A new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea Card Fee Free…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (using you a low-priced way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good thing.
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 merely invest as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is drawn from your bank account– just without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to obtain, which also assists.
There are also some interesting travel benefits if you select a paid plan, however the totally free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competition
add a growing number of functions which your existing clients don’t truly desire or need
include fees, constraints or charges to the function that made individuals get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Stage 3 …
is basic 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 Fee Free
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 charge card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you do not require a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which offer rewards and charge 0% FX fees are couple of and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which provide a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no costs and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, an extremely basic procedure. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, globally).
Your bank account bank instantly verifies that you have sufficient money in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the free card, adds a 0.5% cost. There are no charges if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automatic invest notification through the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a few days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I decided 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 couple of days later:.
Converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight burglary that is just about to happen (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Thankfully over the last few years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards assures big cost savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
I believe the finest bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less stress over lacking money and the additional step. That does not suggest it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Important Plan of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make income from our Vital Plan whilst remaining much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free amount on all our strategies, complete details can be found on our prices plans.
Membership fees.
We charge an annual membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we get a small % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Currensea Card Fee Free