A brand-new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Card India…
It has actually won a few awards over current months for what it does (using you an inexpensive method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good thing.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You merely invest as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– just without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is totally free to get, which likewise helps.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you select 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 actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competition
include a growing number of functions which your existing customers do not actually desire or need
include constraints, charges or fees to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this process and will hopefully stay there. Monzo, curve and revolut are already in Phase 3 …
is simple 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 India
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you do not require a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which offer rewards and charge 0% FX fees are few and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you want an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any costs and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, an extremely basic process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your bank account bank automatically validates that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction 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% charge. There are no costs if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automated invest notice through the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is taken from your current account a couple of days later.
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 reveals �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
Converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is practically to happen (often in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs taking place in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Thankfully over the last few years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards assures huge cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
But I think the very best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street savings account.
What this means is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less stress over lacking cash and the extra step. But that does not mean it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the awful 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 Vital Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make revenue from our Important Strategy whilst remaining more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free amount on all our strategies, full information can be found on our prices strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge a yearly membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription fee also removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a little % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Currensea Card India