A new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Using My Currensea Card Abroad…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (using you an affordable method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, 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 just spend as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your bank account– just without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to obtain, which also assists.
There are likewise some fascinating travel benefits if you pick a paid plan, however the totally free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is an organization design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or less expensive than the competitors
add increasingly more features which your existing consumers do not actually require or desire
include constraints, charges or charges to the function that made individuals get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Revolut, curve and monzo are currently in Phase 3 …
is basic 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 My Currensea Card Abroad
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately 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 company miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex costs, then you do not need a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX fees are few and far in between. The only ‘miles and points’ 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 do not have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use 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 small fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a very easy process. 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 bank account bank instantly confirms that you have enough money in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. includes a 0.5% cost if you have the free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automated invest notice by means of 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. With no foreign travel in the diary, I chose to sprinkle out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
However converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is just about to happen (often in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In current years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea assures huge savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
I think the best bit may be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can spend money you have in your existing current account with less worry about lacking cash and the extra action. However that does not indicate it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Vital Plan of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make revenue from our Important Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free amount on all our strategies, full information can be found on our prices strategies.
Membership charges.
We charge a yearly membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription fee likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we get a small % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Using My Currensea Card Abroad