A new fintech company which I was presented to previously this year. Add Bank Card To Currensea…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an inexpensive method to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good idea.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing current account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You just invest as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is drawn from your current account– just without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to look for, which likewise helps.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you pick a paid plan, but the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or less expensive than the competitors
include more and more functions which your existing consumers do not truly require or desire
add charges, limitations or costs to the feature that made individuals get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are already in Stage 3 …
is simple 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? Add Bank Card To Currensea
It is a totally 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% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex charges, then you do not require a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which offer rewards and charge 0% FX fees are couple of and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which use a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you desire a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any fees and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a very 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 current account bank automatically verifies that you have sufficient cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. includes a 0.5% cost if you have the complimentary card. There are no costs if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend notification via the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no 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 couple of days later:.
Converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight burglary that is just about to take place (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion fees happening in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards Currensea promises big savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I think the finest bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about lacking money and the additional step. However that does not indicate it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the ugly 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 Essential Plan of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make revenue from our Necessary Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free amount on all our plans, complete details can be discovered on our prices strategies.
Subscription charges.
We charge a yearly membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost also gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we receive a little % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be credited you. Add Bank Card To Currensea