A new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. How To Get Currensea Card For Free…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-cost method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good idea.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits 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 bank account– simply without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to get, which also helps.
There are likewise some fascinating travel advantages if you pick a paid strategy, but the free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or more affordable than the competitors
include a growing number of features which your existing clients don’t truly require or desire
add constraints, charges or costs to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Revolut, curve and monzo are already in Stage 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 To Get Currensea Card For Free
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately 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 miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX fees are couple of and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which use a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to impact 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 each month with no charges and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said 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, worldwide).
Your current account bank automatically verifies that you have enough money in your account and authorises the transaction.
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% fee. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automatic invest notice through the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is taken from your current account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. Without any 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 reveals �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
Converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is just about to happen (often in a various language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Fortunately in the last few years a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards promises big savings (85%) and a great app.
But I believe the very best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street savings account.
What this implies is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of money and the additional action. However that does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Important Plan of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make profits from our Vital Plan whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free quantity on all our plans, complete details can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Membership fees.
We charge a yearly membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription fee likewise removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive 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 Currensea Card For Free