A brand-new fintech company which I was presented to earlier this year. Currensea Add Card To Google Pay…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-cost way to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is basic 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 just invest as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is drawn from your current account– just without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to apply for, which also helps.
There are also some interesting travel advantages if you choose a paid strategy, however the free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is an organization model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or more affordable than the competition
include a growing number of features which your existing customers do not really need or desire
add charges, costs or limitations to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are already in Stage 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you discuss it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Add Card To Google Pay
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) make any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you do not require a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX fees are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which use a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to utilize abroad
you want an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no costs and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want a product 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 save them money when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, 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 bank account bank immediately confirms that you have enough money in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the free card, includes a 0.5% fee. There are no fees if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automatic invest notice through the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is drawn from your current account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I chose to sprinkle out and purchase 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:.
Converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is practically to occur (frequently in a different language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards Currensea guarantees 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 means is you can spend money you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of cash and the extra action. That does not mean it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation 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 Essential Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make revenue from our Necessary Plan whilst remaining more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free amount on all our plans, complete details can be found on our prices strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge a yearly subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership fee also eliminates all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we get a little % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Currensea Add Card To Google Pay