A new fintech company which I was presented to previously this year. What Does A Currensea Card Look Like…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an affordable method 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 existing account– simply without the normal 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to make an application for, which also assists.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you choose a paid strategy, however the complimentary strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or less expensive than the competition
include more and more functions which your existing clients don’t actually desire or need
add charges, constraints or charges to the function that made people get your product 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 basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? What Does A Currensea Card Look Like
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly 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 company miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex costs, then you do not need a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX fees are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which offer a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you want an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any charges and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a very easy procedure. 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 current account bank instantly confirms 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. includes a 0.5% charge if you have the totally free card. There are no fees if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic invest alert via the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is drawn from your current account a couple of 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 couple of days later on:.
But transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is practically to occur (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Thankfully recently a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards guarantees huge cost savings (85%) and a great app.
However I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street checking account.
What this indicates is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about lacking money and the extra step. However that does not suggest it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Necessary Plan of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make revenue from our Important Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary quantity on all our plans, full details can be discovered on our prices plans.
Membership fees.
We charge a yearly subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription fee likewise eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we get a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. What Does A Currensea Card Look Like