A new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. How Do I Get A Free Currensea Card…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an affordable method to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good idea.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You just spend as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– just without the normal 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to apply for, which likewise helps.
There are likewise some interesting travel benefits if you choose a paid strategy, but the complimentary plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is an organization design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or cheaper than the competitors
add a growing number of features which your existing consumers don’t truly desire or require
add charges, charges or limitations to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Phase 3 …
is simple 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 Do I Get A Free Currensea Card
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn 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% forex costs, then you do not need a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX charges are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which offer a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not wish 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 monthly without any costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs an easy, 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, a really basic 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 current account bank immediately validates that you have sufficient money in your account and authorises the deal.
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% fee. There are no fees if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automated invest notice through the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I decided to splash 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 few days later on:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is almost to take place (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Fortunately in the last few years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards promises big savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I think the finest bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less stress over lacking money and the additional step. However that does not mean it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Important Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make profits from our Important Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free quantity on all our strategies, complete details can be found on our prices strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge an annual subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership cost also 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 charged to you. How Do I Get A Free Currensea Card