A brand-new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Money Saving Expert Currensea Card…
It has actually won a few awards over current months for what it does (providing you an affordable way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic 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 bank account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply spend as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is drawn from your bank account– simply without the typical 3% charge.
Oh, and is totally free to request, which likewise helps.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you pick a paid strategy, but the complimentary plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competitors
include a growing number of features which your existing clients don’t actually desire or need
include charges, limitations or charges to the function that made people get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Revolut, monzo and curve are currently in Phase 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Money Saving Expert Currensea Card
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex fees, then you do not need a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX fees are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices 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 charges and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you want an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no costs and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a little cost beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, an extremely simple process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your current account bank instantly validates that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. adds a 0.5% charge if you have the complimentary card. There are no fees if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automated invest notice via the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank 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 shows �,� 4.33 arranged to leave my HSBC account a few 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 almost to occur (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion charges happening in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In recent years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards Currensea guarantees huge cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
However I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street savings account.
What this suggests is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less fret about running out of cash and the additional step. That does not imply it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make earnings from our Necessary Plan whilst staying more affordable 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, full details can be found on our prices strategies.
Membership costs.
We charge an annual membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription fee also removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we get a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Money Saving Expert Currensea Card