A new fintech business which I was presented to previously this year. Currensea Card Bangladesh…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (using you a low-priced way to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good thing.
is, efficiently, 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 drawn from your current account– simply without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is totally free to look for, which likewise helps.
There are likewise some interesting travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, however the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or cheaper than the competition
add a growing number of functions which your existing consumers do not actually want or need
add constraints, fees 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 ideally remain there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are already in Phase 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Card Bangladesh
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically charges 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 charge card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you do not need a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, charge card which offer benefits and charge 0% FX fees are scarce. The only ‘miles and points’ options which use a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you want an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no costs and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, an extremely basic procedure. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, globally).
Your bank account bank immediately confirms that you have sufficient money in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. adds a 0.5% cost if you have the totally free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automated invest notice via the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is taken from your current account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I decided to sprinkle out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 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 daytime robbery that is just about to occur (often in a various language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Fortunately over the last few years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards promises big savings (85%) and a terrific app.
However I believe the very best 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 current account with less fret about lacking cash and the additional step. But that does not mean it is best.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Important Strategy of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make income from our Vital Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free amount on all our strategies, full information can be discovered on our rates plans.
Membership fees.
We charge a yearly subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost also gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we get a little % of the deal, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Currensea Card Bangladesh