A brand-new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Sort Code Currensea Card…
It has actually won a few awards over current months for what it does (using you a low-cost method to spend 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. You merely invest as you would on a typical debit card and the money is taken from your current account– just without the usual 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to look for, which also assists.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you select a paid plan, but the complimentary plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competition
include increasingly more features which your existing consumers don’t really want or need
add charges, fees or limitations to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will ideally stay there. Curve, monzo and revolut are already in Stage 3 …
is easy 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? Sort Code Currensea Card
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline company 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 desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, charge card which use benefits and charge 0% FX fees are scarce. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which offer 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 credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you want a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any fees and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a very basic process. 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 bank account bank instantly validates that you have sufficient 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. If you have the complimentary card, includes a 0.5% cost. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automatic invest notice through the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is taken from your current account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I decided to sprinkle out and purchase 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:.
Converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is just about to take place (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards Currensea promises huge savings (85%) and a terrific app.
However I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less fret about lacking cash and the additional action. That does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make revenue from our Vital Strategy whilst remaining more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free quantity on all our strategies, complete details can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Subscription charges.
We charge a yearly membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription cost also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we get a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Sort Code Currensea Card