A new fintech company which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Card Can I Use It In The Philippines…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (using you a low-cost way to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good thing.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing bank account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely invest as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– simply without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is totally free to apply for, which also assists.
There are also some fascinating travel advantages if you select a paid plan, but the complimentary plan 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 free of charge or more affordable than the competition
add increasingly more features which your existing customers do not actually want or require
include fees, restrictions or charges to the feature that made individuals get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will hopefully stay there. Revolut, monzo and curve are already in Phase 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Card Can I Use It In The Philippines
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately 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 miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange fees, then you don’t require a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, charge card which offer rewards and charge 0% FX costs are rare. The only ‘points and miles’ options which offer 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 credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you want a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a very simple process. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, internationally).
Your current 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. If you have the totally free card, includes a 0.5% fee. There are no charges if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automatic invest alert through the app, if you select to install it.
The money is taken from your current account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I chose to sprinkle out and purchase 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:.
Transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight burglary that is just about to happen (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards Currensea assures huge cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
However I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street checking account.
What this means is you can invest money you have in your existing current account with less stress over running out of cash and the extra step. But that does not mean it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Vital Plan of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make profits from our Necessary 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 totally free amount on all our strategies, complete information can be found on our prices strategies.
Membership charges.
We charge a yearly membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership cost also removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we receive a little % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea Card Can I Use It In The Philippines