A new fintech company which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Titanium Card…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an affordable method to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good thing.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You simply spend as you would on a regular debit card and the money is taken from your current account– simply without the normal 3% fee.
Oh, and is totally free to make an application for, which also assists.
There are also some fascinating travel benefits if you pick a paid plan, however the complimentary strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or more affordable than the competitors
include more and more features which your existing consumers don’t truly desire or require
include limitations, charges or costs to the function that made individuals get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are currently in Phase 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Titanium Card
It is a complimentary 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 wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which provide a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you want an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no fees and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, an extremely basic procedure. 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 immediately confirms that you have sufficient money in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. includes a 0.5% fee if you have the free card. There are no fees if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automated invest notification via the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I decided to splash out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
However converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is almost to happen (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Luckily recently a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards assures big cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I think the best bit may be what no other card does: links 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 extra action. That does not mean it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the great, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Vital Strategy of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make profits from our Essential Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free amount on all our strategies, complete details can be discovered on our rates strategies.
Subscription costs.
We charge a yearly membership fee 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, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Currensea Titanium Card