A new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Add Money From Credit Card…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (providing you an inexpensive method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good idea.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You simply invest as you would on a regular debit card and the money is taken from your existing account– just without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to request, which likewise assists.
There are likewise some fascinating travel benefits if you select a paid plan, however the complimentary plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or more affordable than the competition
include increasingly more features which your existing customers do not actually need or want
add charges, restrictions or costs to the function that made individuals get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Monzo, revolut and curve are already in Phase 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? Currensea Add Money From Credit Card
It is a free direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline company miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you want free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX costs are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives 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 do not have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to use abroad
you want a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no charges and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, a really basic process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, internationally).
Your current account bank immediately validates 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 upon the currency. adds a 0.5% charge if you have the complimentary card. There are no fees if you have one of their paid cards.
You get an automated spend notice through the app, if you choose to install it.
The cash is drawn from your current account a few days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I chose to sprinkle out and buy 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is practically to occur (often in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Thankfully in recent years a handful of terrific travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards guarantees huge cost savings (85%) and a great app.
I think the finest bit may be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of cash and the extra action. However that does not indicate it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Necessary Plan of 0.5% per transaction, enabling us to make profits from our Vital Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the free amount on all our strategies, full information can be found on our pricing strategies.
Membership costs.
We charge an annual membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription fee likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we receive a small % of the deal, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Currensea Add Money From Credit Card