A brand-new fintech business which I was presented to previously this year. Do You Get Charged For Using Currensea Card Abroad…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an affordable way to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You just invest as you would on a typical debit card and the money is taken from your current account– just without the normal 3% charge.
Oh, and is totally free to get, which also helps.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you pick a paid strategy, however the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or cheaper than the competitors
add more and more functions which your existing clients don’t actually want or require
add charges, limitations or costs to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Revolut, monzo and curve are already in Phase 3 …
is easy 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? Do You Get Charged For Using Currensea Card Abroad
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you do not need a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX fees are few and far in between. The only ‘miles and points’ options which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS possibly 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 particularly to use abroad
you desire a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no charges and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you want an item 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 taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a really simple process. 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 instantly verifies that you have enough money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. includes a 0.5% cost if you have the free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automatic spend notice through the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I decided to sprinkle out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 arranged to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
But converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is practically to occur (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Fortunately recently a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards assures big savings (85%) and a great app.
I think the finest bit may be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can invest money you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of money and the extra action. That does not suggest 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 plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Plan of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make revenue from our Important Plan whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free amount on all our strategies, complete details can be found on our prices plans.
Membership costs.
We charge an annual subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership cost also removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we get a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be credited you. Do You Get Charged For Using Currensea Card Abroad