A new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea App…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (using you a low-priced method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing bank account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely spend as you would on a typical debit card and the money is drawn from your bank account– simply without the normal 3% charge.
Oh, and is totally free to request, which also helps.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you choose a paid plan, but the totally free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or more affordable than the competitors
add a growing number of functions which your existing consumers don’t actually need or desire
add charges, constraints or costs to the function that made people get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will ideally stay there. Revolut, curve and monzo are already in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea App
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% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex fees, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX fees are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which use a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS possibly 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 credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a very basic procedure. 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 current account bank automatically confirms that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the complimentary card, adds a 0.5% charge. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic spend notification by means of the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I decided to splash out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 arranged 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 robbery that is just about to take place (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion costs happening in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In current years a handful of great travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards Currensea promises big savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking money and the additional action. But that does not imply it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Vital Strategy of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make earnings from our Necessary Strategy whilst remaining more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free quantity on all our plans, full information can be discovered on our rates plans.
Subscription charges.
We charge a yearly membership charge 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.
Every time you spend with your card we get a small % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea App