A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. How Currensea Card Works…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-priced way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good idea.
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 just spend as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is drawn from your current account– just without the normal 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to make an application for, which likewise helps.
There are likewise some interesting travel advantages if you select a paid strategy, however the complimentary plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a service model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competitors
include more and more features which your existing customers do not truly want or require
add costs, limitations or charges to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Revolut, curve and monzo are already in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? How Currensea Card Works
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you do not 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 couple of and far in between. The only ‘miles and points’ options which use a partial option 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 want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you want an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a really basic process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, internationally).
Your bank account bank automatically validates that you have adequate cash 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% charge if you have the free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automated spend notice 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 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 set up 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 practically to take place (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Thankfully in recent years a handful of great travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards guarantees big cost savings (85%) and a great app.
I believe the best bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less fret about running out of cash and the additional action. However that does not imply it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make income from our Essential Plan whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free amount on all our plans, full information can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Membership charges.
We charge a yearly membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership cost likewise removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we receive a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. How Currensea Card Works