A brand-new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Card Billing Country…
It has actually won a few awards over current months for what it does (using you an affordable method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing bank account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply invest as you would on a typical debit card and the money is drawn from your current account– just without the usual 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to obtain, which also assists.
There are likewise some intriguing travel advantages if you select a paid strategy, but the totally free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competition
add more and more functions which your existing clients don’t truly require or want
add charges, restrictions or charges to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will hopefully remain there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are currently in Phase 3 …
is simple 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 Billing Country
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you do not need a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs 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 charge card particularly to use abroad
you desire an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any fees and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small charge 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 work in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a really 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 immediately validates that you have sufficient cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the free card, includes a 0.5% fee. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic invest notification via the app, if you choose 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 purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
Transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is just about to happen (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea promises big cost savings (85%) and a great app.
I think the best bit may be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of cash and the additional step. However that does not imply it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the awful 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 deal, allowing us to make income from our Important Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary quantity on all our strategies, complete details can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Subscription charges.
We charge a yearly membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership fee also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Currensea Card Billing Country