A brand-new fintech business which I was presented to earlier this year. How To Use Your Currensea Card First Time…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (offering you an affordable way to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good thing.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing current account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You just spend as you would on a typical debit card and the money is taken from your current account– simply without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is totally free to make an application for, which likewise helps.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you choose a paid strategy, however the totally free strategy 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 more affordable than the competitors
add a growing number of functions which your existing customers do not truly need or want
add charges, costs or constraints to the function that made people get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will hopefully stay there. Curve, monzo and revolut 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 Use Your Currensea Card First Time
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make 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% forex costs, then you do not need a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, credit cards which offer rewards and charge 0% FX fees are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ options which use a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you want a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no fees and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a very 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, internationally).
Your bank account bank instantly verifies 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 on the currency. If you have the totally free card, includes a 0.5% charge. There are no fees if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automated invest notice through the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is taken 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 purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
However transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is just about to happen (often in a different language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Luckily in the last few years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards guarantees big savings (85%) and a great app.
I think the finest bit may be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can invest cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of money and the additional action. However that does not suggest it is best.
In this Currensea review 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 nominal FX markup on our Necessary Plan of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make revenue from our Vital Plan whilst remaining much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary amount on all our plans, full details can be discovered on our pricing strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge a yearly membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership charge likewise gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be credited you. How To Use Your Currensea Card First Time