A new fintech business which I was presented to previously this year. Does Currensea Charge For Card Payments…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (using you a low-priced way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good idea.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You merely invest as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– simply without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to get, which also helps.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you select a paid strategy, however the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competitors
add more and more features which your existing consumers do not really desire or need
include constraints, charges or charges to the feature 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 ideally remain there. Monzo, curve and revolut 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? Does Currensea Charge For Card Payments
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
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% foreign exchange charges, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which use a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to use abroad
you want an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no fees and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who requires an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when travelling.
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, globally).
Your current account bank instantly validates 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 upon the currency. adds a 0.5% fee if you have the complimentary card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automatic invest notice via the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is drawn from your current account a few days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I decided to splash out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is almost to take place (often in a various language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion costs happening in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Luckily in the last few years a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards promises huge cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less fret about running out of cash and the additional action. However that does not imply it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the ugly 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 transaction, enabling us to make profits from our Essential Plan whilst remaining much cheaper than other prepaid 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 information can be found on our pricing plans.
Membership costs.
We charge a yearly membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription fee likewise removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Does Currensea Charge For Card Payments