A new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Where Can I Use A Currensea Card…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you a low-cost method to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple 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 absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply spend as you would on a typical debit card and the money is taken from your bank account– just without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to make an application for, which likewise assists.
There are likewise some interesting travel advantages if you pick a paid plan, however the free plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or less expensive than the competition
add a growing number of features which your existing clients do not really require or want
add charges, charges or limitations to the function that made individuals get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will ideally stay there. Monzo, curve and revolut are already in Phase 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? Where Can I Use A Currensea Card
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you don’t need a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX costs are rare. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which provide 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 wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any fees and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you want an item 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 money when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a very basic procedure. You use 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 automatically verifies that you have enough money in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the totally free card, includes a 0.5% charge. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic spend alert through the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I decided to splash out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later:.
But transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is almost to take place (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Luckily recently a handful of great travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards guarantees huge savings (85%) and a terrific app.
But I believe the very best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street savings account.
What this suggests is you can invest money you have in your existing current account with less fret about running out of cash and the additional step. That does not imply it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the great, 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 Vital Plan of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make earnings from our Vital Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free amount on all our strategies, full details can be found on our rates plans.
Membership costs.
We charge a yearly membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership charge likewise removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we get a little % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Where Can I Use A Currensea Card