A brand-new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Is Currensea Free…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is an advantage.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You just invest as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your current account– just without the usual 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to apply for, which also assists.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you pick a paid strategy, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or more affordable than the competitors
add increasingly more features which your existing customers don’t truly need or want
add charges, charges or constraints to the function that made individuals get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Phase 3 …
is simple 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 Free
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex costs, 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 charges are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which use a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any charges and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, an extremely basic procedure. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your bank account bank automatically verifies 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, adds 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 taken from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I decided to sprinkle out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
However transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is just about to happen (often in a various language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion fees happening in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of great travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards Currensea guarantees big cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less stress over lacking money and the additional step. That does not imply it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Important Plan of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make profits from our Essential Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary amount on all our plans, complete details can be found on our rates plans.
Subscription charges.
We charge an annual membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership fee likewise removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we receive a small % of the deal, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Is Currensea Free