A new fintech business which I was presented to previously this year. Can You Get A Currensea Card For Free…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-priced method to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good thing.
is, successfully, 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 normal debit card and the money is drawn from your bank account– simply without the normal 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to apply for, which likewise helps.
There are likewise some interesting travel advantages if you choose a paid strategy, but the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is an organization model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competition
add a growing number of functions which your existing consumers do not actually require or want
include restrictions, charges or fees to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are already in Phase 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Can You Get A Currensea Card For Free
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
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% forex costs, then you do not require a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
However, credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX fees are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which provide a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX costs 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 each month without any charges and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a very 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 confirms that you have adequate money 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, adds 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 money is drawn from your current account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I chose to splash out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 arranged to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
However converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is just about to take place (often in a various language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In recent years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards Currensea assures huge savings (85%) and an excellent app.
I believe the finest bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less worry about lacking money and the extra step. But that does not indicate it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, 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 nominal FX markup on our Necessary Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make income from our Vital 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 free quantity on all our strategies, full details can be discovered on our prices plans.
Membership fees.
We charge an annual membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership cost likewise removes all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we get a small % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Can You Get A Currensea Card For Free