A new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Should My Son Get Currensea Card…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive way to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is an advantage.
is, efficiently, 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 merely spend as you would on a regular debit card and the money is drawn from your bank account– simply without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to look for, which likewise helps.
There are likewise some intriguing travel advantages if you choose a paid plan, but the free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or less expensive than the competitors
include increasingly more functions which your existing consumers don’t truly require or want
add charges, limitations or fees 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 process and will ideally stay there. Monzo, curve and revolut are already in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Should My Son Get Currensea Card
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which offer rewards and charge 0% FX charges are couple of and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which provide a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps 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 desire a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any charges and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a very basic procedure. You utilize 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 immediately validates that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. adds 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 invest notice through the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is taken from your current account a few days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I decided to sprinkle out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
Transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is almost to take place (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion charges happening in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Fortunately recently a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards assures huge savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
However I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can invest money you have in your existing current account with less stress over lacking cash and the extra step. However that does not indicate it is best.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Necessary Plan of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make earnings from our Essential Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free quantity on all our strategies, full details can be found on our prices plans.
Membership costs.
We charge an annual subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription cost also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be credited you. Should My Son Get Currensea Card