A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Add Credit Card To Currensea…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you a low-cost way to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is an advantage.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You simply spend as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– just without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to obtain, which also assists.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you choose a paid plan, however the totally free plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or less expensive than the competitors
add more and more functions which your existing clients don’t truly need or desire
add costs, limitations or charges to the function that made individuals get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will ideally remain there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are already in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Add Credit Card To Currensea
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
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 credit card offering 0% foreign exchange fees, then you do not require a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, charge card which provide benefits and charge 0% FX costs are rare. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which provide 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 charges and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to use abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any costs 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 anyone 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, a really easy process. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, globally).
Your bank account bank immediately confirms 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. adds a 0.5% charge if you have the complimentary card. There are no charges if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automatic invest notification via the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is taken 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:.
Transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is almost to happen (often in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Thankfully in the last few years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards promises big cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
However I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street checking account.
What this means is you can invest cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of cash and the extra step. That does not suggest it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Vital Plan of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make earnings from our Necessary Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free amount on all our strategies, complete information can be found on our rates strategies.
Subscription fees.
We charge an annual membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership cost likewise removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we get a little % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Add Credit Card To Currensea