A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Is A Currensea Card A Debit Card…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You merely invest as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your existing account– simply without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to get, which also assists.
There are also some fascinating travel benefits if you choose a paid plan, but the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or more affordable than the competition
add a growing number of features which your existing consumers don’t really desire or need
add charges, limitations or charges to the function that made people get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will ideally stay there. Curve, monzo and revolut are currently in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Is A Currensea Card A Debit Card
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately charges 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 using 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 want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX fees are rare. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which offer a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any charges and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you want a product 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 travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a really basic process. You utilize 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 instantly verifies that you have adequate cash 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% fee if you have the free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automated spend notification by means of the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is drawn from your current account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I chose to splash out and buy 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 couple of days later:.
Transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight burglary that is practically to happen (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs taking place in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards Currensea assures huge cost savings (85%) and a great app.
But I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street checking account.
What this implies is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less stress over running out of money and the additional action. That does not indicate it is best.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Vital Plan of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make profits from our Vital Strategy 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 free amount on all our plans, full information can be discovered on our rates strategies.
Subscription charges.
We charge an annual subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription charge also eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a small % of the deal, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Is A Currensea Card A Debit Card