A new fintech company which I was presented to previously this year. Can I Pay My Currensea With Another Credit Card…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (using you an inexpensive way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is an advantage.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing bank account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply spend as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– simply without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to make an application for, which also assists.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you select a paid strategy, but the complimentary strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or less expensive than the competition
include a growing number of functions which your existing clients do not actually want or need
include constraints, costs or charges to the feature that made people 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 Stage 3 …
is easy 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 Pay My Currensea With Another Credit Card
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn 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 costs, then you do not require a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which use a partial solution 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 charges and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a very easy process. You use 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 automatically confirms that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the totally free card, adds a 0.5% cost. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automated invest notification via the app, if you select to install it.
The money is taken from your bank account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I decided to splash out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later:.
Converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight burglary that is practically to occur (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion charges happening in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards Currensea promises huge savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less stress over running out of cash and the additional action. That does not suggest it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Important Strategy of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make income from our Essential Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free amount on all our plans, full information can be discovered on our rates strategies.
Subscription charges.
We charge an annual subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost also removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Can I Pay My Currensea With Another Credit Card