A new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Can I Use My Currensea Card In America…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an affordable method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good thing.
is, successfully, 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 simply invest as you would on a typical debit card and the money is drawn from your bank account– simply without the normal 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to apply for, which likewise helps.
There are also some fascinating travel benefits if you choose a paid plan, however the complimentary plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or cheaper than the competitors
add more and more functions which your existing clients don’t really need or want
add charges, restrictions or fees to the function that made people get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will ideally remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are currently in Stage 3 …
is simple 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? Can I Use My Currensea Card In America
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 small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you do not require a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, charge card which use rewards and charge 0% FX fees are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ options which offer a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you want a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any charges and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a really basic process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your bank account bank instantly confirms that you have adequate 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% cost if you have the free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automatic invest notice by means of 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 shows �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
Converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is practically to happen (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion fees happening in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards Currensea guarantees huge cost savings (85%) and a great app.
But I believe the very best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street checking account.
What this implies is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less stress over lacking money and the extra step. That does not indicate it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the awful 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, allowing us to make revenue from our Vital Plan whilst remaining much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free quantity on all our strategies, full details can be discovered on our prices plans.
Subscription costs.
We charge an annual subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership cost likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we get a small % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Can I Use My Currensea Card In America