A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Alimentare Card Currensea Cash…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (using you an inexpensive way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is an advantage.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing current account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You just spend as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is drawn from your current account– just without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to look for, which likewise assists.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you pick a paid strategy, however the free plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or more affordable than the competition
include a growing number of functions which your existing clients do not really want or require
add charges, costs or constraints to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will hopefully stay there. Revolut, curve and monzo are already in Stage 3 …
is basic 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? Alimentare Card Currensea Cash
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
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 credit card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you do not require a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX costs are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which offer a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS possibly 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 charge card particularly to utilize abroad
you want an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any costs and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, an extremely simple procedure. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, internationally).
Your bank account bank automatically confirms that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the complimentary card, adds a 0.5% charge. There are no fees if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automated invest alert via the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a few days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I decided to sprinkle out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 scheduled 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 daytime break-in that is just about to happen (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion costs taking place in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In current years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea assures big cost savings (85%) and a great app.
However I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street checking account.
What this indicates is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of cash and the extra action. However that does not mean it is best.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the awful 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 Necessary Plan of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make earnings from our Essential Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free quantity on all our strategies, full information can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Membership fees.
We charge an annual subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we get a little % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Alimentare Card Currensea Cash