A brand-new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. What Is A Currensea Card Ireland…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an inexpensive way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good idea.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You merely invest as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is taken from your existing account– simply without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to get, which also assists.
There are likewise some interesting travel benefits if you select a paid plan, however the totally free plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a service model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or less expensive than the competition
include a growing number of features which your existing customers don’t really require or want
include fees, constraints or charges to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are currently in Phase 3 …
is simple 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 Is A Currensea Card Ireland
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange fees, then you don’t require a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, charge card which provide rewards and charge 0% FX fees are rare. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to use abroad
you desire a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no fees and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, an extremely basic process. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, globally).
Your current account bank immediately confirms that you have sufficient money in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. includes a 0.5% fee if you have the free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic spend alert through the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I decided to splash out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 arranged to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
But transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is practically to happen (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion costs taking place in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Thankfully in recent years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards assures big savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I think the finest bit may be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less stress over running out of money and the extra action. That does not mean it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the ugly 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, permitting us to make profits from our Vital Plan whilst remaining more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free quantity on all our plans, complete details can be found on our pricing strategies.
Membership charges.
We charge an annual membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription fee likewise removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be credited you. What Is A Currensea Card Ireland