A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Poppy Card Currensea…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (offering you an affordable method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is an advantage.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing current account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You just invest as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is drawn from your current account– just without the normal 3% charge.
Oh, and is totally free to look for, which likewise helps.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you select 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 actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or cheaper than the competitors
include increasingly more features which your existing consumers don’t actually require or want
include constraints, charges or costs to the function that made individuals get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Curve, monzo and revolut are already in Stage 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Poppy Card Currensea
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline company 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 need a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, charge card which use rewards and charge 0% FX charges are rare. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which provide a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you want a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any fees and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires 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 said previously, a very basic procedure. You utilize 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 instantly verifies that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the free card, adds a 0.5% charge. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic invest notification through the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. Without any 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 set up to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
But converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is almost to take place (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In recent years a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea assures big cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I believe 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 worry about lacking money and the additional action. However that does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the unsightly and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Vital Plan of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make earnings from our Important Strategy whilst remaining more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary amount on all our plans, complete information can be found on our prices strategies.
Membership costs.
We charge an annual membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost likewise eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Poppy Card Currensea