A new fintech company which I was introduced to previously this year. Currensea Standard Card Fees…
It has actually won a few awards over recent months for what it does (offering you a low-priced way to spend abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is an advantage.
is, successfully, 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 spend as you would on a typical debit card and the cash is drawn from your bank account– just without the usual 3% charge.
Oh, and is complimentary to request, which likewise assists.
There are also some fascinating travel advantages if you pick a paid plan, however the totally free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a company model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or less expensive than the competitors
add a growing number of features which your existing clients don’t truly require or want
add costs, charges or restrictions to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, getting rid of any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this process and will ideally remain there. Revolut, curve and monzo are already in Phase 3 …
is easy 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 Standard Card Fees
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which instantly charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% charge.
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 charge card offering 0% forex charges, then you do not need a card, unless you want complimentary ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which provide rewards and charge 0% FX charges are rare. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which use 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 credit card offering 0% FX costs and do not wish to affect your credit report by getting another charge card specifically to use abroad
you desire an item which permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly without any charges and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a little charge beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult children, parents, partner or anybody else in your life who requires a basic, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them money when travelling.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated previously, an extremely basic process. You utilize your Currensea card in the same way as your existing debit card.
You make your purchase in local currency (any currency, internationally).
Your current account bank instantly verifies that you have sufficient money in your account and authorises the deal.
The deal goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the free card, adds a 0.5% fee. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic invest notice through the app, if you select to install it.
The money is drawn from your bank account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, 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:.
Converting pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight burglary that is just about to take place (often in a various language) while not telling you about the outrageous currency conversion costs happening in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyway.
In current years a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other excellent cards Currensea assures big cost savings (85%) and a great app.
I think the best bit may be what no other card does: links to your existing high street bank account.
What this indicates is you can invest cash you have in your existing bank account with less stress over running out of cash and the additional action. That does not indicate it is ideal.
In this Currensea evaluation is the good, the bad, the ugly 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 Necessary Plan of 0.5% per transaction, permitting us to make revenue from our Necessary Plan whilst remaining much cheaper than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the complimentary amount on all our strategies, full details can be found on our prices plans.
Subscription charges.
We charge an annual subscription fee of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The membership charge also removes all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Each time you spend with your card we get a small % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be credited you. Currensea Standard Card Fees