A new fintech company which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Card Delivery…
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 simple as hell. This is an advantage.
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 merely invest as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– simply without the usual 3% cost.
Oh, and is totally free to obtain, which likewise helps.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or cheaper than the competition
add more and more features which your existing clients do not actually desire or need
add constraints, charges or fees to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Monzo, curve and revolut are currently in Stage 3 …
is simple 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 Delivery
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex fees, then you don’t need a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX costs are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which offer a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you desire a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no fees and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a really easy procedure. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, internationally).
Your bank account bank instantly confirms that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction 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. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automated invest notification through the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is taken from your current account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, 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 arranged to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
But converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is just about to happen (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion fees taking place in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Thankfully recently a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards guarantees big savings (85%) and an excellent app.
However I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street savings account.
What this indicates is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less fret about running out of cash and the extra step. That does not indicate it is best.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Necessary Plan of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make earnings from our Important Plan whilst staying much cheaper 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, full information can be discovered on our prices strategies.
Subscription fees.
We charge an annual membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership charge likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea Card Delivery