A new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. What Is A Currensea Premium Card…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (using you an inexpensive way to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic 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 absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You just invest as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– just without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to get, which also helps.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you select a paid strategy, however the complimentary strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is an organization design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or cheaper than the competition
add increasingly more features which your existing customers don’t truly want or require
include charges, fees or limitations to the function that made individuals get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will ideally stay there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are already in Stage 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? What Is A Currensea Premium Card
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex charges, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, credit cards which offer rewards 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 don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to use abroad
you want a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any charges and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who requires an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when taking a trip.
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 immediately validates that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. adds a 0.5% fee if you have the complimentary card. There are no charges if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automatic invest notification by means of the app, if you select to install it.
The money is taken from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. With no 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 arranged to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later:.
But converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is just about to happen (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards Currensea guarantees huge cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
However I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about lacking money and the additional action. That does not imply it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the unsightly 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 Strategy of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make revenue from our Vital Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free amount on all our plans, full details can be discovered on our rates strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge a yearly subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost also eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we get a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be credited you. What Is A Currensea Premium Card