A new fintech company which I was presented to previously this year. How To Buy Xbox Games With A Currensea Card…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an affordable way to invest abroad) but 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 bank account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely invest as you would on a typical debit card and the money is drawn from your current account– just without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to apply for, which likewise helps.
There are likewise some interesting travel benefits if you choose a paid strategy, but the complimentary plan works fine. You can use here.
There is an organization model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or more affordable than the competitors
include more and more functions which your existing consumers don’t actually desire or require
include charges, charges or limitations to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Curve, monzo and revolut are currently in Phase 3 …
is easy 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? How To Buy Xbox Games With A Currensea Card
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex costs, then you do not require a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, charge card which offer rewards and charge 0% FX fees are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which provide a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to utilize abroad
you desire a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any charges and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a really simple process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your current account bank immediately confirms that you have enough 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. adds a 0.5% fee if you have the totally free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automated spend notification by means of the app, if you select to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I decided to sprinkle 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 few days later on:.
But transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is just about to take place (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion fees happening in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Luckily in recent years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards guarantees huge cost savings (85%) and a great app.
However 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 cash you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking money and the additional action. That does not indicate it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Necessary Strategy of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make revenue from our Important 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 complimentary amount on all our plans, full details can be found on our rates plans.
Membership charges.
We charge a yearly membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription charge also removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we receive a little % of the deal, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. How To Buy Xbox Games With A Currensea Card