A brand-new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. Card Bancar Currensea…
It has won a few 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 basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You merely invest as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is taken from your present account– simply without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to make an application for, which likewise assists.
There are also some fascinating travel benefits if you pick a paid plan, however the free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is an organization design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competitors
include more and more functions which your existing customers do not actually want or require
include fees, charges or limitations to the function that made people get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Curve, monzo and revolut are already in Phase 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Card Bancar Currensea
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (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 don’t require a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, charge card which offer benefits and charge 0% FX fees are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which use a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you desire an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no costs and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you want an item 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 cash when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a really basic 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 immediately verifies that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the totally free card, includes a 0.5% fee. There are no fees if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automated invest notification through the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I decided 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 couple of days later on:.
However 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 (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Fortunately recently a handful of great travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards promises huge savings (85%) and a terrific app.
However I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street savings account.
What this suggests is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of cash and the additional action. That does not indicate it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the unsightly and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies 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 Vital Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free amount on all our strategies, full information can be discovered on our prices plans.
Membership fees.
We charge a yearly subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership charge likewise gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Card Bancar Currensea