A new fintech business which I was presented to previously this year. Currensea Space Grey Card…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (providing you a low-priced method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You just spend as you would on a regular debit card and the money is taken from your present account– just without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to make an application for, which also assists.
There are also some interesting travel benefits if you pick a paid plan, but the complimentary strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is an organization model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or more affordable than the competitors
include more and more functions which your existing consumers do not truly want or require
include restrictions, charges or charges to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Revolut, monzo and curve are already 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 Space Grey Card
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you do not require a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX fees are few and far in between. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which use a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no charges and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a really easy process. 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 current account bank automatically confirms 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 upon the currency. adds a 0.5% cost if you have the complimentary card. There are no charges if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automated spend notification through the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is taken from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I decided to splash 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 couple of days later on:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is practically to take place (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion costs happening in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea assures huge cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
But I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street checking account.
What this suggests is you can spend money you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of cash and the additional step. But that does not indicate it is best.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Vital Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make income from our Important 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 quantity on all our plans, complete details can be found on our pricing plans.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership charge likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we get a small % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Currensea Space Grey Card