A new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. Can You Pay A Bill With A Currensea Card…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (providing you a low-cost way to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good thing.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You merely invest as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is taken from your present account– just without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to get, which also helps.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you pick a paid plan, but the free 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 free of charge or cheaper than the competitors
include increasingly more functions which your existing consumers do not actually need or desire
include limitations, charges or costs to the function that made individuals get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are already in Stage 3 …
is simple 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 You Pay A Bill With A Currensea Card
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex costs, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, charge card which provide rewards and charge 0% FX fees are scarce. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you want an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any fees and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a very simple procedure. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your bank account bank immediately confirms that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the totally free card, adds a 0.5% cost. 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 select to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no 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 set up to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
Converting pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is just about to occur (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea guarantees big cost savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can spend money you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of cash and the additional step. But that does not indicate it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the unsightly and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Vital Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make income from our Important Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free amount on all our plans, complete details can be discovered on our rates plans.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription fee also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Can You Pay A Bill With A Currensea Card