A new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. What Countries Can I Use Currensea Card…
It has actually won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (providing you an affordable way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good idea.
is, successfully, 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 just invest as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is drawn from your current account– just without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is totally free to apply for, which likewise helps.
There are likewise some interesting travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, but the free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or less expensive than the competition
add more and more functions which your existing customers don’t really desire or require
include constraints, charges or costs to the function that made people get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Revolut, monzo and curve 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? What Countries Can I Use Currensea Card
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
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 charge card offering 0% forex costs, then you don’t require a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX charges are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ options which provide a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards 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 affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to utilize abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a really basic procedure. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, globally).
Your bank account bank automatically 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 on the currency. If you have the free card, adds a 0.5% charge. There are no fees if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend alert through the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is drawn from your current account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I chose to splash out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 arranged to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
Transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is almost to occur (often in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion fees happening in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Fortunately in the last few years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards assures 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 suggests is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking cash and the additional step. But that does not suggest it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the awful 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 Vital Plan of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make income from our Important Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free quantity on all our strategies, full information can be found on our rates plans.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription charge likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we get a little % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. What Countries Can I Use Currensea Card