A brand-new fintech company which I was introduced to previously this year. Comanda Card Currensea Gratuit…
It has actually won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (providing you a low-priced way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good idea.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You simply invest as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– simply without the typical 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to request, which also assists.
There are likewise some intriguing travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, however the totally free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competition
add increasingly more features which your existing consumers don’t truly need or want
include charges, fees or restrictions to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will ideally remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are already in Stage 3 …
is basic 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? Comanda Card Currensea Gratuit
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically 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 company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX charges are couple of and far in between. The only ‘miles and points’ options 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 fees and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to utilize abroad
you desire an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no charges and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item 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 cash when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a really simple 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 bank account bank automatically validates that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. includes a 0.5% charge if you have the free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic invest alert through the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I chose to splash out and buy 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:.
However transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is practically to take place (often in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion costs happening in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In current years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards Currensea guarantees big savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I think the finest bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can invest money you have in your existing current account with less fret about lacking money and the extra step. But that does not mean it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Important Strategy of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make revenue from our Essential Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free amount on all our plans, complete information can be discovered on our prices plans.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership fee likewise eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Comanda Card Currensea Gratuit