A brand-new fintech business which I was presented to previously this year. Do I Need A Physical Currensea Card To Use Abroad…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an inexpensive way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good idea.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You merely invest as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– simply without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to get, which also helps.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you choose a paid strategy, however the free plan works fine. You can use 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 free of charge or less expensive than the competitors
add more and more features which your existing clients don’t truly require or desire
include fees, constraints or charges to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Revolut, monzo and curve are already in Stage 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Do I Need A Physical Currensea Card To Use Abroad
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex costs, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX costs are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ options which offer a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you want a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any fees and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you want a product 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 money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a really basic procedure. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your bank account bank immediately 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 on the currency. If you have the totally free card, adds a 0.5% charge. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automated invest alert 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 diary, I chose to sprinkle out and buy 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 couple of days later:.
But transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is just about to happen (often in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion fees taking place in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In recent years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea promises huge cost savings (85%) and a great app.
But I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking cash and the extra step. That does not mean it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the ugly 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 Necessary Plan of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make income from our Necessary Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free quantity on all our strategies, complete details can be found on our pricing strategies.
Subscription charges.
We charge a yearly subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription fee also removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Do I Need A Physical Currensea Card To Use Abroad