A brand-new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. How To Get A Currensea Card Ireland…
It has actually won a few awards over current months for what it does (providing you an inexpensive way to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good thing.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You simply invest as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– simply without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to get, which also assists.
There are also some fascinating travel advantages if you choose a paid plan, however the totally free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or more affordable than the competitors
include more and more functions which your existing customers don’t actually need or desire
add restrictions, charges or costs to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are already in Phase 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? How To Get A Currensea Card Ireland
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically recharges 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 company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange fees, then you do not require a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which offer rewards and charge 0% FX costs are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which offer a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no fees and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve 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 local currency (any currency, globally).
Your bank account bank instantly verifies that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the complimentary card, includes a 0.5% fee. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automatic invest notification by means of the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I decided to sprinkle out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
Transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is practically to occur (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion charges happening in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards Currensea promises huge cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
However I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street checking account.
What this means is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of cash and the additional step. That does not imply it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the unsightly and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Important Strategy of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make profits from our Important Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free quantity on all our strategies, complete information can be found on our rates plans.
Membership charges.
We charge a yearly membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership cost also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we get a little % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be credited you. How To Get A Currensea Card Ireland