A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Can T Order Free Currensea Card…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (using you a low-cost method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good idea.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You just spend as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your current account– simply without the usual 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to make an application for, which likewise helps.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you choose a paid plan, but the totally free plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or more affordable than the competition
include a growing number of features which your existing customers do not truly require or want
add fees, charges or constraints to the function that made individuals get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will ideally stay there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Can T Order Free Currensea Card
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you don’t require a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you desire a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little cost beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when travelling.
How does operate 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 local currency (any currency, globally).
Your current account bank instantly validates that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the totally free card, includes a 0.5% charge. There are no costs if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend notification via the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is taken from your bank account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I decided 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:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is practically to take place (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea assures big savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I believe the finest bit may be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking cash and the additional action. That does not imply it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make earnings from our Necessary Plan whilst staying more affordable 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 strategies, full details can be found on our pricing plans.
Subscription fees.
We charge an annual membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription fee likewise gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we get a small % of the deal, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Can T Order Free Currensea Card