A brand-new fintech business which I was presented to previously this year. Currensea Card Promotion…
It has actually won a few awards over current months for what it does (using you an affordable method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good thing.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits between you and your existing bank account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You merely invest as you would on a regular debit card and the money is drawn from your current account– just without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to get, which likewise assists.
There are likewise some interesting travel advantages if you pick a paid plan, however the free plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and for free or cheaper than the competitors
include increasingly more features which your existing clients do not actually need or desire
add charges, costs or constraints to the function that made people get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this process and will ideally stay there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are currently in Phase 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 Promotion
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which offer rewards and charge 0% FX costs are couple of and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ options which use a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not wish to impact your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to utilize abroad
you desire an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any fees and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small fee beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult children, moms and dads, 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 work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a really basic 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 current account bank immediately confirms that you have enough money in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. adds a 0.5% fee if you have the free card. There are no charges if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automated spend alert by means of the app, if you choose to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a couple of 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 shows �,� 4.33 set up to leave my HSBC account a couple of days later on:.
Transforming pounds was pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is almost to take place (often in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion charges occurring in the background. Do not get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Fortunately in recent years a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards guarantees big savings (85%) and a terrific app.
However I think 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 worry about lacking money and the extra action. But that does not indicate it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the unsightly and the alternatives, 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 transaction, enabling us to make revenue from our Important Plan whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free quantity on all our strategies, full information can be discovered on our rates plans.
Subscription charges.
We charge an annual membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership charge likewise gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we get a small % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and will not be charged to you. Currensea Card Promotion