A new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. How To Activate Your Currensea Card…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an inexpensive way to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You just invest as you would on a typical debit card and the money is taken from your current account– simply without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is totally free to obtain, which also assists.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and for free or more affordable than the competitors
include a growing number of features which your existing clients do not actually desire or require
include charges, limitations or charges to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will hopefully stay there. Revolut, monzo and curve are already in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? How To Activate Your Currensea Card
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you do not require a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX fees are couple of and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which provide 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 charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to use abroad
you desire a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no costs and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little cost beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a really easy process. You utilize 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 automatically verifies that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. includes a 0.5% fee if you have the free card. There are no costs if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automated invest alert via the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is taken from your current account a few days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I chose to splash 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 couple of days later:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is just about to happen (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Do not get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Fortunately in the last few years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards assures big cost savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I believe the finest bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of cash and the extra action. That does not suggest it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, 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 Necessary Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make revenue from our Essential Plan 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 totally free quantity on all our plans, complete information can be found on our prices strategies.
Membership charges.
We charge an annual membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription fee also removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you invest with your card we get a small % of the deal, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be credited you. How To Activate Your Currensea Card