A new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Can You Use Sri Lankan Rupees On Currensea Card…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good idea.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You simply invest as you would on a typical debit card and the money is taken from your existing account– simply without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to make an application for, which also assists.
There are likewise some fascinating travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, but the totally free plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or more affordable than the competition
include increasingly more features which your existing customers do not truly want or require
add fees, charges or constraints to the function that made people get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this process and will hopefully stay there. Monzo, curve and revolut are currently in Phase 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Can You Use Sri Lankan Rupees On Currensea Card
It is a totally free direct debit card to use 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 …) earn any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex fees, then you don’t need a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which provide a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to affect 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 very little FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond , 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult children, 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 said previously, a very 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 current account bank immediately confirms that you have adequate 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. adds a 0.5% fee if you have the complimentary card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automatic spend notice via the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is taken from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, 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 couple of days later on:.
Converting pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is almost to occur (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion costs happening in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Luckily in recent years a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards promises big cost savings (85%) and a great app.
I believe the finest bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less fret about running out of cash and the additional action. But that does not indicate it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, 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 deal, allowing us to make income from our Essential Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary quantity on all our strategies, full details can be discovered on our rates strategies.
Subscription fees.
We charge an annual subscription fee of , 25 for our Premium Strategy, and , 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership cost likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we receive a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be credited you. Can You Use Sri Lankan Rupees On Currensea Card