A new fintech company which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Reddit…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (using you an affordable 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. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing current account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely spend as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your current account– just without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to request, which also helps.
There are also some fascinating travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, however the totally free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or cheaper than the competition
add more and more functions which your existing clients don’t actually desire or need
add fees, constraints or charges to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Monzo, curve and revolut are already in Stage 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Reddit
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you don’t require a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, charge card which offer benefits and charge 0% FX charges are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you want an item which enables 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 kids, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when taking a trip.
How does work 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, internationally).
Your current account bank immediately confirms that you have enough money in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. includes a 0.5% cost if you have the free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automatic invest notice through the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I decided to splash out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
But converting pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is just about to take place (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion fees happening in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In current years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea guarantees big cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
However I believe the very best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street savings account.
What this suggests is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about lacking money and the additional step. That does not indicate it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the great, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Necessary Strategy of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make profits from our Essential Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free quantity on all our plans, complete information can be found on our prices strategies.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost likewise eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we get a small % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Currensea Reddit