A brand-new fintech business which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Card Dubai…
It has won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive way to spend abroad) however 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 invest as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is taken from your existing account– simply without the typical 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to apply for, which also helps.
There are also some fascinating travel advantages if you pick a paid plan, however the totally free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or more affordable than the competitors
add more and more features which your existing consumers don’t actually want or need
add charges, charges or restrictions to the feature that made people get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are currently in Phase 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 Card Dubai
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you do not need a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which use benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ alternatives which use a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any charges and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little fee beyond �,� 500).
you desire an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, a very simple process. 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 bank account bank immediately verifies that you have sufficient money in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the totally free card, includes a 0.5% cost. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automated spend alert via the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, 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 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 almost to occur (frequently in a various language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion fees happening in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Fortunately over the last few years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other great cards promises big cost savings (85%) and an excellent 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 invest money you have in your existing bank account with less fret about running out of money and the additional step. That does not indicate it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a nominal FX markup on our Essential Plan of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make income from our Necessary Plan whilst staying much cheaper than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary amount on all our strategies, full details can be found on our prices strategies.
Subscription fees.
We charge an annual membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership cost also gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we get a little % of the transaction, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea Card Dubai