A new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. Is Currensea Any Good…
It has actually won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (providing you a low-cost method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You merely spend as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your present account– just without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to make an application for, which also helps.
There are likewise some intriguing travel advantages if you select a paid plan, however the complimentary plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or cheaper than the competition
include increasingly more functions which your existing customers don’t actually desire or require
add charges, restrictions or costs to the function that made people get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Curve, monzo and revolut are currently in Phase 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Is Currensea Any Good
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex charges, then you do not require a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which provide a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees 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 utilize abroad
you want a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any fees and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a little cost beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a really 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, globally).
Your bank account bank immediately confirms that you have sufficient money 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. There are no fees if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automated spend alert through the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I chose to sprinkle out and buy 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 couple of days later on:.
Converting pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is practically to take place (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion fees taking place in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Thankfully in recent years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards assures big cost savings (85%) and a great app.
I believe the finest bit may be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of cash and the extra action. That does not imply it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Important Plan of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make profits 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 complimentary amount on all our strategies, complete details can be discovered on our prices strategies.
Subscription costs.
We charge a yearly subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription fee also eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we get a small % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Is Currensea Any Good