A new fintech company which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Krisflyer…
It has actually won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (using you an inexpensive method to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good idea.
is, efficiently, 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 usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to obtain, which also helps.
There are also some fascinating travel advantages if you choose a paid strategy, however the totally free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or more affordable than the competition
include more and more features which your existing consumers don’t truly desire or require
add charges, charges or constraints to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will ideally stay there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are currently in Phase 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Krisflyer
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you do not require a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ options which offer a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to utilize abroad
you desire a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no costs and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a little cost beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a really easy procedure. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, globally).
Your current account bank automatically verifies that you have sufficient money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the totally free card, includes a 0.5% cost. There are no charges if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automated spend alert by means of the app, if you select to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, 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 few days later:.
Transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is practically to happen (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs happening in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Thankfully over the last few years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards guarantees huge savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I think the finest bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of cash and the additional step. But that does not imply it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the good, 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 small FX markup on our Essential Plan of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make profits from our Vital Plan whilst remaining more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free quantity on all our plans, complete details can be found on our pricing strategies.
Subscription charges.
We charge an annual subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership fee also removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we get a small % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Currensea Krisflyer