A new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. How To Enable Currensea Card…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (using you an inexpensive way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good idea.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You merely spend as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your current account– just without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to request, which also assists.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you select a paid plan, but the complimentary plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or less expensive than the competition
include a growing number of features which your existing clients do not truly want or require
include costs, limitations or charges to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are currently in Phase 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? How To Enable Currensea Card
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately charges 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 using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which provide a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to utilize abroad
you want an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any costs and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, 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 work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, an extremely easy 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 bank account bank instantly verifies that you have adequate cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the totally free card, adds a 0.5% fee. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automatic spend alert through the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, 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 set up to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
However converting pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is almost to occur (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion charges happening in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Fortunately over the last few years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards guarantees big savings (85%) and a great app.
I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can spend money you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of cash and the extra action. That does not suggest it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the great, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Necessary Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make profits from our Necessary Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free quantity on all our plans, complete details can be found on our prices strategies.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership charge also removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend 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. How To Enable Currensea Card