A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Can You Use Sri Lankan Rupees On Currensea Card…
It has actually won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (providing you a low-cost method to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You merely invest as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– simply without the usual 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to get, which also helps.
There are also some fascinating travel advantages if you choose a paid strategy, but the complimentary plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a service model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or cheaper than the competitors
include more and more functions which your existing consumers do not truly want or require
add constraints, charges or charges to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Revolut, monzo 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 You Use Sri Lankan Rupees On Currensea Card
It is a free 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 don’t (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you do not require a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX charges are couple of and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ options which use a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to use abroad
you want an item which permits you to make , 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond , 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when taking a trip.
How does operate 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, worldwide).
Your bank account bank automatically confirms that you have enough money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. adds a 0.5% cost if you have the totally free card. There are no charges if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automated spend alert through the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I decided to splash out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals , 4.33 arranged to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
However transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is just about to occur (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In current years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards Currensea promises big cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
But I think the very best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street savings account.
What this implies is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking cash and the extra action. But that does not mean it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Vital Strategy of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make revenue from our Vital Plan whilst remaining 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 amount on all our plans, full details can be found on our prices plans.
Subscription charges.
We charge a yearly membership cost of , 25 for our Premium Strategy, and , 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost also removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we get a small % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Can You Use Sri Lankan Rupees On Currensea Card