A brand-new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Stolen Card…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (using you a low-cost way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good thing.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing current account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely invest as you would on a normal debit card and the money is drawn from your current account– simply without the usual 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to look for, which likewise helps.
There are also some interesting travel benefits if you choose a paid plan, but the free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a service 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 cheaper than the competition
add increasingly more functions which your existing clients don’t truly require or want
include restrictions, charges or charges to the function that made people get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will hopefully remain there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are currently in Stage 3 …
is easy 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 Stolen Card
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 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 charges, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far in between. The only ‘miles and points’ options which use a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no 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 conserve them money when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a very simple process. You use 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 immediately confirms that you have sufficient cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. adds a 0.5% fee if you have the complimentary card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automated spend notification via the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is drawn from your current account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I chose to sprinkle out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 arranged to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
Transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is just about to happen (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards Currensea guarantees huge cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
But I believe the very best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street checking account.
What this implies is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less stress over lacking money and the extra action. That does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the unsightly 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 Vital Plan of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make earnings from our Essential Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary quantity on all our strategies, full information can be discovered on our prices strategies.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Currensea Stolen Card