A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Card Bank…
It has actually won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (offering you an affordable method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is an advantage.
is, successfully, 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 just invest as you would on a typical debit card and the money is drawn from your current account– simply without the typical 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to look for, which likewise helps.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you choose a paid strategy, however the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or less expensive than the competition
add a growing number of functions which your existing customers don’t really desire or require
add charges, limitations or costs to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will ideally remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Stage 3 …
is simple 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? Currensea Card Bank
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex fees, then you do not need a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which offer rewards and charge 0% FX fees are couple of and far in between. The only ‘miles and points’ options which offer a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to utilize abroad
you want an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little cost beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, 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 stated previously, a really simple procedure. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, internationally).
Your bank account bank instantly validates that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the totally free card, includes a 0.5% cost. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automated invest alert by means of the app, if you choose 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 chose to splash out and purchase 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 couple of days later on:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is just about to happen (often in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards Currensea promises big savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this means 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 indicate it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, 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 Essential Strategy of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make earnings from our Necessary Strategy whilst remaining more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free quantity on all our strategies, complete information can be found on our rates plans.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription cost also eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we receive a little % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Currensea Card Bank