A new fintech business which I was presented to previously this year. How Currensea Card Works…
It has 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 basic as hell. This is a good idea.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing current account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You just spend as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– simply without the normal 3% charge.
Oh, and is totally free to obtain, which likewise helps.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you choose a paid plan, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or more affordable than the competition
add a growing number of functions which your existing clients don’t truly desire or require
include charges, limitations or charges 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 hopefully stay there. Revolut, monzo and curve are currently in Phase 3 …
is easy 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? How Currensea Card Works
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% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange fees, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which offer rewards and charge 0% FX charges are rare. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which offer a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS possibly 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 particularly to utilize abroad
you want a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no fees and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, an extremely simple process. 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 deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. adds a 0.5% cost if you have the free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automatic invest alert by means of the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I decided to sprinkle out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 arranged to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
But transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is just about to take place (often in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs taking place in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Thankfully recently a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards guarantees huge savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
But I believe the very best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less fret about running out of cash and the extra action. But that does not suggest it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Important Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make profits from our Essential Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary amount on all our strategies, complete information can be found on our rates strategies.
Membership charges.
We charge a yearly membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. How Currensea Card Works