A new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea Card Gambling…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (using you a low-priced way to spend abroad) but 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 between you and your existing current account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply spend as you would on a typical debit card and the money is taken from your bank account– simply without the typical 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to get, which likewise assists.
There are likewise some fascinating travel benefits if you choose a paid strategy, but the free plan works fine. You can use 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 more affordable than the competitors
add more and more features which your existing customers do not actually want or need
include charges, limitations or costs to the feature that made individuals get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Curve, monzo and revolut 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 Gambling
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 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 do not need a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, charge card which provide benefits and charge 0% FX fees are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ options which provide a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly 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 use abroad
you desire a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, 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, internationally).
Your current account bank immediately confirms that you have sufficient cash 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, adds a 0.5% cost. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automatic invest notification by means of the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is drawn from your current account a few days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I decided to sprinkle out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
Transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is practically to take place (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards Currensea guarantees big cost savings (85%) and a great app.
I think the best bit may 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 fret about lacking money and the additional step. But that does not suggest it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the ugly 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 Necessary Plan of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make income from our Necessary Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free quantity on all our plans, full information can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Membership costs.
We charge an annual membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership cost also gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we get a small % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Currensea Card Gambling