A brand-new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Card Cryptocurrency…
It has actually won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good thing.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing bank account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely invest as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is drawn from your bank account– simply without the typical 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to apply for, which also assists.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you choose a paid plan, but the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or more affordable than the competition
include increasingly more functions which your existing clients do not truly need or want
add constraints, charges or charges to the function that made people get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will hopefully stay there. Revolut, curve and monzo are already in Phase 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Card Cryptocurrency
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex charges, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, charge card which offer benefits and charge 0% FX costs are rare. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which provide a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to use abroad
you want an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no charges and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a very simple procedure. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, internationally).
Your current account bank automatically confirms that you have sufficient cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the complimentary card, includes a 0.5% cost. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automated invest notice through the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is taken from your current account a couple of 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 set up 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 break-in that is almost to occur (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Thankfully in recent years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards assures big savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I think the best bit may be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less stress over running out of money and the additional action. However that does not indicate it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the great, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Vital Plan of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make profits from our Vital Strategy whilst remaining more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary quantity on all our strategies, full information can be discovered on our pricing strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge a yearly subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, 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 get a small % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Currensea Card Cryptocurrency