A new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea Replacement Card Email…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (offering you an affordable method to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing current account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You just spend as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– simply without the normal 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to get, which also helps.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you choose a paid strategy, but the complimentary plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competitors
add increasingly more functions which your existing customers do not actually want or need
include charges, limitations or charges to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are currently in Stage 3 …
is simple 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 Replacement Card Email
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex fees, then you don’t need a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX fees are few and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which provide a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire a product 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 small fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a really simple 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 bank account bank instantly verifies that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. adds a 0.5% cost if you have the free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automated invest alert via 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 set up 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 burglary that is practically to happen (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards Currensea promises huge cost savings (85%) and a great app.
I think the finest bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less stress over lacking cash and the extra step. But that does not suggest it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the awful 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 Important Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make earnings from our Necessary Plan 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 amount on all our plans, full details can be discovered on our pricing strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge an annual membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership fee also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time 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 charged to you. Currensea Replacement Card Email