A new fintech business which I was presented to previously this year. Currensea Vs Curve…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (using you a low-cost method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good thing.
is, efficiently, 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 just invest as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is drawn from your bank account– simply without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to make an application for, which also assists.
There are likewise some fascinating travel benefits if you pick a paid plan, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc 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 want or need
include charges, restrictions or costs to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this process and will hopefully stay there. Curve, monzo and revolut are currently in Stage 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Vs Curve
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange fees, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, charge card which provide rewards and charge 0% FX costs are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which provide a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to use abroad
you want an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any charges and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anybody 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 said earlier, an extremely simple process. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your bank account bank immediately validates that you have sufficient money in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. includes 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 spend notice by means of the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I chose to splash out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
However transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is almost to happen (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Thankfully in the last few years a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards guarantees huge savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of money and the extra action. However that does not imply it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Vital Plan of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make revenue from our Vital Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free quantity on all our strategies, complete information can be found on our prices strategies.
Subscription fees.
We charge an annual subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership fee also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we get a small % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Currensea Vs Curve