A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. How Do I Know If My Currensea Card Is Ordered…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (using you an inexpensive method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, 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 typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to look for, which likewise helps.
There are also some interesting travel benefits if you select a paid plan, but the complimentary strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or less expensive than the competitors
add increasingly more features which your existing clients don’t truly want or need
add charges, limitations or costs to the function that made individuals get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will ideally stay there. Monzo, curve and revolut are currently in Phase 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? How Do I Know If My Currensea Card Is Ordered
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you do not require a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX fees are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which provide a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs 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 credit card particularly to use abroad
you want a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no costs and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a very easy process. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, internationally).
Your current account bank instantly verifies that you have adequate 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. If you have the totally free card, adds a 0.5% charge. There are no fees if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automated invest alert by means of the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. Without any 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 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later:.
However converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is just about to take place (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs happening in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Fortunately recently a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards promises big savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I believe the best bit might 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 worry about lacking money and the additional action. But that does not imply it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Necessary Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make income from our Necessary Plan whilst remaining more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary quantity on all our strategies, full information can be found on our pricing strategies.
Subscription costs.
We charge a yearly membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, 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 get a small % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. How Do I Know If My Currensea Card Is Ordered