A new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea Tag Your Card…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive method to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good thing.
is, effectively, 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 typical debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– just without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is totally free to get, which likewise assists.
There are likewise some interesting travel benefits if you select a paid strategy, however the complimentary plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or more affordable than the competitors
include more and more features which your existing consumers don’t truly desire or require
include charges, constraints or charges to the function that made individuals get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are currently in Stage 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 Tag Your Card
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, charge card which use benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ options which offer a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any fees and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a very simple process. 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 instantly verifies that you have enough money in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the totally free card, adds a 0.5% fee. There are no charges if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend notice by means of the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, 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 scheduled 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 daytime break-in that is just about to happen (often in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards Currensea promises huge savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I believe the best bit may be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can spend money you have in your existing current account with less stress over running out of cash and the additional action. However that does not indicate it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the great, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Vital Plan of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make earnings from our Necessary Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free amount on all our strategies, full details can be found on our pricing plans.
Subscription charges.
We charge a yearly membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription fee also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we get a little % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea Tag Your Card