A new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Who Owns Currensea…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-priced way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good idea.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You merely spend as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your present account– simply without the usual 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to request, which likewise helps.
There are also some fascinating travel advantages if you pick a paid strategy, but the complimentary plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competitors
include increasingly more features which your existing customers do not actually require or desire
add costs, constraints or charges to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will hopefully 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 club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Who Owns Currensea
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange fees, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, charge card which provide benefits and charge 0% FX fees are rare. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which use a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to use abroad
you desire an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no costs and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a very simple procedure. You use 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 confirms that you have sufficient cash 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 complimentary card, includes a 0.5% charge. There are no fees if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automated spend notification by means of the app, if you select to install it.
The money is taken from your current account a few days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, 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 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
Converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is practically to happen (often in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In recent years a handful of great travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards Currensea guarantees huge savings (85%) and a great app.
But I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street checking account.
What this indicates is you can spend money you have in your existing current account with less worry about lacking money and the additional step. However that does not suggest it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, 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 nominal FX markup on our Necessary Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make profits from our Important Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary quantity on all our strategies, complete details can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Membership costs.
We charge a yearly subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership charge also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Who Owns Currensea