A brand-new fintech company which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Card Payment Limit…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (using you an inexpensive way to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good thing.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You just spend as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your existing account– just without the normal 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to request, which also assists.
There are likewise some fascinating travel advantages if you pick a paid strategy, however the totally free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is an organization model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or more affordable than the competition
include more and more features which your existing clients don’t really desire or require
include costs, charges or limitations to the function that made people get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will ideally stay there. Revolut, monzo and curve are already in Stage 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 Payment Limit
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you do not need a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, charge card which provide rewards and charge 0% FX costs are scarce. The only ‘miles and points’ options which offer a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to use abroad
you want a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no fees and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, an extremely easy process. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, internationally).
Your current account bank instantly 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, adds a 0.5% cost. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic spend notification through the app, if you select to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no 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 arranged to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight burglary that is practically to take place (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Fortunately in the last few years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards promises huge savings (85%) and an excellent app.
However I think the very best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street savings account.
What this indicates is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of cash and the additional step. But that does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Plan of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make income from our Important Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free amount on all our strategies, complete details can be found on our pricing plans.
Membership charges.
We charge an annual membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription fee also eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we get a small % of the deal, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Currensea Card Payment Limit