A brand-new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Card Billing Address…
It has actually won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (using you an inexpensive way to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic as hell. This is a good idea.
is, successfully, a direct debit travel card. You merely invest as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is taken from your current account– simply without the typical 3% charge.
Oh, and is free to apply for, which also helps.
There are also some fascinating travel benefits if you pick a paid plan, but the totally free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competitors
add more and more functions which your existing clients do not really require or want
include constraints, costs or charges to the feature 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. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are currently in Stage 3 …
is easy enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Card Billing Address
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (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% forex charges, then you do not need a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX costs are couple of and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which provide a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to use abroad
you desire a product which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no charges and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little cost beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said earlier, an extremely simple procedure. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, globally).
Your bank account bank immediately confirms that you have adequate cash 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% charge. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic spend notification through the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I decided to sprinkle out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
Converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is just about to take place (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion fees occurring in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Luckily in recent years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other great cards guarantees huge savings (85%) and an excellent app.
But I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street savings account.
What this suggests is you can invest cash you have in your existing bank account with less fret about lacking money and the extra step. That does not imply it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the ugly 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 Important Plan of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make income from our Essential Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the totally free quantity on all our plans, complete details can be found on our pricing plans.
Subscription charges.
We charge an annual subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription cost likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Currensea Card Billing Address