A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Get Currensea Card…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (using you a low-cost way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good idea.
is, efficiently, 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 normal debit card and the cash is drawn from your bank account– just without the usual 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to look for, which also helps.
There are also some fascinating travel benefits if you select a paid strategy, but the complimentary plan 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 something well, and totally free or less expensive than the competition
add more and more functions which your existing customers do not truly need or desire
add restrictions, charges or charges to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully stay there. Revolut, monzo and curve are currently in Stage 3 …
is simple 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? Get Currensea Card
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you don’t require a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX fees are scarce. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which offer a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you don’t have a charge 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 an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any fees and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, an extremely simple process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your current account bank immediately validates that you have sufficient cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. includes a 0.5% cost if you have the free card. There are no fees if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automated spend notification via the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I decided to sprinkle out and buy 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 on:.
But transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is practically to occur (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion costs happening in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Fortunately in recent years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards assures big savings (85%) and a great app.
However I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street checking account.
What this indicates is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less stress over lacking cash and the additional step. But that does not suggest it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the ugly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make earnings from our Vital 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 complimentary quantity on all our plans, complete information can be discovered on our rates strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge an annual subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership cost also eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we get a little % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Get Currensea Card