A brand-new fintech company which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Barclays…
It has actually won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (providing you a low-priced way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good thing.
is, efficiently, a direct debit travel card. You just spend as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is taken from your present account– simply without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to get, which likewise helps.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you select a paid plan, however the totally free plan works fine. You can use here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or less expensive than the competitors
add more and more features which your existing customers don’t actually want or require
add charges, charges or limitations to the function that made individuals get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will hopefully stay there. Curve, monzo and revolut 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 Barclays
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex costs, then you don’t require a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX costs are few and far in between. The only ‘miles and points’ options which use a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire a product which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no charges and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, an extremely basic procedure. You utilize 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 instantly confirms 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. includes a 0.5% cost if you have the complimentary card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no fees.
You get an automated invest alert via 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. 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 reveals �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
But transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight burglary that is practically to occur (often in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion charges happening in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In current years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea guarantees big savings (85%) and a great app.
However I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less stress over running out of money and the extra step. However that does not mean it is best.
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 Essential Plan of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make earnings from our Vital Strategy whilst staying much cheaper 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 strategies, full details can be found on our rates strategies.
Subscription costs.
We charge a yearly subscription cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The membership charge also gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we get a little % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea Barclays