A brand-new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Can Pay Money From South Africa Into Currensea Card…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you a low-cost method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in 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 taken from your bank account– just without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to apply for, which also helps.
There are likewise some fascinating travel advantages if you select a paid strategy, however the free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competition
add increasingly more functions which your existing customers don’t truly need or desire
add costs, restrictions or charges to the function that made people get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully stay there. Revolut, monzo and curve are currently in Phase 3 …
is basic 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 Pay Money From South Africa Into Currensea Card
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX fees are couple of and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which provide a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no fees and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs an easy, 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 simple procedure. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your current account bank instantly confirms that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the totally free card, adds a 0.5% cost. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic spend notification via the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is taken from your current account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I decided to sprinkle out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
Transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is practically to occur (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion costs taking place in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Luckily over the last few years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards assures huge savings (85%) and an excellent app.
However I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street savings account.
What this implies is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less stress over lacking money and the additional step. But that does not suggest it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the unsightly and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make revenue from our Vital Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary quantity on all our strategies, complete details can be found on our rates strategies.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership cost likewise eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we get a small % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Can Pay Money From South Africa Into Currensea Card