining much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary quantity on all our plans, complete information can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Membership costs.
We charge a yearly membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription charge also removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you spend 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 To Load Money Into Currensea Card