A new fintech company which I was presented to previously this year. Currensea Physical Card Cost…
It has actually won a couple of awards over recent months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive way to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is an advantage.
is, effectively, a direct debit travel card. You just invest as you would on a typical debit card and the money is taken from your existing account– simply without the normal 3% fee.
Oh, and is totally free to look for, which likewise helps.
There are likewise some interesting travel benefits if you select a paid plan, but the complimentary plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a company design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or cheaper than the competition
include increasingly more features which your existing customers do not really need or want
add constraints, charges or costs to the feature that made people get your item in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is currently still in Phase 1 of this process and will hopefully remain there. Curve, Revolut and Monzo are already in Stage 3 …
is simple 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 Physical Card Cost
It is a complimentary direct debit card to use abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a little 0.5% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% forex costs, then you don’t need a card, unless you desire free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which use rewards and charge 0% FX costs are rare. The only ‘miles and points’ options which offer a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX costs and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals per month without any costs and only a minimal FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, an extremely easy procedure. You use your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in regional currency (any currency, internationally).
Your bank account bank automatically validates that you have enough cash in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. includes a 0.5% charge if you have the free card. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no costs.
You get an automatic spend notification by means of the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is taken from your bank account a few days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I chose to sprinkle out and purchase 1,000 MeliaRewards points for EUR5.
This is what you see in the Currensea app, which reveals �,� 4.33 set up 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 burglary that is almost to occur (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion fees taking place in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
Thankfully recently a handful of great travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards assures big cost savings (85%) and a great app.
But I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street checking account.
What this indicates is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less fret about running out of cash and the extra step. That does not indicate it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the ugly and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Vital Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make income from our Necessary Strategy whilst staying more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the free amount on all our plans, complete details can be discovered on our rates plans.
Subscription charges.
We charge an annual membership charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription fee also gets rid of all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we receive a small % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Currensea Physical Card Cost