A brand-new fintech business which I was presented to previously this year. Is There A Maximum Amount On The Currensea Card…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (using 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. You merely invest as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your current account– simply without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is totally free to apply for, which likewise helps.
There are likewise some intriguing travel benefits if you select a paid strategy, however the complimentary plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or cheaper than the competition
include increasingly more features which your existing customers do not actually require or desire
add charges, charges or constraints to the function that made people get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Monzo, curve and revolut are currently in Stage 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 There A Maximum Amount On The Currensea Card
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to utilize abroad
you desire a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no fees and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when travelling.
How does work 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 instantly confirms that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the complimentary card, adds a 0.5% charge. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic spend alert via the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I decided to splash 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 couple of days later on:.
Converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is almost to take place (often in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea guarantees huge savings (85%) and a great app.
However I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can spend money you have in your existing current account with less stress over running out of cash and the extra step. But that does not mean it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the great, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make revenue from our Essential Plan whilst remaining much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free quantity on all our strategies, complete information can be found on our rates strategies.
Subscription costs.
We charge a yearly subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription cost also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we get a small % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Is There A Maximum Amount On The Currensea Card