A new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. What Currency Is My Currensea Card…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive way to spend 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. You just invest as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your present account– simply without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to make an application for, which also helps.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you choose a paid strategy, however the free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or more affordable than the competitors
include more and more features which your existing consumers don’t truly require or want
add charges, restrictions or charges to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Curve, monzo and revolut are already in Stage 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? What Currency Is My Currensea Card
It is a complimentary 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 don’t (yet …) earn 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 fees, then you do not require a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, charge card which offer rewards and charge 0% FX fees are rare. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which use a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to utilize abroad
you desire an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any fees and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who requires 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 basic procedure. You utilize 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 immediately 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. adds a 0.5% fee if you have the complimentary card. There are no charges if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend notice by means of the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I chose to splash out and buy 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 couple of days later:.
Converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is just about to take place (often in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs happening 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 actually popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards Currensea promises huge cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I think the finest bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less stress over running out of cash and the extra step. That does not imply it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Important Strategy of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make profits from our Important Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free quantity on all our plans, complete details can be discovered on our prices strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge a yearly subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership charge likewise removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we get a little % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. What Currency Is My Currensea Card