A new fintech business which I was presented to previously this year. How Do I Get A Currensea Card Uk…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an inexpensive way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You just invest as you would on a regular debit card and the money is taken from your current account– simply without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to request, which also assists.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you select a paid strategy, however the complimentary plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or cheaper than the competition
include more and more features which your existing customers don’t really want or require
include charges, limitations or costs to the function 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 hopefully remain there. Monzo, curve and revolut are already in Stage 3 …
is simple 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? How Do I Get A Currensea Card Uk
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you do not need a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX costs are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ options which provide a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you want an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any fees and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, an extremely easy process. You utilize 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 instantly confirms that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the complimentary card, adds a 0.5% charge. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automatic invest notice via the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no 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 shows �,� 4.33 arranged to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
Transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is almost to occur (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In recent years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards Currensea assures big savings (85%) and a great app.
I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking money and the extra step. However that does not mean it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the ugly 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 transaction, allowing us to make income from our Necessary Plan whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary quantity on all our plans, complete details can be found on our rates plans.
Subscription fees.
We charge a yearly subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership fee also gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we get a little % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. How Do I Get A Currensea Card Uk