A new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea Card How Does It Work…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (using you an inexpensive method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good idea.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You merely invest as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your existing account– simply without the normal 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to look for, which likewise assists.
There are also some fascinating travel benefits if you choose a paid strategy, however the totally free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or more affordable than the competitors
include increasingly more functions which your existing clients do not truly want or require
include fees, charges or constraints to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this process and will hopefully remain there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are currently in Phase 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Card How Does It Work
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make 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% forex costs, then you do not require a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which provide a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you desire a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any fees and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a little cost beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a really easy 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 immediately confirms that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the deal.
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 among their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend alert by means of the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is drawn from your current account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no 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 shows �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
However converting pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is almost to happen (often in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion costs taking place in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Thankfully recently a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards guarantees big cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less fret about lacking money and the extra action. But that does not indicate it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the awful 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, enabling us to make earnings from our Important Plan whilst staying more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free quantity on all our strategies, complete details can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Subscription charges.
We charge an annual membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership cost likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a small % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Currensea Card How Does It Work