A new fintech company which I was presented to previously this year. What Countries Can I Use Currensea Card…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-priced way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing bank account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely spend as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your bank account– simply without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to look for, which also helps.
There are likewise some intriguing travel benefits if you select a paid strategy, however the complimentary strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is an organization design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competition
add increasingly more features which your existing customers don’t actually want or need
include charges, limitations or fees to the function 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 hopefully stay there. Revolut, monzo and curve are currently in Phase 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? What Countries Can I Use Currensea Card
It is a 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% fee.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex charges, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX fees are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which use a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to use abroad
you desire an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a really 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, internationally).
Your bank account bank immediately validates that you have sufficient cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the complimentary card, includes a 0.5% fee. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automatic invest notice by means of the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is taken from your current account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I decided to sprinkle 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 couple of days later on:.
Converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight burglary that is almost to occur (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion charges happening in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Luckily recently a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards promises big cost savings (85%) and a great app.
I believe the best bit may 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 current account with less stress over running out of money and the additional action. However that does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the great, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Vital Plan of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make earnings from our Important Plan whilst remaining more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free amount on all our plans, full information can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Membership costs.
We charge a yearly membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership cost likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we get a small % of the deal, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. What Countries Can I Use Currensea Card