A new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Gold Metal Card…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-cost method to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good idea.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing current account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply spend as you would on a normal debit card and the money is drawn from your bank account– just without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to look for, which likewise assists.
There are likewise some fascinating travel advantages if you select a paid plan, however the totally free plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competition
add increasingly more features which your existing customers don’t truly require or desire
add costs, charges or restrictions to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully stay there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are already in Stage 3 …
is basic 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 Gold Metal Card
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically recharges 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 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 desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, charge card which offer rewards and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which offer a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish 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 monthly without any fees and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, an extremely easy procedure. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, internationally).
Your current account bank immediately verifies that you have sufficient 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. If you have the free card, adds a 0.5% fee. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic spend notice by means of the app, if you select to install it.
The money 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 splash out and purchase 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 few days later:.
Transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is just about to happen (often in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Thankfully recently a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards guarantees big savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I believe the finest bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less stress over running out of money and the extra action. That does not indicate it is ideal.
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 small FX markup on our Important Strategy of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make profits from our Essential Strategy whilst remaining more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free quantity on all our strategies, complete information can be found on our rates plans.
Subscription charges.
We charge a yearly membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership fee likewise eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we get a little % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Currensea Gold Metal Card