A new fintech company which I was introduced to previously this year. Elite Currensea Myfxbook…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an affordable way to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good thing.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You just spend as you would on a regular debit card and the money is taken from your present account– just without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is totally free to get, which also helps.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you select a paid plan, but the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or cheaper than the competition
include more and more features which your existing customers do not truly need or desire
add restrictions, costs or charges to the function that made individuals get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will ideally stay there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Stage 3 …
is simple 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? Elite Currensea Myfxbook
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
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 fees, then you do not require a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX costs are few and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to utilize abroad
you want an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any fees and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, an extremely simple process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, globally).
Your bank account bank immediately validates that you have enough money in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. adds a 0.5% fee if you have the complimentary card. There are no fees if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend notice by means of the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is taken from your current account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no 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:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight burglary that is almost to take place (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Thankfully in the last few years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards assures huge cost savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
However I believe 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 cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of cash and the additional action. That does not mean it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the unsightly and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Necessary Plan of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make revenue from our Vital Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free quantity on all our strategies, full information can be discovered on our pricing strategies.
Subscription charges.
We charge a yearly subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription charge likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Elite Currensea Myfxbook