A new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. Can I Get Currensea Card For My Daughter…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-cost way to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good idea.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You merely invest as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your present account– simply without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to look for, which also helps.
There are also some interesting travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, but the totally free plan works fine. You can use here.
There is an organization design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or less expensive than the competitors
include increasingly more functions which your existing consumers don’t truly require or want
include costs, constraints or charges to the function that made people get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Revolut, curve and monzo are currently 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? Can I Get Currensea Card For My Daughter
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (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% foreign exchange charges, then you don’t require a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, charge card which offer rewards and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you desire a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any fees and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anybody 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 said previously, a really simple 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 confirms that you have sufficient money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. adds a 0.5% fee if you have the totally free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automatic spend notice via the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is taken from your current account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no 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 reveals �,� 4.33 arranged to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
Transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is just about to happen (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion fees taking place in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Thankfully in the last few years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards guarantees big cost savings (85%) and a great app.
I believe the best bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less worry about lacking cash and the extra step. That does not suggest it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the awful 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 Vital Plan of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make profits from our Essential Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free amount on all our plans, complete information can be found on our rates strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge a yearly subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription fee also gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we receive a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Can I Get Currensea Card For My Daughter