A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Is Currensea A Visa Card…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (using you an affordable way to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is an advantage.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing bank account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply invest as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your current account– simply without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is totally free to obtain, which also assists.
There are also some fascinating travel benefits if you choose a paid strategy, however the free plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competition
add increasingly more features which your existing customers don’t really require or want
include fees, limitations or charges to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Revolut, monzo and curve are already in Phase 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Is Currensea A Visa Card
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex costs, then you do not require a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX costs are couple of and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which offer a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another credit 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 fee beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who requires an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a really easy process. 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 current account bank immediately verifies that you have adequate money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the free card, includes a 0.5% charge. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automatic spend alert by means of the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is drawn from your current account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I decided to splash out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 set up 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 break-in that is practically to happen (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Fortunately over the last few years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards promises big cost savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less stress over lacking cash and the extra step. However that does not indicate it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Important Strategy of 0.5% per deal, allowing us to make revenue from our Necessary Plan whilst staying more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary amount on all our plans, complete information can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Membership fees.
We charge an annual membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription charge likewise eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we get a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Is Currensea A Visa Card