A new fintech business which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Help…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-cost way to spend 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. You merely invest as you would on a regular debit card and the money is taken from your existing account– just without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to obtain, which likewise assists.
There are likewise some fascinating travel benefits if you select a paid strategy, but the complimentary strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a service design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or more affordable than the competition
add increasingly more functions which your existing consumers do not truly need or desire
add charges, costs or restrictions to the function that made people get your item in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 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 bar in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Help
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you do not need a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX costs are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ options which offer a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges 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 impact your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any charges and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you desire 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 money when travelling.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, an extremely basic procedure. 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 confirms that you have adequate 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. If you have the totally free card, includes a 0.5% fee. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automated spend notification through the app, if you pick to install it.
The money is taken from your bank account a few days later on.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I decided to splash out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which shows �,� 4.33 scheduled to leave my HSBC account a few days later:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime burglary that is practically to occur (typically in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion fees taking place in the background. Don’t get me started. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In current years a handful of great travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea guarantees huge cost savings (85%) and a great app.
But I think the best bit might be what no other card does: links to your existing high street checking account.
What this indicates is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less worry about lacking cash and the additional step. But that does not suggest it is perfect.
In this Currensea review is the good, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Vital Strategy of 0.5% per deal, enabling us to make profits from our Necessary Plan whilst staying more affordable than other pre-paid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary quantity on all our plans, complete details can be discovered on our pricing plans.
Subscription fees.
We charge a yearly membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription charge likewise removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you invest with your card we receive a small % of the deal, called interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Currensea Help