A brand-new fintech company which I was introduced to previously this year. Can I Have More Than One Currensea Card…
It has actually won a few awards over current months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good idea.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing bank account. There is nothing to top-up or prepay. You simply invest as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is drawn from your current account– simply without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to get, which likewise assists.
There are also some intriguing travel benefits if you pick a paid plan, but the complimentary strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is an organization design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or more affordable than the competitors
include a growing number of features which your existing clients do not truly want or need
add charges, costs or limitations to the function that made people get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully remain there. Curve, monzo and revolut are already in Phase 3 …
is easy 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? Can I Have More Than One Currensea Card
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
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% forex fees, then you do not require a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, charge card which offer rewards and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which use a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not wish to impact 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 per month without any fees and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, an extremely easy process. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, globally).
Your current account bank automatically confirms that you have sufficient 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. If you have the totally free card, includes a 0.5% cost. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automatic spend alert via the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I chose 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:.
However transforming pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is practically to take place (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Fortunately in the last few years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards assures big savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
However I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less fret about running out of cash and the additional action. However that does not suggest 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 Necessary Strategy of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make profits from our Necessary Plan whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free quantity on all our plans, full details can be found on our prices plans.
Membership fees.
We charge an annual membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription charge likewise eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we receive a little % of the deal, called interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Can I Have More Than One Currensea Card