A brand-new fintech business which I was presented to previously this year. Currensea Essential…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (using you an inexpensive way to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good idea.
is, effectively, 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 just spend as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is drawn from your bank account– just without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to look for, which also assists.
There are likewise some interesting travel benefits if you pick a paid plan, but the free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competition
include more and more features which your existing clients don’t really want or need
add fees, charges or restrictions to the function that made people get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Curve, monzo and revolut are currently in Phase 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Essential
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline 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 don’t require a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX costs are scarce. The only ‘miles and points’ options which use a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any costs and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you want 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 conserve them money when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a very basic 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 current account bank immediately confirms that you have enough money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the complimentary card, adds a 0.5% cost. There are no charges if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend notification via the app, if you select to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a few days later.
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 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
But converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is practically to take place (often in a various language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In current years a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards Currensea promises huge savings (85%) and a terrific app.
However I believe the very best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street checking account.
What this indicates is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less worry about lacking cash and the additional action. That does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the great, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Vital Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make revenue from our Important Plan whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free quantity on all our plans, complete details can be discovered on our prices strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge an annual membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription charge likewise eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Currensea Essential