A new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. How To Use The Currensea Card…
It has actually won a few awards over current months for what it does (providing you a low-cost 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 in between you and your existing current account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely invest as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– simply without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to make an application for, which also helps.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or less expensive than the competition
include increasingly more features which your existing consumers do not actually need or desire
add costs, limitations or charges to the function that made individuals 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. Curve, monzo and revolut are currently in Stage 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? How To Use The Currensea Card
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX fees are rare. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which provide a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no costs and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a very easy 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 current account bank instantly validates that you have sufficient cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the free card, includes a 0.5% fee. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automatic spend notification by means of the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a few days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I decided to sprinkle out and buy 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:.
But transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is practically to happen (often in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Luckily over the last few years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards assures big savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I believe the best bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can spend money you have in your existing current account with less worry about lacking cash and the additional step. But that does not suggest it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the unsightly 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 Important Plan of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make income from our Necessary Strategy whilst remaining more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free quantity on all our plans, complete details can be found on our rates plans.
Subscription charges.
We charge an annual membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership cost likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we get a small % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be credited you. How To Use The Currensea Card