A new fintech business which I was presented to previously this year. Currensea Junior Card Review…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (providing you a low-cost way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You merely invest as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– just without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to get, which also helps.
There are likewise some intriguing travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is an organization design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or more affordable than the competition
add increasingly more features which your existing clients do not truly need or want
add restrictions, costs or charges to the function that made people get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will hopefully stay there. Revolut, monzo and curve are currently in Phase 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Junior Card Review
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (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 fees, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX costs are few and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which provide a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you want a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any charges and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a very basic procedure. You utilize 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 automatically validates that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the totally free card, adds a 0.5% charge. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automated invest alert by means of the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a few days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I decided to sprinkle out and purchase 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 few days later on:.
Transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is almost to happen (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion fees taking place in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Luckily recently a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards assures big cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
But I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking money and the extra action. That does not suggest it is best.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Important Plan of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make profits from our Vital Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary amount on all our plans, full details can be discovered on our rates strategies.
Membership costs.
We charge an annual subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription fee likewise eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Currensea Junior Card Review