A brand-new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea Card Bali…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (providing you a low-cost method to spend abroad) however 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 in between you and your existing current account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply invest as you would on a typical debit card and the money is taken from your current account– just without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is totally free to request, which likewise assists.
There are likewise some interesting travel advantages if you select a paid strategy, however the totally free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or less expensive than the competitors
include more and more features which your existing clients don’t truly want or need
include constraints, costs or charges to the function that made people get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will ideally remain there. Revolut, curve and monzo are currently in Stage 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Card Bali
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
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 costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, charge card which use benefits and charge 0% FX fees are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which use a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no fees and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who requires an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a really basic procedure. 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 validates that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the complimentary card, includes a 0.5% cost. There are no fees if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend notice via the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is taken from your bank account a couple of 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 set up to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is just about to happen (often in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea guarantees huge savings (85%) and a great app.
I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about lacking cash and the additional action. That does not indicate it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make profits from our Essential Plan whilst remaining more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free amount on all our strategies, full details can be found on our pricing plans.
Subscription costs.
We charge a yearly membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost likewise eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we get a little % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Currensea Card Bali