A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Card Use Abroad…
It has actually won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (using you a low-priced way 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 simply spend as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your existing account– simply without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to apply for, which also assists.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you choose a paid plan, however the complimentary plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or less expensive than the competition
include increasingly more functions which your existing customers do not actually need or want
include charges, charges or restrictions to the feature that made individuals 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. Monzo, curve and revolut are currently in Stage 3 …
is basic 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 Use Abroad
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex fees, then you don’t need a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX costs are rare. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to utilize abroad
you desire an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no charges and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, an extremely simple process. You use 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 validates 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 on the currency. includes a 0.5% fee if you have the totally free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automatic spend notice by means of the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I chose to sprinkle out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is practically to occur (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion fees happening in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards Currensea promises big savings (85%) and a great app.
I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less stress over running out of cash and the additional step. However that does not suggest it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the ugly 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 Vital Strategy of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make profits from our Necessary Plan whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free quantity on all our plans, full details can be found on our rates plans.
Membership fees.
We charge an annual subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership charge also removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we get a small % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Currensea Card Use Abroad