A new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Is Currensea A Credit Or Debit Card…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an affordable method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is an advantage.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing bank account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply spend as you would on a typical debit card and the money is drawn from your bank account– just without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is totally free to look for, which likewise assists.
There are also some interesting travel benefits if you choose a paid strategy, however the complimentary strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or less expensive than the competition
include more and more features which your existing clients do not actually need or want
include constraints, charges or fees to the function that made people get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Phase 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Is Currensea A Credit Or Debit Card
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
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 credit card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you don’t require a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, charge card which provide rewards and charge 0% FX costs are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which use a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any costs and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little cost beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a really easy procedure. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, globally).
Your bank account bank instantly verifies that you have sufficient cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the complimentary card, adds a 0.5% cost. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automated spend notification via the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is taken from your current account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I decided to splash out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 arranged to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
Transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight burglary that is just about to take place (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion fees happening in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Luckily in the last few years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards guarantees big savings (85%) and a great app.
However I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street savings 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 ideal.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Important Plan of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make earnings from our Essential Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary amount on all our plans, full details can be discovered on our prices strategies.
Subscription fees.
We charge a yearly membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership fee likewise eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we get a little % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be credited you. Is Currensea A Credit Or Debit Card