A brand-new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Card Ordered Card…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-cost way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You simply invest as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– simply without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is totally free to apply for, which likewise helps.
There are also some fascinating travel advantages if you choose a paid plan, however the totally free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or less expensive than the competition
add more and more features which your existing clients don’t actually require or want
add fees, restrictions or charges to the function that made individuals get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will hopefully remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Phase 3 …
is simple 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 Ordered Card
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
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 credit card offering 0% forex costs, then you do not need a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, charge card which provide rewards and charge 0% FX fees are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which use a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you want a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any fees and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a very simple 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 current account bank instantly verifies that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. adds a 0.5% fee if you have the complimentary card. There are no costs if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automated invest notification via 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 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 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
Converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is almost to occur (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs taking place in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In recent years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards Currensea assures big savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I believe 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 money you have in your existing current account with less stress over running out of money and the extra action. But that does not suggest it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Necessary Strategy of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make income from our Necessary Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary quantity on all our plans, full information can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Subscription fees.
We charge an annual membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription charge also removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we get a small % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Currensea Card Ordered Card