A brand-new fintech business which I was presented to previously this year. Can I Pay My Currensea With Another Credit Card…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (providing you a low-cost method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good idea.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing bank account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply spend as you would on a typical debit card and the money is taken from your bank account– simply without the normal 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to request, which also assists.
There are likewise some interesting travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or less expensive than the competition
include a growing number of features which your existing clients do not really desire or require
add charges, charges or constraints to the function that made people get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this process and will hopefully remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are already in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Can I Pay My Currensea With Another Credit Card
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex costs, then you do not need a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX charges are rare. The only ‘miles and points’ options which use a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not 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 per month with no fees and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, an extremely basic process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, internationally).
Your current account bank automatically verifies that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the free card, adds a 0.5% cost. There are no costs if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automatic invest alert by means of the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I decided to splash out and buy 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:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is just about to take place (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion fees taking place in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Thankfully recently a handful of terrific travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards assures huge cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I believe the best bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less fret about lacking cash and the additional step. However that does not mean it is best.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Vital Strategy of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make earnings from our Essential Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free amount on all our plans, complete details can be found on our pricing plans.
Subscription costs.
We charge a yearly membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost likewise eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
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 will not be credited you. Can I Pay My Currensea With Another Credit Card