A new fintech company which I was presented to previously this year. How To Recieve Money To Currensea Card…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (using you a low-cost way to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good thing.
is, successfully, 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 money is drawn from your bank account– just without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to apply for, which likewise assists.
There are also some interesting travel benefits if you choose a paid plan, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or less expensive than the competition
add a growing number of features which your existing consumers don’t truly desire or require
add charges, limitations or costs to the function that made individuals get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will hopefully stay there. Monzo, revolut and curve are already in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? How To Recieve Money To Currensea Card
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which offer a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any charges and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, an extremely simple procedure. You utilize 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 immediately validates that you have adequate 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 totally free card, adds a 0.5% charge. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automatic invest notification by means of the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I decided to sprinkle out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
Transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is almost to take place (often 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.
Thankfully over the last few years a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards promises big savings (85%) and a terrific app.
However I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less stress over lacking money and the additional action. That does not mean it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Important Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make income from our Vital Plan whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free amount on all our strategies, full information can be found on our prices strategies.
Membership charges.
We charge an annual membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost also gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. How To Recieve Money To Currensea Card