A brand-new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Can I Use My Uk Currensea Card In Usa…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you a low-priced method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good thing.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. 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% charge.
Oh, and is totally free to make an application for, which also helps.
There are also some fascinating travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, but the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or cheaper than the competition
add a growing number of features which your existing consumers do not really desire or require
add charges, charges or restrictions to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will hopefully stay there. Revolut, monzo and curve are currently in Stage 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Can I Use My Uk Currensea Card In Usa
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange fees, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, charge card which offer rewards and charge 0% FX costs are rare. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you desire a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no fees and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, an extremely easy process. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, globally).
Your current account bank instantly validates that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. includes a 0.5% fee if you have the free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automated invest notification via 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 sprinkle out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
Converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is just about to take place (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Luckily in recent years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards promises huge cost savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
I believe the finest bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less stress over running out of cash and the extra step. However that does not indicate it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make profits from our Essential Plan whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary amount on all our plans, full information can be found on our prices plans.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Can I Use My Uk Currensea Card In Usa