A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Card Credit Check…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive way to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good idea.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You simply spend as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– simply without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to obtain, which likewise assists.
There are likewise some intriguing travel benefits if you choose a paid strategy, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or more affordable than the competitors
include a growing number of functions which your existing customers don’t actually require or desire
add costs, charges or constraints to the function that made people get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Revolut, monzo and curve are already in Stage 3 …
is easy 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? Currensea Card Credit Check
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex fees, then you don’t need a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX costs are scarce. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which use a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you want a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any fees and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you want an item 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 save them cash when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a really easy procedure. You utilize 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 instantly validates 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 upon the currency. If you have the totally free card, adds a 0.5% fee. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automated invest alert via the app, if you pick 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 chose to splash out and purchase 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 few days later on:.
Converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is just about to happen (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion fees taking place in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Thankfully in the last few years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards assures big savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I think the finest bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less fret about running out of money and the extra action. However that does not imply it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make income from our Necessary Plan whilst remaining more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free amount on all our plans, complete information can be found on our rates strategies.
Subscription charges.
We charge an annual subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership cost also removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Currensea Card Credit Check