A new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea Card Atm Withdrawal…
It has actually won a few awards over current months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive method 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 in between you and your existing bank account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply spend as you would on a regular debit card and the money is taken from your current account– just without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to request, which also assists.
There are likewise some intriguing travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, however the free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or more affordable than the competition
add more and more features which your existing clients don’t truly require or want
add limitations, charges or fees to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will hopefully stay there. Monzo, curve and revolut are already in Phase 3 …
is easy 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 Card Atm Withdrawal
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 do not (yet …) make any airline 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 do not need a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, charge card which offer rewards and charge 0% FX fees are rare. The only ‘miles and points’ options which use a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not wish 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 charges and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who requires an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash 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 regional currency (any currency, globally).
Your bank account bank immediately confirms 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. includes a 0.5% charge if you have the free card. There are no charges if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automated invest alert through the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is taken from your current account a few days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I decided 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:.
But converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is just about to happen (often in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion costs happening in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards Currensea guarantees big cost savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
But I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of cash and the additional action. That does not suggest it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Vital Plan of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make revenue from our Vital Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary quantity on all our strategies, full information can be found on our pricing strategies.
Subscription fees.
We charge a yearly membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription fee likewise removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Currensea Card Atm Withdrawal