A brand-new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Monzo Vs Currensea…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (providing you an inexpensive way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good idea.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing bank account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely spend as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is drawn from your current account– simply without the usual 3% cost.
Oh, and is totally free to get, which likewise helps.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you select a paid plan, but the free plan 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 less expensive than the competition
add a growing number of features which your existing consumers do not really need or want
include fees, restrictions or charges to the feature that made individuals get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will ideally remain there. Curve, monzo and revolut are currently in Phase 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Monzo Vs Currensea
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make 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 charges, then you don’t need a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices 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 do not have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to use abroad
you want a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any costs and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult children, 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 work in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a really basic process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your current account bank immediately validates that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the free card, includes a 0.5% cost. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic spend alert through the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is drawn from your current account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, 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 couple of days later on:.
However transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is just about to occur (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In recent years a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea assures big savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I believe the finest bit may be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can invest cash you have in your existing bank account with less fret about running out of cash and the additional step. However that does not imply it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the ugly 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 Important Plan of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make profits from our Essential Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary amount on all our plans, complete information can be discovered on our prices strategies.
Subscription fees.
We charge an annual subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership fee also removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we receive a small % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be credited you. Monzo Vs Currensea