A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to previously this year. I Found A Currensea Card…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an affordable way to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple 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 bank account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely spend as you would on a regular debit card and the money is taken from your current account– simply without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is totally free to make an application for, which likewise helps.
There are also some interesting travel benefits if you choose a paid plan, but the complimentary plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is an organization design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or cheaper than the competition
add a growing number of functions which your existing clients do not really need or want
add costs, constraints or charges to the function that made people get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Monzo, revolut and curve are already in Phase 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? I Found A Currensea Card
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you do not require a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX costs are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which offer a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps 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 specifically to utilize abroad
you desire a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any charges and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a really simple process. You use 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 immediately confirms that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the totally free card, includes a 0.5% fee. There are no fees if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automated spend notification through the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is taken from your current account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I chose to splash out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 set up 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 robbery that is almost to take place (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In recent years a handful of great travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea guarantees 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 implies is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking money and the additional step. But that does not indicate it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Necessary Plan of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make earnings from our Vital Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free quantity on all our strategies, complete information can be found on our pricing plans.
Subscription fees.
We charge a yearly membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership fee likewise gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we receive a little % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. I Found A Currensea Card