A brand-new fintech company which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Customer Service…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (providing you an affordable way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing current account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply spend as you would on a normal debit card and the money is drawn from your bank account– simply without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to obtain, which also assists.
There are likewise some fascinating travel advantages if you select a paid strategy, however the complimentary plan 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 totally free or cheaper than the competitors
include more and more features which your existing consumers do not actually require or want
add charges, constraints or costs 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, monzo and curve are currently in Stage 3 …
is basic 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 Customer Service
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn 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 costs, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, charge card which use rewards and charge 0% FX costs are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which offer a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs 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 charge card particularly to utilize abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no costs and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a little cost beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody 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 said earlier, a very easy procedure. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, internationally).
Your current account bank immediately validates that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. includes a 0.5% cost if you have the complimentary card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic invest alert through the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I chose 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:.
Converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is almost to occur (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Fortunately over the last few years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards assures huge cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
But I think the very best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street savings account.
What this suggests is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking cash and the additional step. However that does not indicate it is ideal.
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 Plan of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make earnings from our Necessary Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid 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 rates strategies.
Subscription fees.
We charge an annual subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription charge also eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Currensea Customer Service