A brand-new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Card Limit…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (offering you an affordable method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You simply invest as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is taken from your existing account– just without the usual 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to apply for, which likewise helps.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you choose a paid plan, but the complimentary plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company design 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
include more and more functions which your existing customers don’t actually want or require
include constraints, charges or fees to the function that made people get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will ideally remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve 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 Limit
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make 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% forex charges, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, charge card which provide rewards and charge 0% FX costs are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees 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 affect your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to utilize abroad
you desire a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no charges and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, an extremely basic process. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your bank account bank automatically confirms 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 upon the currency. adds a 0.5% fee if you have the totally free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic spend notice by means of the app, if you select to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I chose 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 couple of days later:.
However transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is almost to occur (frequently in a various 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.
In current years a handful of great travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea promises big savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
However I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less stress over running out of money and the additional step. That does not mean it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Vital Plan of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make revenue from our Vital Plan whilst remaining more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary quantity on all our plans, full details can be discovered on our rates plans.
Membership fees.
We charge a yearly membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership cost also eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we get a small % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea Card Limit