A new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. How To Use Your Currensea Card…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (using you a low-priced way to invest abroad) but 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 absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely spend as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is drawn from your current account– just without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to request, which likewise assists.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you choose a paid plan, but the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competition
add increasingly more features which your existing customers don’t actually require or desire
add charges, limitations or fees to the feature 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 ideally stay there. Curve, monzo and revolut are currently in Phase 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? How To Use Your Currensea Card
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which use a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no costs and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you want 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 cash when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a really easy process. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your bank account bank instantly confirms that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. includes a 0.5% fee if you have the free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automated spend notification via the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I decided to sprinkle 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 break-in that is almost to take place (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion fees happening 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 actually popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards Currensea assures huge savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I think the best bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less fret about running out of money and the additional step. That does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the great, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Plan of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make income from our Important Strategy whilst remaining more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free amount on all our strategies, complete details can be found on our prices strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge a yearly subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription fee also gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. How To Use Your Currensea Card