A brand-new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Card Container…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (offering you a low-cost method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, efficiently, 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 simply invest as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– just without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is totally free to obtain, which also assists.
There are also some interesting travel benefits if you select a paid plan, however the complimentary plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a service model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or less expensive than the competition
add more and more features which your existing consumers don’t actually need or desire
include charges, fees or limitations to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will hopefully stay there. Revolut, monzo and curve are already in Stage 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Card Container
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn 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 fees, then you do not require a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX costs are scarce. The only ‘miles and points’ options which use a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire a product which permits 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 desire an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a very basic process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your current account bank instantly validates that you have sufficient money 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 complimentary card, includes a 0.5% cost. There are no charges if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automated spend notice through the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, 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 set up to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
However transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is practically to happen (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In recent years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards Currensea guarantees huge 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 cash you have in your existing bank account with less fret about running out of cash and the additional step. But 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 choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Important Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make revenue from our Important Strategy whilst remaining more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free quantity on all our plans, full information can be found on our rates plans.
Membership fees.
We charge an annual subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership charge also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we get a small % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Currensea Card Container