A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Card Customer Service Uk…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good idea.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing current account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely spend as you would on a regular debit card and the money is taken from your current account– simply without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is totally free to obtain, which also helps.
There are also some interesting travel benefits if you select a paid plan, but the complimentary strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or cheaper than the competitors
include increasingly more features which your existing consumers do not actually require or want
include charges, restrictions or charges to the function that made people get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Monzo, revolut and curve are already in Phase 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Card Customer Service Uk
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 little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn 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% foreign exchange fees, then you do not require a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, charge card which provide benefits and charge 0% FX costs are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you want a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any fees and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, an extremely simple procedure. 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 instantly confirms 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 on the currency. If you have the totally free card, includes a 0.5% cost. There are no costs if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic invest notice via the app, if you select 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 buy 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 couple of days later:.
Transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight burglary that is practically to happen (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Fortunately in recent years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards assures huge savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
I believe the finest bit may be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can spend money you have in your existing current account with less stress over running out of money and the extra step. However that does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the great, 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 Important Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make profits from our Necessary Plan whilst remaining much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary quantity on all our strategies, complete details can be discovered on our pricing strategies.
Membership charges.
We charge a yearly membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription charge also removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Currensea Card Customer Service Uk