A brand-new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. How To Get A Currensea Without A Residence Card…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (using you an inexpensive way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing bank account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply invest as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is drawn from your current account– just without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to make an application for, which also assists.
There are also some fascinating travel benefits if you select a paid strategy, however the free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or more affordable than the competitors
include increasingly more functions which your existing clients don’t actually require or want
add limitations, costs or charges to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will hopefully stay there. Curve, monzo and revolut are already in Stage 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? How To Get A Currensea Without A Residence 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 little 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make 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% foreign exchange fees, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which offer rewards and charge 0% FX charges are scarce. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which use a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge 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 travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a really basic process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, internationally).
Your current account bank immediately verifies that you have sufficient cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the complimentary card, includes a 0.5% fee. There are no charges if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend notification by means of the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, 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 arranged to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later:.
Converting pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is almost to take place (often in a various language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Thankfully over the last few years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards promises huge cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
However I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street savings account.
What this suggests is you can invest cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about lacking money and the additional step. That does not mean it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Necessary Strategy of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make revenue from our Essential Plan whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid 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 discovered on our rates plans.
Membership charges.
We charge an annual subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription charge likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we get a little % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. How To Get A Currensea Without A Residence Card