A new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Or Post Office Card…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is an advantage.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You simply invest as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is taken from your existing account– just without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to make an application for, which likewise assists.
There are likewise some intriguing travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, however the complimentary strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is an organization design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or more affordable than the competitors
include a growing number of functions which your existing customers don’t truly require or desire
add charges, costs or constraints to the function that made people get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will ideally stay there. Curve, monzo and revolut are already in Phase 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Or Post Office Card
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically charges 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 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.
Credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX fees are couple of and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which offer a partial option 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 costs and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you want a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any costs and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, 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 previously, a really basic procedure. 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 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, includes a 0.5% fee. There are no costs if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend notification via the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. With no 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 shows �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
Converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is just about to happen (often in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Luckily in recent years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards promises huge savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
But I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street savings account.
What this implies is you can invest money you have in your existing current account with less stress over running out of cash and the additional action. However that does not imply it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make profits from our Important Plan whilst remaining more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary quantity on all our strategies, complete details can be found on our prices plans.
Membership costs.
We charge a yearly membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription cost likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a small % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Currensea Or Post Office Card