A new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Travel Card Review…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (using you a low-priced method to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing bank account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely spend as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your bank account– simply without the normal 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to obtain, which also assists.
There are likewise some intriguing travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, however the totally free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business design 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 competition
add more and more features which your existing customers don’t truly want or need
include costs, charges or constraints to the function that made people get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will hopefully stay there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are currently in Phase 3 …
is simple 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 Travel Card Review
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX costs are couple of and far in between. The only ‘miles and points’ options which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any fees and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, 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 bank account bank immediately validates that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. adds a 0.5% cost if you have the complimentary card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automatic invest alert through 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 diary, I chose 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 almost to occur (often in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs happening in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Luckily recently a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards guarantees big savings (85%) and an excellent app.
However I think the very best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street savings account.
What this means is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less stress over lacking money and the additional step. That does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the ugly 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 Plan of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make income from our Vital Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary amount on all our plans, complete information can be found on our pricing plans.
Subscription costs.
We charge a yearly subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership charge likewise gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time 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 Travel Card Review