A new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. Order Currensea Card For Free…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (using you a low-cost method to spend 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 current account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely invest as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your bank account– simply without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to obtain, which likewise helps.
There are also some fascinating travel benefits if you choose a paid strategy, however the totally free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or cheaper than the competitors
add more and more functions which your existing customers do not actually desire or need
include charges, limitations or fees to the function 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 remain there. Revolut, curve and monzo are already in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Order Currensea Card For Free
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically recharges 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 credit card offering 0% forex fees, then you do not require a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX fees are few and far in between. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which use a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no charges and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a little cost beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, 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 current account bank automatically verifies that you have enough money 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, adds a 0.5% fee. There are no costs if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend alert by means of 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. With no foreign travel in the diary, I decided to sprinkle 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 burglary that is almost to occur (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Thankfully over the last few years a handful of great travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards promises big cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I think the finest bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking money and the extra step. That does not indicate it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Important Plan of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make earnings from our Vital Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free amount on all our strategies, full details can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Membership costs.
We charge a yearly membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription cost likewise removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Order Currensea Card For Free