A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to previously this year. Currensea Head Office…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (using you an inexpensive method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good thing.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You just spend as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your existing account– simply without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to look for, which also assists.
There are likewise some fascinating travel advantages if you choose a paid plan, however the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or less expensive than the competition
include a growing number of features which your existing customers don’t truly need or want
add charges, charges or constraints to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Monzo, revolut and curve are already in Stage 3 …
is simple 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 Head Office
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex fees, then you don’t require a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX fees are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which use a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to utilize abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no charges and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a very basic process. You utilize 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 instantly confirms that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the complimentary card, includes a 0.5% charge. There are no fees if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend notice through the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I chose to splash 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:.
However transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is practically to take place (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion fees occurring 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 promises huge savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I think the best bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about lacking cash and the extra action. But that does not indicate it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the awful 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 deal, permitting us to make revenue from our Important Plan whilst staying 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 strategies, complete details can be found on our prices strategies.
Subscription fees.
We charge a yearly membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership cost also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we receive a little % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea Head Office