A new fintech company which I was presented to previously this year. Currensea Card For Cash…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive way to invest abroad) but 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 between you and your existing bank account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You just invest as you would on a regular debit card and the money is drawn from your current account– simply without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is totally free to get, which likewise helps.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you select a paid strategy, but the free plan works fine. You can use here.
There is an organization design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or less expensive than the competitors
include more and more features which your existing consumers do not truly want or require
include limitations, fees or charges to the function that made individuals get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will hopefully stay there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are currently in Stage 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Card For Cash
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you do not require a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, charge card which use rewards and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which use a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to use abroad
you want an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any costs and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, an extremely easy 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 current account bank immediately validates that you have enough 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 free card, includes a 0.5% fee. There are no fees if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automated invest notification by means of the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I chose to sprinkle out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is almost to happen (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion costs taking place in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Fortunately recently a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards assures big savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
However I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking cash and the additional action. That does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Important Strategy of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make profits from our Necessary Plan whilst remaining more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free quantity on all our strategies, complete information can be discovered on our rates strategies.
Subscription fees.
We charge an annual membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription fee likewise removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we get a little % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Currensea Card For Cash