A new fintech company which I was presented to previously this year. Currensea Order Card For Free…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an affordable method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good idea.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You merely invest as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– just without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is totally free to request, which also assists.
There are also some fascinating travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, but the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is an organization model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or less expensive than the competition
include a growing number of features which your existing consumers do not actually desire or need
include limitations, charges or costs to the function that made individuals get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this process and will hopefully remain there. Monzo, curve and revolut are already in Phase 3 …
is easy 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 Order Card For Free
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange fees, then you don’t need a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX charges are couple of and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which use a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS possibly 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 an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no charges and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who requires an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a really simple procedure. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your bank account bank immediately verifies that you have sufficient money 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 free card, adds a 0.5% fee. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automated invest alert by means of the app, if you select to install it.
The money is taken from your bank account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I decided to sprinkle out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
But converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is just about to happen (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion costs happening in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards Currensea guarantees big cost savings (85%) and a great app.
However I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street savings account.
What this indicates is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about lacking cash and the additional step. That does not imply it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Essential Plan of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make income from our Necessary Strategy whilst staying 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 details can be discovered on our rates strategies.
Subscription fees.
We charge a yearly membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership fee likewise gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we get a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Currensea Order Card For Free