A new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Card India…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (offering you a low-cost way to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is an advantage.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You just spend as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your present account– simply without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to apply for, which also assists.
There are also some fascinating travel advantages if you select a paid strategy, but the free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a service model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or cheaper than the competition
add increasingly more functions which your existing customers do not actually need or want
add constraints, charges or costs to the function that made people get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will ideally remain there. Curve, monzo and revolut are already in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Card India
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically 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 miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex charges, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX costs are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ options which use a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you want an item 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 little cost beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a really simple process. 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 validates that you have enough cash 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 invest notification via the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I decided to sprinkle out and purchase 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 couple of days later:.
Converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is practically to happen (often in a various language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In recent years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards Currensea promises big savings (85%) and a terrific app.
But I think the very best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street savings account.
What this suggests is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of cash and the extra step. However that does not suggest it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation 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 Important Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make income from our Essential Plan whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary quantity on all our strategies, full details can be discovered on our prices plans.
Subscription fees.
We charge a yearly subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership cost also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Currensea Card India