A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to previously this year. How To Top Up Your Currensea Card…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you a low-priced way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good thing.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You simply invest as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your current account– simply without the usual 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to look for, which also helps.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you choose a paid strategy, however the free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or less expensive than the competitors
add a growing number of features which your existing customers don’t truly desire or need
include fees, charges or constraints to the function that made people get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will hopefully stay there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Stage 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? How To Top Up Your Currensea Card
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately charges 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 company miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you don’t require a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX fees are few and far in between. The only ‘miles and points’ options which provide a partial service 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 charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to use abroad
you desire an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any costs and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a really simple procedure. 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 validates that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the totally free card, includes a 0.5% fee. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automated spend notice by means of the app, if you pick 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 buy 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 few days later on:.
But converting pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is almost to happen (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Thankfully over the last few years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards assures big savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I believe the finest bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can invest cash you have in your existing bank account with less stress over running out of cash and the additional action. But that does not suggest it is best.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Vital Plan of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make income from our Important Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary amount on all our strategies, full information can be discovered on our rates strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge an annual membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership charge also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time 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 Top Up Your Currensea Card