A brand-new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Review Of Currensea…
It has actually won a few awards over current months for what it does (offering you a low-cost way to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good thing.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing current account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply spend as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– simply without the normal 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to get, which also assists.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you choose a paid plan, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or cheaper than the competitors
include a growing number of features which your existing clients don’t truly want or require
add constraints, charges or charges to the feature that made people 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. Revolut, curve and monzo are currently in Phase 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Review Of Currensea
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (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 costs, then you do not require a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, charge card which provide benefits and charge 0% FX charges are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which use a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card 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 wish to affect your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any charges and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a little cost beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a very easy process. You utilize 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 instantly verifies that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. includes a 0.5% fee if you have the totally free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automated invest alert through the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is taken from your current account a few days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I decided to sprinkle out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later:.
Converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is almost to happen (often in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion costs taking place in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Thankfully recently a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards promises big savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
But I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street checking account.
What this suggests is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less fret about running out of money and the additional action. However that does not mean it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Essential Plan of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make profits from our Important Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free amount on all our strategies, full information can be discovered on our prices strategies.
Membership charges.
We charge a yearly membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription fee likewise eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we get a small % of the deal, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be credited you. Review Of Currensea