A new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea Atm Limit…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive method to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is an advantage.
is, efficiently, 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 merely invest as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is drawn from your bank account– just without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to obtain, which likewise helps.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you choose a paid plan, but the complimentary strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is an organization 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 competition
add increasingly more features which your existing customers do not really require or desire
include fees, charges or constraints to the function that made people get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will hopefully remain there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are already in Stage 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Atm Limit
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
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 charge card offering 0% foreign exchange fees, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which offer a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you want an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any fees and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small cost 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 conserve them money when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said previously, an extremely 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, internationally).
Your current account bank immediately confirms that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the totally free card, adds a 0.5% fee. There are no costs if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend alert through the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I chose to sprinkle 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 few days later on:.
However transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight burglary that is almost to take place (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion costs happening in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Fortunately in the last few years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards assures big cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
But I think the very best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street checking account.
What this means is you can invest money you have in your existing current account with less fret about lacking money and the extra step. However that does not indicate it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Vital Plan of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make earnings from our Important Plan whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free quantity on all our strategies, full details can be discovered on our rates plans.
Subscription costs.
We charge a yearly membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership fee also eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we get a small % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea Atm Limit