A new fintech company which I was introduced to previously this year. Contact Currensea Card…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an inexpensive way to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good idea.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing current account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely invest as you would on a typical debit card and the money is drawn from your bank account– just without the normal 3% charge.
Oh, and is totally free to apply for, which also assists.
There are likewise some intriguing travel benefits if you select a paid strategy, but the totally free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or less expensive than the competitors
include a growing number of features which your existing clients don’t really require or desire
include limitations, charges or fees to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Curve, monzo and revolut are already in Phase 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Contact Currensea Card
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
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 credit card offering 0% foreign exchange fees, then you do not need a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX fees are scarce. The only ‘miles and points’ options which provide a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no fees and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, 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 operate in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a really simple process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, worldwide).
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 upon the currency. adds a 0.5% charge if you have the free card. There are no costs if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend alert via the app, if you select to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a few days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I chose to sprinkle out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later:.
However transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is almost to happen (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion charges happening in the background. Do not 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 fantastic cards Currensea assures huge savings (85%) and an excellent app.
However I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street checking account.
What this suggests is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less fret about lacking cash and the extra action. That does not mean it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Vital Strategy of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make earnings from our Necessary Strategy whilst remaining more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary quantity on all our plans, complete details can be found on our prices strategies.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership fee also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we get a little % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Contact Currensea Card