A new fintech company which I was introduced to previously this year. Activate Currensea Card…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (using you an affordable way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good idea.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You simply invest as you would on a typical debit card and the money is taken from your present account– just without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is totally free to apply for, which also assists.
There are also some fascinating travel advantages if you pick a paid strategy, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or more affordable than the competitors
add more and more functions which your existing consumers don’t really need or want
add charges, charges or constraints to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Revolut, monzo and curve are already in Stage 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Activate Currensea Card
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (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 fees, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX charges are rare. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which offer a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to utilize abroad
you want a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no charges and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who requires an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, 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 confirms that you have enough money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. adds a 0.5% charge if you have the totally free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automatic invest notification by means of the app, if you select to install it.
The money is taken from your current account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I decided to splash out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
However transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is just about to happen (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Luckily recently a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards promises huge cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I think the best bit may be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less stress over running out of money and the additional step. However that does not indicate it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Vital Plan of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make revenue from our Essential Plan whilst remaining more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary quantity on all our strategies, full details can be discovered on our rates strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge an annual subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription cost also gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we get a small % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Activate Currensea Card