A new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. Using Currensea Abroad…
It has 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 simple as hell. This is a good thing.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing current account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You just invest as you would on a regular debit card and the money is taken from your bank account– just without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to look for, which also helps.
There are also some fascinating travel advantages if you select a paid strategy, but the totally free plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or more affordable than the competition
include more and more functions which your existing clients don’t truly desire or need
add charges, charges or constraints to the function that made individuals get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are already in Phase 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Using Currensea Abroad
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, charge card which provide rewards and charge 0% FX charges are rare. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which provide a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you want a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a really easy process. You utilize 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 immediately confirms that you have sufficient cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the totally free card, adds a 0.5% cost. There are no costs if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automated invest alert via the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is taken from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. Without any 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 set up to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
Converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is almost to happen (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In current years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards Currensea guarantees big 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 bank account.
What this implies is you can invest cash you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking money and the additional action. But that does not mean it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the great, 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 Necessary Strategy of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make earnings from our Necessary Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary amount on all our strategies, complete information can be discovered on our rates plans.
Membership costs.
We charge a yearly subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription fee likewise eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we get a little % of the deal, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be credited you. Using Currensea Abroad