A new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. How To Unfreeze Currensea Card…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-priced method to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good idea.
is, effectively, 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 spend as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your bank account– just without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to make an application for, which also helps.
There are likewise some interesting travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, but the totally 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 totally free or less expensive than the competitors
include a growing number of features which your existing customers do not really need or desire
add costs, charges or restrictions to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will ideally remain there. Revolut, monzo and curve are currently in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? How To Unfreeze Currensea Card
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (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% foreign exchange fees, then you do not require a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX charges are couple of and far in between. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which offer a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to utilize abroad
you desire a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no charges and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, an extremely 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 bank account bank automatically verifies 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 on the currency. includes a 0.5% cost if you have the totally free card. There are no costs if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend notice by means of the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is taken from your current account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I decided to splash out and purchase 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 couple of days later:.
However transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is almost to occur (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In current years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea assures big savings (85%) and a terrific app.
But I think the very best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street savings account.
What this suggests is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less fret about lacking money and the extra step. However that does not imply it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the great, the bad, the unsightly 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 Important Plan of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make earnings from our Important Plan whilst remaining much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary quantity on all our strategies, complete details can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Membership fees.
We charge an annual subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership cost likewise removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. How To Unfreeze Currensea Card