A new fintech business which I was presented to previously this year. Order Currensea Card For Free…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive method to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good idea.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You merely spend as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your existing account– just without the normal 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to make an application for, which also assists.
There are also some interesting travel benefits if you choose a paid strategy, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or less expensive than the competition
include increasingly more functions which your existing clients don’t really need or desire
include fees, limitations or charges to the function that made people get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this process and will hopefully remain there. Monzo, curve and revolut are already in Phase 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Order Currensea Card For Free
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex charges, then you do not need a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which offer rewards and charge 0% FX costs are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which use a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no fees and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs an easy, 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 basic process. 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 instantly verifies that you have sufficient cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. includes a 0.5% cost if you have the totally free card. There are no costs if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automatic invest alert via the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I chose to sprinkle 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 couple of days later:.
Transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is just about to occur (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion fees happening in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Fortunately in recent years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards assures big savings (85%) and a great app.
I think the finest bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less stress over lacking money and the extra action. But that does not imply it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the unsightly and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Vital Strategy of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make profits from our Necessary Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free quantity on all our plans, full details can be found on our pricing strategies.
Membership charges.
We charge an annual subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription charge likewise eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a small % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Order Currensea Card For Free