A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Can I Use Currensea Card To Receive Salary…
It has won a couple of awards over current 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 thing.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You simply spend as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your existing account– just without the typical 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to obtain, which likewise assists.
There are likewise some interesting travel benefits if you choose 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 one thing well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competitors
add increasingly more features which your existing customers don’t really require or desire
include fees, charges or restrictions to the function that made individuals get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Revolut, curve and monzo are currently in Stage 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Can I Use Currensea Card To Receive Salary
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly 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 using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you don’t need a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX costs are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which provide a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire a product which permits you to make , 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little cost beyond , 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a very simple process. You utilize 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 confirms that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. adds a 0.5% charge if you have the complimentary card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic invest notification via the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I chose to sprinkle out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows , 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
Converting pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is practically to happen (often in a different language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion costs taking place in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea promises big savings (85%) and a great app.
But I believe the very best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street checking account.
What this means is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less worry about lacking cash and the extra action. That does not mean it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make income from our Essential Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free amount on all our strategies, complete information can be found on our pricing strategies.
Membership costs.
We charge an annual subscription fee of , 25 for our Premium Strategy, and , 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription charge likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we get a small % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Can I Use Currensea Card To Receive Salary