A new fintech business which I was presented to previously this year. Currensea Card Should I Change Currency For Country I’m In…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (using you an affordable way to spend 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. 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 regular debit card and the money is drawn from your current account– just without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to request, which also helps.
There are likewise some intriguing travel benefits if you choose a paid plan, however the free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or more affordable than the competition
include increasingly more functions which your existing clients don’t really require or desire
include charges, restrictions or charges to the feature that made individuals get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this process and will hopefully remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are already in Stage 3 …
is easy 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 Should I Change Currency For Country I’m In
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you don’t require a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which offer rewards and charge 0% FX costs are few and far in between. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which use a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no charges and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, an extremely basic procedure. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your current account bank automatically validates that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. adds a 0.5% charge if you have the free card. There are no costs if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automated invest notice through the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is taken from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I decided 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:.
But transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight burglary that is just about to occur (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In current 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.
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 cash you have in your existing bank account with less fret about running out of cash and the extra step. However that does not suggest it is best.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, 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 Necessary Strategy of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make revenue from our Necessary Plan whilst remaining much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free quantity on all our plans, complete information can be discovered on our prices plans.
Membership fees.
We charge an annual membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership charge likewise removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we get a small % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea Card Should I Change Currency For Country I’m In