A brand-new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Has Suspended Use Of This Card…
It has won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (using you a low-priced method to invest abroad) but what I like about is that it is easy as hell. This is a good idea.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. It is a Mastercard which sits in between you and your existing bank account. There is absolutely nothing to top-up or prepay. You just spend as you would on a regular debit card and the cash is taken from your bank account– just without the usual 3% cost.
Oh, and is free to look for, which also assists.
There are also some intriguing travel advantages if you pick a paid plan, however the complimentary plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and free of charge or cheaper than the competitors
include a growing number of features which your existing customers do not really want or require
add costs, restrictions or charges to the function that made people get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will ideally remain there. Monzo, curve and revolut are currently in Stage 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Has Suspended Use Of This Card
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% forex fees, then you don’t require a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX costs are few and far in between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic charge card which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS possibly for you if:
you don’t have a charge card offering 0% FX fees and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another credit card particularly to use abroad
you desire an item which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month with no costs and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a simple, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a very simple process. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, worldwide).
Your current account bank automatically verifies that you have sufficient cash in your account and authorises the transaction.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the free card, adds a 0.5% charge. There are no costs if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automatic spend notice through the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is drawn from your bank account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I chose to splash out and purchase 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:.
Converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight break-in that is just about to occur (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs happening in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Thankfully recently a handful of terrific travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards promises huge cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I think the finest bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of cash and the extra action. That does not indicate it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the good, 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 Essential Plan of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make revenue from our Essential 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 totally free quantity on all our strategies, full information can be discovered on our rates strategies.
Subscription charges.
We charge a yearly membership fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership charge also gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you spend with your card we get a small % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Currensea Has Suspended Use Of This Card