A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to previously this year. How To Order New Currensea Card In App…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (using you an affordable way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good thing.
is, successfully, 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 invest as you would on a typical debit card and the money is drawn from your current account– simply without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is totally free to get, which likewise assists.
There are likewise some intriguing travel benefits if you select a paid strategy, but the complimentary plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is an organization model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or less expensive than the competitors
include more and more functions which your existing consumers do not really need or want
include charges, fees or constraints to the function 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 ideally stay there. Monzo, revolut 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 To Order New Currensea Card In App
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex fees, then you don’t need a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX fees are couple of and far in between. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which offer a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards 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 want to impact your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you want a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no charges and just 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 anybody else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, an extremely simple 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 bank account bank instantly confirms that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. adds a 0.5% cost if you have the complimentary card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automatic invest notice via the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I chose 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 few days later:.
However converting pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is almost to happen (often in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs happening in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Fortunately over the last few years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards assures huge cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
But I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking cash and the extra step. However that does not indicate it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Necessary Plan of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make income from our Important Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free quantity on all our strategies, complete information can be discovered on our rates plans.
Subscription charges.
We charge an annual subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription fee also eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. How To Order New Currensea Card In App