A new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Can I Use My Currensea Card In South Africa…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (using you an affordable method to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is an advantage.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing current account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely spend as you would on a regular debit card and the money is taken from your current account– just without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to apply for, which also helps.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you pick a paid plan, however the free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or cheaper than the competition
add a growing number of functions which your existing consumers don’t truly desire or need
include charges, restrictions or charges to the function that made individuals get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Revolut, curve and monzo are already in Phase 3 …
is basic 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 South Africa
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately 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 costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX fees are few and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS possibly 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 particularly to use abroad
you want a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a really simple 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 confirms that you have enough money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. adds a 0.5% cost if you have the totally free card. There are no costs if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automated invest notification via the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no 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 set up to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
However transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is practically to take place (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Luckily in recent years a handful of great travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards guarantees huge cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can invest cash you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking money and the extra step. But that does not mean it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Necessary Strategy of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make earnings from our Important Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free amount on all our plans, full information can be discovered on our pricing strategies.
Subscription charges.
We charge an annual membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost also removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we receive a small % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Can I Use My Currensea Card In South Africa