A brand-new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. Can I Use My Currensea Card In An Atm…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (using you a low-cost way to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good idea.
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 spend as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your bank account– just without the usual 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to apply for, which also assists.
There are likewise some fascinating travel benefits if you pick a paid plan, however the complimentary strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or more affordable than the competitors
include increasingly more features which your existing customers don’t truly want or need
add constraints, charges or fees to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will hopefully remain there. Revolut, monzo and curve are already in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Can I Use My Currensea Card In An Atm
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange fees, then you do not require a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX fees are few and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which use a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you want an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no charges and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire 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, a very easy procedure. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, internationally).
Your bank account bank instantly confirms that you have sufficient 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. If you have the totally free card, includes a 0.5% charge. There are no fees if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automated spend notification through the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is taken from your current account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I chose to splash 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 few days later:.
Converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is almost to occur (often in a various language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Fortunately recently a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards assures huge savings (85%) and a terrific 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 cash you have in your existing current account with less fret about running out of money and the extra action. That does not mean it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, 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 Vital Strategy of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make revenue from our Necessary Plan whilst staying more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free amount on all our strategies, complete information can be discovered on our pricing strategies.
Subscription costs.
We charge a yearly subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership fee likewise removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we receive a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Can I Use My Currensea Card In An Atm