A brand-new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea Contact…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-cost method to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is an advantage.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing bank account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You just spend as you would on a typical debit card and the money is drawn from your current account– just without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to request, which likewise assists.
There are likewise some interesting travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, however the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or less expensive than the competition
add increasingly more functions which your existing customers do not truly desire or need
include restrictions, charges or costs to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Monzo, curve and revolut are currently in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Contact
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange fees, then you do not require a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX fees are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which use a partial service 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 credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to use abroad
you desire a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no fees and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a really easy process. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your current account bank automatically validates that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal 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. There are no fees if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automated invest notification by means of the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I decided to splash out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
However transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is just about to take place (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion fees taking place in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Luckily recently a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards guarantees big savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can invest cash you have in your existing bank account with less stress over lacking money and the extra action. That does not suggest it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the unsightly 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 Essential Strategy of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make revenue from our Vital Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary quantity on all our strategies, complete information can be discovered on our prices plans.
Membership charges.
We charge an annual subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership charge also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a little % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Currensea Contact