A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea Junior Card…
It has actually won a few awards over current months for what it does (providing you an inexpensive method to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good thing.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing current account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply invest as you would on a typical debit card and the money is drawn from your current account– just without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to obtain, which also assists.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you select a paid plan, but the free plan 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 less expensive than the competitors
include increasingly more functions which your existing consumers don’t really want or need
include fees, limitations or charges 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 hopefully remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are already in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the pub in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Junior Card
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you do not require a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far in between. The only ‘miles and points’ options which use a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month without any fees and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you want 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 money when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, 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 automatically confirms that you have enough money in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the totally free card, adds a 0.5% charge. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automatic spend notification by means of the app, if you select to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, 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:.
However converting pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is just about to occur (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards Currensea promises big cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I believe the best bit may be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less stress over lacking money and the additional step. But that does not mean it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Plan of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make income from our Necessary Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free quantity on all our strategies, complete details can be discovered on our rates plans.
Subscription charges.
We charge a yearly subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription cost also removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we receive a small % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Currensea Junior Card