A new fintech company which I was presented to previously this year. What Is A Currensea Credit Card…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-cost way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing bank account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You just spend as you would on a regular debit card and the money is taken from your bank account– simply without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is totally free to apply for, which also helps.
There are likewise some interesting travel benefits if you choose a paid strategy, but the totally free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or more affordable than the competitors
include more and more features which your existing clients do not really require or desire
include fees, charges or limitations to the feature that made individuals get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Monzo, revolut and curve are already in Stage 3 …
is basic 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 Is A Currensea Credit Card
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you do not require a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX fees are couple of and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which offer a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to utilize abroad
you want a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no fees and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, an extremely simple process. You utilize 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 automatically confirms that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the free card, adds a 0.5% charge. There are no charges if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend notice through 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. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I chose 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 few days later:.
Transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is just about to take place (often in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea guarantees huge savings (85%) and a great app.
I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can invest money you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of cash and the extra step. But that does not mean it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Important Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make earnings from our Necessary Plan whilst staying more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free amount on all our strategies, complete details can be found on our pricing strategies.
Membership costs.
We charge an annual membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership fee likewise eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we get a little % of the deal, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. What Is A Currensea Credit Card