A new fintech company which I was presented to previously this year. Currensea Alternative…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (providing you a low-cost method to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is an advantage.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You simply invest as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your existing account– simply without the normal 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to apply for, which likewise helps.
There are also some fascinating travel advantages if you pick a paid plan, but the totally free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or more affordable than the competitors
add a growing number of features which your existing clients don’t truly want or require
include limitations, costs or charges to the feature that made individuals get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are already in Stage 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Alternative
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you don’t require a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which offer a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX costs 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 per month without any costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, an extremely 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, internationally).
Your current account bank immediately verifies 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 upon the currency. If you have the free card, adds a 0.5% cost. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automated spend notification by means of the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, 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 few days later:.
However transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is just about to occur (often in a various language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
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 cost savings (85%) and a great app.
But I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street checking account.
What this implies is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less stress over lacking cash and the additional step. That does not imply it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the awful 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 Necessary Plan of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make income from our Essential Plan whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary quantity on all our plans, full information can be found on our rates strategies.
Subscription charges.
We charge an annual subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership charge also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we receive a small % of the deal, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea Alternative