A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Card Uk Come Funziona…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an affordable way to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing current account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You just invest as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your bank account– simply without the normal 3% fee.
Oh, and is totally free to get, which also helps.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you select a paid plan, but the complimentary plan works fine. You can use here.
There is an organization model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or less expensive than the competitors
add a growing number of functions which your existing customers don’t actually require or desire
include charges, charges or restrictions to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully stay there. Monzo, curve and revolut are currently in Phase 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 Uk Come Funziona
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex charges, then you don’t need a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX costs are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which use a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you want an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any fees and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a really easy procedure. You utilize 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 instantly confirms that you have enough money in your account and authorises the transaction.
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 free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automated spend notification via the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I decided to splash out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 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 daylight break-in that is just about to happen (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion fees taking place in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Thankfully in recent years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards promises huge savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I believe the finest bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less stress over running out of money and the additional action. That does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Necessary Plan of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make profits from our Vital Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free quantity on all our plans, complete information can be discovered on our rates strategies.
Membership charges.
We charge an annual subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership fee also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Currensea Card Uk Come Funziona