A brand-new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Card Minimum Age…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-priced way to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is an advantage.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing bank account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely invest as you would on a typical debit card and the money is drawn from your bank account– simply without the normal 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to look for, which also assists.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you choose a paid plan, but the free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or less expensive than the competitors
include more and more functions which your existing consumers don’t really desire or need
include charges, charges or limitations to the function that made people get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will hopefully stay there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Stage 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Card Minimum Age
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You do not (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 fees, then you do not require a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX charges are rare. The only ‘points and miles’ options which offer a partial solution 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 impact 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 only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, an extremely 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 validates that you have enough 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, includes a 0.5% cost. There are no charges if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automated spend alert through the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I chose to splash out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 arranged to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
However converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is just about to occur (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion costs happening in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In recent years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards Currensea guarantees huge savings (85%) and an excellent app.
But I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street checking account.
What this means is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less stress over running out of money and the additional step. That does not suggest it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Essential Plan of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make profits 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 amount on all our plans, complete details can be discovered on our pricing strategies.
Subscription charges.
We charge an annual membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership charge likewise gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we receive a small % of the deal, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Currensea Card Minimum Age