A brand-new fintech business which I was presented to previously this year. Currensea Additional Card Holder…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (using you a low-priced way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good thing.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You just spend as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is taken from your present account– just without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to get, which also assists.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you select a paid strategy, but the free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or less expensive than the competitors
include more and more features which your existing customers don’t actually require or desire
include limitations, charges or charges to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are already in Stage 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? Currensea Additional Card Holder
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make 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 require a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS potentially 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 specifically to utilize abroad
you desire a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any costs and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, an extremely simple procedure. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your current account bank immediately verifies that you have sufficient cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. adds a 0.5% charge if you have the totally free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automatic spend alert by means of the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is taken from your bank account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I chose to splash out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
However converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is just about to take place (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Luckily in recent years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards assures huge savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I think the finest bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of cash and the extra step. However that does not suggest it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Vital Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make income from our Vital Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary amount on all our strategies, full information can be found on our prices strategies.
Membership charges.
We charge a yearly subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership cost also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we get a little % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Currensea Additional Card Holder