A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Contact Currensea…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an affordable method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good idea.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You merely invest as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is taken from your existing account– just without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to obtain, which likewise assists.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you choose a paid strategy, but the complimentary strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or more affordable than the competitors
add increasingly more functions which your existing consumers don’t really want or need
add fees, charges or limitations 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 hopefully remain there. Monzo, curve and revolut are already in Phase 3 …
is basic 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? Contact Currensea
It is a complimentary direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately 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 want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you do not need a card, unless you desire complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
However, credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX charges are rare. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which provide a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you desire a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no fees and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a really simple procedure. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, internationally).
Your bank account bank immediately validates that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the totally free card, includes a 0.5% charge. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automatic spend notification by means of the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the journal, I decided to splash out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 arranged 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 burglary that is almost to happen (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion costs happening in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Luckily recently a handful of terrific travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards promises big cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I believe the finest bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking money and the extra action. But that does not suggest it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Plan of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make revenue from our Vital Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free amount on all our plans, complete information can be discovered on our prices strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge an annual subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership charge likewise eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we receive a little % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Contact Currensea