A brand-new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Is Currensea Standard Card Good…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (offering you an affordable way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You just invest as you would on a regular debit card and the money is taken from your present account– simply without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is totally free to obtain, which likewise helps.
There are likewise some interesting travel advantages if you select a paid strategy, however the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or cheaper than the competition
include more and more functions which your existing clients don’t actually require or want
include restrictions, charges or charges to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will hopefully stay there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Stage 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Is Currensea Standard Card Good
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange fees, then you do not need a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, charge card which provide rewards and charge 0% FX costs are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ options which provide a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to utilize abroad
you want a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any costs and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a little cost beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a really basic procedure. 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 current account bank immediately confirms that you have adequate 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. 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 automatic invest alert by means of the app, if you select to install it.
The money is taken from your current account a couple of days later.
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:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is practically to take place (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs taking place in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Fortunately in recent years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards promises huge cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
But I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can spend money you have in your existing current account with less stress over running out of cash and the additional step. However that does not mean it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Vital Plan of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make profits from our Vital Plan whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free amount on all our strategies, complete details can be discovered on our prices strategies.
Membership costs.
We charge a yearly subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership fee also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Is Currensea Standard Card Good