A new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Can You Use A Currensea Card In Any Country…
It has actually won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (offering you an affordable method to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is an advantage.
is, successfully, 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 merely invest as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is drawn from your bank account– simply without the usual 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to request, which also helps.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you pick a paid plan, but the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or cheaper than the competitors
include increasingly more functions which your existing clients don’t actually want or need
add limitations, fees or charges to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Stage 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? Can You Use A Currensea Card In Any Country
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex fees, then you do not require a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX fees are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which provide a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs 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 credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you want an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any charges and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, an extremely easy 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 enough money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. includes a 0.5% charge if you have the free card. There are no charges if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automated invest alert through the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is taken from your current account a few days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I chose to sprinkle out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
Converting pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is practically to happen (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs happening in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards Currensea assures big cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
However I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street savings account.
What this implies is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about lacking cash and the extra action. However that does not suggest it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Vital Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make income from our Important Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary amount on all our plans, complete details can be discovered on our prices strategies.
Membership charges.
We charge an annual membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription charge also removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Can You Use A Currensea Card In Any Country