A new fintech business which I was presented to previously this year. Currensea Business…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an affordable way to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You simply invest as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your present account– simply without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to obtain, which likewise assists.
There are likewise some intriguing travel advantages if you choose a paid plan, however the totally free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or less expensive than the competition
include a growing number of functions which your existing clients don’t truly need or want
include fees, constraints or charges to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will ideally stay there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are currently in Phase 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Business
It is a free direct debit card to utilize 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 want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex charges, then you do not require a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, charge card which provide benefits and charge 0% FX fees are rare. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to utilize abroad
you desire a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no charges and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a really basic procedure. 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 current account bank automatically verifies that you have enough money 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% fee. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automated invest notice via the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash 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 couple of days later on:.
Transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is almost to occur (often in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion costs happening in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Luckily over the last few years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards promises huge cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I think the finest bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of cash and the extra step. That does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make revenue from our Important Strategy whilst remaining more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free quantity on all our plans, complete details can be found on our prices strategies.
Subscription charges.
We charge a yearly membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription fee also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we get a little % of the deal, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea Business