A new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea Card Cont In Lire…
It has actually won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (offering you a low-cost way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is an advantage.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You merely spend as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– simply without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is totally free to get, which also assists.
There are also some interesting travel benefits if you choose a paid plan, but the totally free 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 something well, and free of charge or more affordable than the competition
include a growing number of functions which your existing customers don’t actually need or desire
include fees, charges or limitations to the feature that made individuals get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Revolut, monzo and curve are currently in Stage 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 Cont In Lire
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (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 fees, then you do not need a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX fees are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which offer 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 costs and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you want a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no costs and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a very simple 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 current account bank immediately confirms that you have adequate cash 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, adds a 0.5% fee. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automatic invest notice via the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is taken from your current account a few days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I decided to splash out and purchase 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 few days later on:.
However converting pounds was costly.
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 inflated currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea assures huge savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
However I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street savings account.
What this suggests is you can invest money you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of money and the additional step. That does not imply it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make income from our Vital Strategy whilst remaining more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free amount on all our plans, full details can be discovered on our rates strategies.
Subscription charges.
We charge an annual membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership charge likewise removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Currensea Card Cont In Lire