A new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Can I Pay With My Currensea Mobile Card…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive way to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good idea.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing bank account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply spend as you would on a regular debit card and the money is drawn from your current account– just without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to get, which also helps.
There are likewise some fascinating travel benefits if you select a paid strategy, however the complimentary strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competitors
add increasingly more features which your existing customers don’t actually need or desire
add charges, charges or limitations to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will hopefully remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Phase 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Can I Pay With My Currensea Mobile Card
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex fees, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX charges are rare. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which offer a partial service 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 charges and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to use abroad
you desire a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no charges and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a really simple process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, globally).
Your bank account bank automatically 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 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 charges.
You get an automatic invest alert via the app, if you select to install it.
The money is taken from your bank account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I chose to splash out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 arranged to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later:.
Transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is practically to occur (often in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs taking place in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Fortunately recently a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards assures huge cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I think the finest bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of cash and the additional step. However that does not suggest it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Important Plan of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make profits from our Necessary Plan whilst staying more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary quantity on all our strategies, full information can be found on our rates plans.
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 little % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Can I Pay With My Currensea Mobile Card