A brand-new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. Currensea Metal Card Colours…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (using you a low-cost method 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 typical debit card and the money is taken from your existing account– just without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is complimentary to obtain, which likewise assists.
There are also some fascinating travel benefits if you choose a paid plan, but the complimentary plan 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 one thing well, and free of charge or more affordable than the competitors
add a growing number of features which your existing consumers don’t actually need or desire
add restrictions, charges or costs to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will hopefully remain there. Curve, monzo and revolut are currently in Stage 3 …
is basic enough that it passes my ‘Can you describe it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? Currensea Metal Card Colours
It is a totally free direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% charge.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) make any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange costs, then you do not require a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, charge card which provide rewards and charge 0% FX fees are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ alternatives which provide a partial option 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 charges and do not want to impact 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 monthly with no fees and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small cost beyond �,� 500).
you desire a product for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs a basic, easy to understand payment card that will save them money when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I said previously, a very easy process. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, globally).
Your bank account bank instantly verifies that you have enough 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% charge. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic spend notification by means of the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is taken from your current account a few days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the diary, I chose 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:.
Converting pounds was costly.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime break-in that is just about to take place (often in a various language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion charges happening in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
In current years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards Currensea guarantees huge cost savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
However I think the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can invest money you have in your existing bank account with less worry about running out of money and the additional step. That does not suggest it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make revenue from our Necessary Strategy whilst staying much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free quantity on all our strategies, full information can be discovered on our pricing strategies.
Membership charges.
We charge a yearly membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription fee also gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you invest 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 Metal Card Colours