A new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. Can You Use Currensea Card In The Uk…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-cost method to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing current account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You just invest as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– just without the normal 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to look for, which likewise assists.
There are likewise some intriguing travel benefits if you pick a paid plan, however the complimentary plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or more affordable than the competitors
add a growing number of functions which your existing clients don’t actually need or want
add charges, constraints or charges to the function that made people get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will ideally stay there. Curve, monzo and revolut are already in Stage 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Can You Use Currensea Card In The Uk
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you don’t require a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX charges are couple of and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which use a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to utilize abroad
you desire a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no costs and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve 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 local currency (any currency, globally).
Your current account bank instantly verifies that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. adds a 0.5% fee if you have the free card. There are no fees if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend notice by means of the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is taken from your bank account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I chose to sprinkle out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
But converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is almost to happen (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards Currensea assures big savings (85%) and a terrific app.
However I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street savings account.
What this means is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking money and the additional action. However that does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Important Strategy of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make profits from our Vital Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free quantity on all our plans, full details can be discovered on our rates strategies.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription charge likewise gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Can You Use Currensea Card In The Uk