A brand-new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Card Cash Deposit…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (providing you a low-cost 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. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing current account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply spend as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is drawn from your current account– simply without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to make an application for, which also assists.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you select a paid strategy, however the complimentary strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a service model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or less expensive than the competition
add a growing number of functions which your existing customers do not truly require or desire
add constraints, charges or costs to the feature that made individuals get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are currently in Stage 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Card Cash Deposit
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (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 require a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX costs are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which provide a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you want an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any costs and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product 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 money when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a really easy 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 bank account bank automatically validates that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. adds a 0.5% charge if you have the free card. There are no fees if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic invest alert through the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is drawn from your current account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I chose to splash out and purchase 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 pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is just about to take place (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Luckily in the last few years a handful of great travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards guarantees big savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I believe the finest bit may be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of money and the extra action. But that does not mean it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the unsightly and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Important Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make income from our Necessary Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free amount on all our plans, complete information can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Membership costs.
We charge a yearly membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership fee likewise gets rid of 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 won’t be charged to you. Currensea Card Cash Deposit