A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Add Currensea Card To Samsung Pay…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-cost method to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing current account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You just spend as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is taken from your bank account– simply without the typical 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to request, which also helps.
There are likewise some intriguing travel benefits if you pick a paid plan, but the complimentary plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or more affordable than the competition
add increasingly more features which your existing consumers do not really want or need
add charges, charges or limitations to the function that made people get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will hopefully stay there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are already in Phase 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Add Currensea Card To Samsung Pay
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which offer a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to use abroad
you want an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any fees and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, an extremely 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, worldwide).
Your bank account bank immediately validates that you have sufficient money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. adds a 0.5% charge if you have the totally free card. There are no charges if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend notice via the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I chose to sprinkle 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 few days later on:.
Converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is just about to happen (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion costs happening in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In recent years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards Currensea guarantees huge savings (85%) and an excellent app.
But I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street savings account.
What this indicates is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of cash and the extra action. But that does not indicate it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the awful 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 Vital Plan of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make income from our Vital Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary quantity on all our plans, complete information can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership cost also removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Add Currensea Card To Samsung Pay