A new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Do I Sign My Currensea Card…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (providing you an affordable method 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 typical debit card and the money is taken from your current account– simply without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to obtain, which likewise assists.
There are also some fascinating travel advantages if you select a paid strategy, but the free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually 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 customers do not actually need or desire
include fees, constraints or charges to the function that made individuals get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this process and will hopefully remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Stage 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Do I Sign My Currensea Card
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far in 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 don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to utilize abroad
you want a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, an extremely easy 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 current account bank automatically confirms that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the complimentary card, adds a 0.5% fee. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic invest notice by means of the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank 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 on:.
But transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is almost to occur (often in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion costs taking place in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In current years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards Currensea promises big cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
But I think the very best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street checking account.
What this indicates is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about lacking money and the extra action. But that does not mean it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Plan of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make revenue from our Important 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 strategies, complete details can be found on our prices plans.
Membership charges.
We charge an annual membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership fee also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we get a small % of the deal, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Do I Sign My Currensea Card