A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Can I Get A Second Currensea Card Mastercard…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an inexpensive way to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You simply spend as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your existing account– simply without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is totally free to get, which also assists.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you choose a paid strategy, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is an organization model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or more affordable than the competition
add increasingly more features which your existing consumers don’t actually require or desire
include charges, costs or restrictions to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully stay there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Can I Get A Second Currensea Card Mastercard
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex charges, then you do not need a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX charges are couple of and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which offer a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to utilize abroad
you want an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no fees and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, an extremely basic process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, globally).
Your bank account bank automatically verifies that you have enough money in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. adds a 0.5% charge if you have the complimentary card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic spend notice via the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a few days later.
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 arranged to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
However converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is just about to occur (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Thankfully over the last few years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards guarantees huge savings (85%) and a terrific app.
However I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less stress over running out of cash and the additional action. But that does not suggest it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Plan of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make profits from our Necessary Plan 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 information can be found on our pricing plans.
Subscription fees.
We charge a yearly subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership charge likewise removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we get a little % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Can I Get A Second Currensea Card Mastercard