A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Is A Monzo Card Or A Currensea Better…
It has actually won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (providing you an inexpensive way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good thing.
is, successfully, 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 simply spend as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your current account– simply without the normal 3% charge.
Oh, and is totally free to make an application for, which also helps.
There are also some interesting travel benefits if you choose a paid plan, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or cheaper than the competition
add more and more functions which your existing consumers do not really desire or require
include charges, fees or restrictions to the function that made people get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will hopefully remain there. Monzo, curve and revolut 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? Is A Monzo Card Or A Currensea Better
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex charges, then you don’t require a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX charges are couple of and far in between. The only ‘miles and points’ options which offer a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any charges and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who requires an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, an extremely basic process. You utilize 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 instantly confirms that you have enough 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 free card, includes a 0.5% cost. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automatic invest notification through the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I decided to splash out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 arranged to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
However transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is practically 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. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Luckily recently a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards promises big cost savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
However I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can invest cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of money and the extra action. That does not mean it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Necessary Plan of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make revenue from our Necessary Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free quantity on all our plans, full information can be discovered on our rates strategies.
Membership costs.
We charge an annual subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription charge also eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we get a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Is A Monzo Card Or A Currensea Better