A new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Can You Use Currensea Card In Mexico…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you a low-priced method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You merely invest as you would on a typical debit card and the money is taken from your present account– simply without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to get, which also helps.
There are likewise some interesting travel benefits if you pick a paid plan, but the totally free strategy 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 free of charge or cheaper than the competition
include more and more functions which your existing clients do not really desire or need
add restrictions, costs or charges to the function that made individuals get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will hopefully stay 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 bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Can You Use Currensea Card In Mexico
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% 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 credit card offering 0% forex charges, then you do not need a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX fees are rare. The only ‘miles and points’ options which offer a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to utilize abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any costs and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little cost beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, an extremely 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 instantly validates that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the free card, adds a 0.5% cost. There are no charges if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automated invest notice via the app, if you select to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I decided to splash out and purchase 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 couple of days later:.
However converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is just about to happen (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion costs happening in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Luckily in recent years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards promises big savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I think the best bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about lacking cash and the extra step. But that does not suggest it is best.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the unsightly 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 Necessary Plan of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make earnings from our Necessary Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free quantity on all our strategies, complete information can be found on our pricing strategies.
Membership costs.
We charge a yearly subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription charge also removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we get a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Can You Use Currensea Card In Mexico