A new fintech company which I was introduced to previously this year. Can You Withdraw From A Cashpoint Woth A Currensea Card…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-cost way to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good thing.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing current account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply spend as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is drawn from your bank account– just without the typical 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to obtain, which also helps.
There are likewise some fascinating travel benefits if you select a paid strategy, however the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or more affordable than the competition
include more and more features which your existing clients don’t really want or require
include costs, charges or limitations to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will hopefully stay there. Monzo, curve and revolut are already in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Can You Withdraw From A Cashpoint Woth A Currensea Card
It is a totally 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% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which use a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no charges and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a very simple process. 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 bank account bank instantly validates that you have sufficient 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. There are no charges if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automated spend alert through 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. Without any 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 shows �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is just about to take place (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion charges happening in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea assures huge savings (85%) and a terrific 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 money you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking cash and the additional action. However that does not indicate it is best.
In this Currensea review is the good, 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 Necessary Plan of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make income from our Necessary Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary quantity on all our strategies, full details can be found on our rates strategies.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership charge also eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we get a little % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Can You Withdraw From A Cashpoint Woth A Currensea Card