A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to previously this year. Card Currensea Avantaje…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an affordable method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good idea.
is, successfully, 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 simply invest as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your current account– simply without the typical 3% charge.
Oh, and is totally free to make an application for, which also helps.
There are likewise some intriguing travel advantages if you choose a paid strategy, but the free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is an organization design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or cheaper than the competition
add increasingly more features which your existing consumers don’t actually desire or require
include restrictions, charges or fees to the function 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 ideally remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are already in Phase 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? Card Currensea Avantaje
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you don’t need a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which offer rewards and charge 0% FX fees are few and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which provide a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX charges 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 monthly with no charges and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs 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 stated earlier, an extremely 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 current account bank automatically verifies that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the complimentary card, adds a 0.5% cost. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automated spend alert via the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is taken from your current account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I chose to splash out and buy 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 expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is almost to occur (often in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Fortunately in recent years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards guarantees big cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I believe the best bit may be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less fret about running out of money and the additional step. That does not suggest it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Important Plan 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 usage over the complimentary quantity on all our plans, complete information can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership cost also removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Card Currensea Avantaje