A brand-new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea Card Comparison…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you a low-cost way to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good idea.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You merely invest as you would on a regular debit card and the money is taken from your existing account– simply without the normal 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to obtain, which likewise helps.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you choose a paid plan, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a service model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or more affordable than the competitors
add more and more functions which your existing clients don’t really desire or require
include constraints, charges or charges to the function that made individuals get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will hopefully stay there. Revolut, curve and monzo are already in Stage 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Card Comparison
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically recharges 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 using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you do not require a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, charge card which provide benefits and charge 0% FX costs are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which provide a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no fees and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, an extremely simple procedure. You utilize 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 verifies that you have sufficient 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. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automatic spend alert by means of the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is taken from your bank account a couple of 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 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
Converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is just about to happen (often in a various language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion costs occurring 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 great cards Currensea assures big savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
But I believe the very best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street savings account.
What this implies is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about lacking cash and the extra action. But that does not suggest it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the great, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make profits from our Necessary Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free amount on all our strategies, full details can be found on our pricing plans.
Membership fees.
We charge a yearly membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription fee also eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we get a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea Card Comparison