A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. How To Top Up My Currensea Card With Google Pay…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (using you a low-cost way to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good idea.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing bank account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You just invest as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is taken from your bank account– just without the normal 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to obtain, which likewise helps.
There are likewise some intriguing travel advantages if you pick a paid strategy, but the free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or cheaper than the competitors
add increasingly more features which your existing clients don’t really want or require
include fees, limitations or charges to the function that made people get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Monzo, curve and revolut are currently in Phase 3 …
is simple 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 Top Up My Currensea Card With Google Pay
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex charges, then you don’t need a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, charge card which use benefits and charge 0% FX costs are scarce. 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 charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a very simple process. You use 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 automatically confirms that you have enough cash 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 free card, includes a 0.5% fee. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automatic spend notification via the app, if you choose 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 journal, 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 arranged to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
Converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is almost to happen (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion costs happening in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Fortunately over the last few years a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards guarantees big savings (85%) and a great app.
However I believe the very best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street checking account.
What this means is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of money and the extra action. However that does not suggest it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the awful 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 Vital Plan of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make earnings from our Vital Plan whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free amount on all our strategies, complete details can be found on our prices plans.
Membership costs.
We charge a yearly membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership cost also gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we get a small % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. How To Top Up My Currensea Card With Google Pay