A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Why Was My Credit Card Declined On Currensea…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (using you an affordable method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is an advantage.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You just invest as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your present account– just without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to obtain, which likewise helps.
There are also some interesting travel benefits if you choose a paid plan, but the complimentary strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or less expensive than the competition
include increasingly more features which your existing clients do not actually need or want
include restrictions, costs or charges to the feature that made individuals get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will hopefully remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Stage 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Why Was My Credit Card Declined On Currensea
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, charge card which provide rewards and charge 0% FX fees are rare. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which use a partial service 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 wish to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you want a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who requires an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, an extremely easy process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your current account bank automatically confirms that you have enough money 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 fees.
You get an automatic invest alert by means of the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I decided to splash 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:.
Converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is practically to happen (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs happening in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Thankfully in recent years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards guarantees huge 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 suggests is you can invest money you have in your existing current account with less worry about lacking cash and the additional step. However that does not suggest it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Important Strategy of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make profits from our Important Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free quantity on all our strategies, full information can be discovered on our rates strategies.
Membership charges.
We charge an annual membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership fee likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Why Was My Credit Card Declined On Currensea