A new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Is The Currensea Travel Card Any Good…
It has actually won a few awards over current months for what it does (offering you an affordable way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good thing.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You merely spend as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– just without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is totally free to get, which likewise helps.
There are also some fascinating travel advantages if you choose a paid strategy, but the free plan works fine. You can use here.
There is an organization design 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 a growing number of features which your existing clients do not really desire or require
add charges, limitations or charges to the function that made people get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will ideally stay there. Curve, monzo and revolut are already in Stage 3 …
is easy 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? Is The Currensea Travel Card Any Good
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make 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% forex charges, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX costs are couple of and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ choices 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 don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you want a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no fees and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a little cost beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a very 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 automatically confirms 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 upon the currency. adds a 0.5% fee if you have the totally free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automated invest notification via the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is taken from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I chose to splash out and buy 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:.
Converting pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is almost to occur (often in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion costs taking place in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Luckily in recent years a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards guarantees big cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I think the best bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can invest cash you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking money and the extra action. But that does not mean it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can choose.
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, enabling us to make profits from our Essential Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary amount on all our plans, complete information can be discovered on our rates plans.
Subscription fees.
We charge an annual subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription charge also removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we get a small % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Is The Currensea Travel Card Any Good