A new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. Is Currensea Card Worth It…
It has won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-priced way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good thing.
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 just invest as you would on a regular debit card and the money is drawn from your current account– simply without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is totally free to apply for, which also helps.
There are likewise some fascinating travel benefits if you pick a paid plan, however the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or more affordable than the competitors
include increasingly more features which your existing customers don’t actually want or need
include charges, restrictions or fees to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Curve, monzo and revolut are already in Stage 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Is Currensea Card Worth It
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, charge card which use rewards and charge 0% FX costs are scarce. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which use a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any charges and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a very easy procedure. You utilize 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 validates that you have sufficient cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. adds a 0.5% fee if you have the complimentary card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic invest alert via the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. Without any 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 shows �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a few days later on:.
But converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is just about to happen (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In current years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea guarantees big savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
However I believe the very 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 running out of money and the extra action. But that does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the great, the bad, the ugly 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 transaction, allowing us to make income from our Important Strategy 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, full information can be found on our prices strategies.
Membership charges.
We charge an annual subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership charge also removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we receive a small % of the deal, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be credited you. Is Currensea Card Worth It