A new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea Card For Teenager…
It has actually won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (using you a low-priced method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing current account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You just spend as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is drawn from your bank account– just without the typical 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to look for, which also helps.
There are also some fascinating travel advantages if you select a paid strategy, but the complimentary plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or cheaper than the competition
add a growing number of functions which your existing clients do not actually want or require
include restrictions, charges or charges to the feature that made individuals get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will ideally stay there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are already in Phase 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Card For Teenager
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex costs, then you don’t require a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which use a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no fees and just a minimal 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 simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a very simple 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 instantly validates 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. includes a 0.5% charge if you have the totally free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automatic spend notice via the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is taken from your bank account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no 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 shows �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
Converting pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is practically to happen (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion fees happening in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow 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 terrific cards Currensea assures huge cost savings (85%) and a great app.
However I think the very best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street savings account.
What this suggests is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about lacking money and the additional step. That does not indicate it is best.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Plan of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make profits from our Essential Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary amount on all our plans, complete details can be discovered on our rates plans.
Membership charges.
We charge a yearly membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription charge also removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we receive a little % of the deal, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Currensea Card For Teenager