A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Card Wallet…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (using you a low-priced method 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 merely spend as you would on a regular debit card and the money is taken from your existing account– simply without the usual 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to look for, which likewise assists.
There are likewise some fascinating travel benefits if you choose a paid strategy, but the totally free plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or more affordable than the competition
add more and more features which your existing customers do not truly desire or require
include limitations, costs or charges to the function that made people get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain 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 club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Card Wallet
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange fees, then you do not require a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, charge card which use rewards and charge 0% FX costs are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which use a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any charges and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, an extremely easy process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, globally).
Your current account bank automatically confirms that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the complimentary card, adds a 0.5% charge. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automated spend alert via 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 journal, 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 arranged to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
Transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is just about to happen (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion fees taking place in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Luckily in recent years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards guarantees huge savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
I believe the best bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can invest money you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of money and the extra step. But that does not imply it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make income from our Essential Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free quantity on all our strategies, complete information can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Subscription costs.
We charge a yearly membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription fee also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we get a little % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Currensea Card Wallet