A brand-new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. Can I Have More Than 1 Currensea Card…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you a low-priced method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, efficiently, 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 merely spend as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– just without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is totally free to request, which likewise assists.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you choose a paid plan, but the totally free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or more affordable than the competition
include increasingly more features which your existing customers do not truly need or desire
include charges, limitations or charges to the function that made people get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will hopefully remain there. Revolut, monzo and curve are already in Phase 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Can I Have More Than 1 Currensea Card
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex costs, then you don’t require a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX costs are couple of and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which offer a partial service 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 costs and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you desire a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no fees and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little fee 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 conserve them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a very basic process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, internationally).
Your current account bank instantly 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. If you have the totally free card, includes a 0.5% fee. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automated spend notification by means of the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is drawn from your current 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 few days later:.
Converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight burglary that is almost to happen (often in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion fees happening in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Thankfully recently a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards guarantees big savings (85%) and a great app.
I think the finest bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of cash and the extra step. But that does not mean it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the unsightly 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 Vital Strategy of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make income from our Important Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free quantity on all our strategies, complete information can be found on our prices strategies.
Subscription charges.
We charge a yearly subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership fee also eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Can I Have More Than 1 Currensea Card