A new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea Card Indonesia…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-cost method to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good thing.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing current account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You just invest as you would on a typical debit card and the money is taken from your current account– just without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to obtain, which likewise assists.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you select a paid strategy, but the complimentary strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or more affordable than the competitors
add increasingly more functions which your existing consumers don’t truly require or want
include fees, charges or constraints to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Curve, monzo and revolut are already in Stage 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Card Indonesia
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, charge card which provide benefits and charge 0% FX costs are rare. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any fees and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a really simple process. 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 current account bank instantly validates that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. adds a 0.5% fee if you have the complimentary card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automated invest notification via the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a few days later.
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 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
Converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight burglary that is almost to take place (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion fees taking place in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In current years a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards Currensea guarantees big savings (85%) and a terrific app.
But I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street checking account.
What this indicates is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of cash and the extra step. But that does not indicate it is best.
In this Currensea review is the great, 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 small FX markup on our Important Strategy of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make income from our Vital Plan whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary amount on all our strategies, full information can be discovered on our prices strategies.
Subscription fees.
We charge a yearly membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription charge likewise removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we receive a small % of the deal, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Currensea Card Indonesia