A new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Card Color…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (offering you a low-cost method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You simply spend as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your existing account– simply without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to get, which likewise assists.
There are likewise some fascinating travel advantages if you pick a paid strategy, but the free plan 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 free of charge or more affordable than the competition
add more and more features which your existing consumers do not really need or want
include charges, constraints or charges to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this process and will hopefully stay there. Curve, monzo and revolut are currently in Stage 3 …
is basic 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 Card Color
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 do not (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% forex charges, then you do not require a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which offer rewards and charge 0% FX charges are couple of and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which provide a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to utilize abroad
you want a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any charges and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a very basic procedure. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, internationally).
Your bank account bank automatically verifies that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. adds a 0.5% cost if you have the complimentary card. There are no costs if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend alert through 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 diary, 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 arranged to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later:.
However transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is just about to take place (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion charges happening in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In current years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards Currensea assures huge savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
However I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street savings account.
What this suggests is you can spend money you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of cash and the additional step. That does not indicate it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make earnings from our Necessary Strategy whilst remaining much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary quantity on all our strategies, full information can be found on our prices plans.
Membership fees.
We charge a yearly membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription cost also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we get a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Currensea Card Color