A brand-new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. Do I Have To Pay Monthly For The Currensea Card…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you a low-priced way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is an advantage.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You just invest as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is taken from your existing account– just without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to make an application for, which also helps.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you select a paid plan, however the complimentary plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or more affordable than the competitors
include more and more features which your existing consumers do not actually desire or need
include charges, constraints or fees to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Revolut, curve and monzo are already in Phase 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Do I Have To Pay Monthly For The Currensea Card
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize 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 using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX charges are rare. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which use a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any costs and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a very simple process. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, globally).
Your bank account bank instantly verifies that you have enough money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. adds a 0.5% charge if you have the complimentary card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic invest notification through the app, if you select to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a couple of days later.
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 reveals �,� 4.33 arranged to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
Transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is just about to occur (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Luckily in the last few years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards guarantees big savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can spend money you have in your existing current account with less worry about lacking money and the additional step. However that does not suggest it is best.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Important Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make income from our Necessary Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free amount on all our plans, full information can be found on our prices strategies.
Membership costs.
We charge an annual subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership charge also removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we get a little % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Do I Have To Pay Monthly For The Currensea Card