A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Where To Top Up Currensea Card…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an affordable method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is an advantage.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You just spend as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– simply without the typical 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to request, which also assists.
There are also some interesting travel benefits if you choose a paid strategy, however the totally free plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or more affordable than the competition
add more and more functions which your existing clients don’t really want or require
add charges, charges or restrictions to the function that made people get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will ideally remain there. Monzo, curve and revolut are already in Phase 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Where To Top Up Currensea Card
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex fees, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, charge card which use benefits and charge 0% FX costs are rare. The only ‘points and miles’ options which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to impact 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 charges and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who requires an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a very 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, internationally).
Your bank account bank immediately validates that you have sufficient cash 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% cost if you have the totally free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automated spend notice by means of the app, if you select 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 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:.
However converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is almost to take place (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion costs happening in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards Currensea promises big cost 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 suggests is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less fret about running out of cash and the additional action. However that does not mean it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make earnings from our Vital Plan whilst staying more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free quantity on all our plans, complete details can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription charge also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Where To Top Up Currensea Card