A new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Can You Use Currensea Card In Turkey…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (using you a low-priced method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good thing.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing current account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely invest as you would on a regular debit card and the money is taken from your bank account– just without the typical 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to apply for, which likewise assists.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you choose 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 competitors
include more and more features which your existing customers do not truly desire or require
include charges, restrictions or charges to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Monzo, curve and revolut are currently in Stage 3 …
is simple 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 Turkey
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (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% foreign exchange fees, then you don’t need a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX charges are couple of and far in between. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which use a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you desire a product 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 small fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a really basic 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 current account bank automatically verifies that you have enough money in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the complimentary card, includes a 0.5% charge. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automated spend notification by means of the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I chose to splash out and purchase 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:.
Converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is almost to take place (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In current years a handful of great travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards Currensea promises huge savings (85%) and an excellent app.
However I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street savings account.
What this means is you can invest cash you have in your existing bank account with less stress over running out of money and the extra action. That does not imply it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the great, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Important Strategy of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make earnings from our Important Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free quantity on all our plans, complete information can be discovered on our prices strategies.
Subscription costs.
We charge a yearly membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership fee also removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a small % of the deal, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Can You Use Currensea Card In Turkey