A new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Card Review Ireland…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an inexpensive method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good thing.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You just spend as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– simply without the normal 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to apply for, which likewise assists.
There are also some fascinating travel benefits if you choose a paid plan, however the complimentary plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or less expensive than the competitors
include a growing number of features which your existing clients don’t truly need or desire
add charges, limitations or costs to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are currently in Stage 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Card Review Ireland
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn 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 costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX fees are rare. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which provide a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you want a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any fees and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, 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 said previously, a really basic process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, globally).
Your bank account bank instantly verifies that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. includes 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 spend notice by means of the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, 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 couple of days later:.
Converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is almost to happen (often in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion fees taking place in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Luckily in the last few years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards assures big cost savings (85%) and a great app.
But I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street savings account.
What this suggests is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking money and the extra action. But that does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the great, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make revenue from our Important Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free amount on all our strategies, full details can be discovered on our pricing strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge a yearly subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription charge also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Currensea Card Review Ireland