A brand-new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. Buy Currensea Card…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an affordable way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good idea.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing bank account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You just invest as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is drawn from your bank account– just without the normal 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to obtain, which likewise assists.
There are also some fascinating travel advantages if you pick a paid plan, however the complimentary strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is an organization model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or less expensive than the competitors
include increasingly more features which your existing clients don’t really require or want
include charges, charges or restrictions to the function that made people get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will hopefully stay there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are already in Phase 3 …
is basic 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? Buy Currensea Card
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX charges are couple of and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ options which provide a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to utilize abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no fees and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, an extremely easy procedure. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your bank account bank instantly confirms that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. includes a 0.5% charge if you have the free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automated spend alert via the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is drawn from your current account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I chose to sprinkle out and purchase 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 few days later:.
However transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is practically to happen (often in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea promises big cost savings (85%) and a great app.
I believe the best 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 worry about lacking cash and the extra action. That does not suggest it is best.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the ugly 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 Important Strategy of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make income from our Vital Plan whilst remaining much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free quantity on all our plans, full details can be discovered on our pricing strategies.
Subscription costs.
We charge a yearly subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription charge likewise removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we get a little % of the deal, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Buy Currensea Card