A new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Sidemen Currensea Card Benefits…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you a low-cost way to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good idea.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You merely spend as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your present account– just without the typical 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to make an application for, which likewise helps.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you choose a paid plan, however the totally free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or cheaper than the competitors
add a growing number of features which your existing customers don’t truly require or want
include restrictions, charges or costs to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully stay there. Curve, monzo and revolut are currently in Phase 3 …
is basic 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? Sidemen Currensea Card Benefits
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 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% forex charges, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX costs are rare. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which offer a partial solution 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 costs and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you want an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said previously, an extremely basic procedure. You use 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 money in your account and authorises the deal.
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% cost. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automated spend notification by means of the app, if you select to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I chose to sprinkle out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
But transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight burglary that is almost to occur (often in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion charges happening in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards Currensea guarantees big cost savings (85%) and a great app.
However I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can invest cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of cash and the extra action. But that does not indicate it is ideal.
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 Necessary Plan of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make profits 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 free amount on all our plans, full details can be found on our rates plans.
Membership costs.
We charge an annual membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership charge likewise eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we receive a little % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Sidemen Currensea Card Benefits