A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea Silver Metal Card…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an affordable method to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good thing.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You just spend as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your existing account– just without the usual 3% cost.
Oh, and is totally free to get, which likewise assists.
There are likewise some intriguing travel advantages if you pick a paid strategy, but the complimentary strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or more affordable than the competition
include a growing number of functions which your existing customers do not truly need or want
add costs, constraints or charges 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 process and will hopefully stay there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Phase 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Silver Metal 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% cost.
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% foreign exchange charges, then you don’t require a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX costs are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which offer a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any costs and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, parents, 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 previously, an extremely 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 current account bank instantly confirms 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 upon the currency. adds a 0.5% fee if you have the free card. There are no fees if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automated invest notification by means of the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I chose to sprinkle 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 few days later on:.
Converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is just about to take place (often in a different 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 anyhow.
In recent years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards Currensea promises huge savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I believe the finest bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank 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 extra action. But that does not imply it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the great, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make earnings from our Necessary Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free amount on all our plans, complete information can be discovered on our pricing strategies.
Subscription fees.
We charge an annual subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership fee also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Currensea Silver Metal Card