A new fintech business which I was presented to previously this year. What Happens If I Freeze My Currensea Card…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-cost way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good idea.
is, successfully, 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 just spend as you would on a normal debit card and the money is drawn from your bank account– simply without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is totally free to make an application for, which likewise helps.
There are likewise some intriguing travel benefits if you choose a paid strategy, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or less expensive than the competition
add increasingly more functions which your existing consumers do not actually require or want
include charges, costs or limitations 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 ideally remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are already in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? What Happens If I Freeze My Currensea Card
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish 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 checking out now.
Nevertheless, charge card which provide rewards and charge 0% FX charges are rare. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which provide a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to use abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any charges and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a very basic process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, internationally).
Your current account bank immediately verifies 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 upon the currency. If you have the complimentary card, adds a 0.5% fee. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automated spend alert via the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. Without any 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 arranged to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
However transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is practically to happen (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Thankfully over the last few years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards guarantees huge savings (85%) and a great app.
But I think the very best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street checking account.
What this means is you can invest cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of money and the extra action. However that does not suggest it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the awful 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 Essential Plan of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make income from our Vital Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free amount on all our strategies, full information can be discovered on our pricing strategies.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership fee also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every 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. What Happens If I Freeze My Currensea Card