A new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. What Currencies Can I Use My Currensea Card With…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (providing you an affordable method to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You merely invest as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your existing account– simply without the typical 3% charge.
Oh, and is totally free to get, which likewise assists.
There are also some fascinating travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, however the free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or less expensive than the competition
add a growing number of functions which your existing clients do not truly want or need
include charges, limitations or costs to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will ideally remain there. Revolut, curve and monzo are currently in Stage 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? What Currencies Can I Use My Currensea Card With
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for utilizing 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 free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, charge card which use benefits and charge 0% FX fees are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which use a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you want a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any fees and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a very simple procedure. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, internationally).
Your bank account bank instantly validates that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. includes a 0.5% charge if you have the free card. There are no costs if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend notification via the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I decided to sprinkle 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 few days later on:.
Converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is almost to take place (often in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of great travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea assures big savings (85%) and a great app.
But I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street savings account.
What this implies is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less stress over running out of cash and the extra step. That does not mean it is best.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the unsightly 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 Vital Plan of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make income from our Vital Strategy whilst remaining more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary quantity on all our strategies, full details can be found on our rates strategies.
Membership costs.
We charge an annual membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership cost also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we get a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. What Currencies Can I Use My Currensea Card With