A new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. Get Currensea Card Free…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an affordable method to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is an advantage.
is, efficiently, 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 invest as you would on a typical debit card and the money is drawn from your current account– simply without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is totally free to make an application for, which likewise assists.
There are likewise some interesting travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, however the free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or cheaper than the competition
add increasingly more functions which your existing clients don’t really want or need
add charges, charges or restrictions to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Curve, monzo and revolut are already 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? Get Currensea Card Free
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you don’t need a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX fees are couple of and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which offer a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to utilize abroad
you want an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any fees and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, an extremely 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 validates that you have sufficient money in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the totally free card, adds a 0.5% cost. There are no charges if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend notification through the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a few days later on.
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 shows �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
However transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is almost to occur (often in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway 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 fantastic cards Currensea promises big savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of cash and the additional action. That does not indicate it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the great, the bad, the unsightly 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 Necessary Plan of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make profits from our Necessary Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free amount on all our strategies, complete information can be discovered on our rates strategies.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership cost likewise eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a small % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Get Currensea Card Free