A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Can I Take Cash Out Of My Currensea Card…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an affordable way to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good idea.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You simply spend as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– simply without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is totally free to make an application for, which also helps.
There are also some interesting travel benefits if you pick a paid plan, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or more affordable than the competitors
add increasingly more functions which your existing clients do not really desire or need
add charges, costs or restrictions to the function that made individuals get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will hopefully stay there. Revolut, monzo and curve are currently in Phase 3 …
is easy 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? Can I Take Cash Out Of My Currensea Card
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, charge card which offer benefits and charge 0% FX costs are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which use a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to utilize abroad
you want an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no charges and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a very basic procedure. 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 instantly confirms that you have sufficient 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. includes a 0.5% cost if you have the totally free card. There are no costs if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automated spend notice through the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is taken from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I decided to sprinkle out and buy 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 few days later:.
However transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight burglary that is almost to take place (often in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In recent years a handful of great travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards Currensea promises big cost savings (85%) and a great app.
But I think the very best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street savings account.
What this indicates is you can invest money you have in your existing current account with less stress over running out of cash and the additional step. That does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Necessary Strategy of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make earnings from our Vital Strategy 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, complete information can be discovered on our rates plans.
Membership costs.
We charge a yearly subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership charge also removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we get a small % of the deal, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Can I Take Cash Out Of My Currensea Card