A new fintech business which I was presented to previously this year. How To Get A Free Currensea Card…
It has actually won a few awards over current months for what it does (offering you an inexpensive method to spend abroad) but what I like about is that it is basic 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 merely spend as you would on a typical debit card and the money is taken from your current account– simply without the normal 3% cost.
Oh, and is complimentary to look for, which also helps.
There are likewise some interesting travel benefits if you pick a paid strategy, but the free strategy works fine. You can use here.
There is a business model in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or cheaper than the competition
add increasingly more features which your existing consumers don’t truly require or want
include charges, restrictions or charges to the feature that made individuals get your product in the first place, removing any competitive advantage
is presently still in Stage 1 of this procedure and will ideally stay there. Revolut, curve and monzo are currently in Stage 3 …
is simple enough that it passes my ‘Can you explain it to your mate in the club in 30 seconds?’ test:
What countries can I use Currensea? How To Get A Free Currensea Card
It is a totally free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which automatically charges all purchases to your existing current account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You don’t (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 charges, then you don’t need a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop checking out now.
Credit cards which provide benefits and charge 0% FX charges are few and far between. The only ‘points and miles’ choices which offer a partial solution are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX charges in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you don’t have a credit card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to impact your credit report by getting another credit card specifically to utilize abroad
you desire a product which enables you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals each month with no charges and just a very little FX mark-up (there is a small charge beyond �,� 500).
you want an item for you, your adult kids, parents, partner or anyone else in your life who requires a simple, easy to understand payment card that will conserve them cash when taking a trip.
How does operate in practice?
It is, as I stated earlier, a really 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, worldwide).
Your bank account bank immediately validates that you have enough money in your account and authorises the transaction.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending on the currency. If you have the complimentary card, adds a 0.5% charge. If you have one of their paid cards, there are no charges.
You get an automatic spend alert through the app, if you choose 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 journal, I decided to sprinkle 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 couple of days later:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daytime robbery that is just about to happen (often in a different language) while not telling you about the inflated currency conversion costs occurring in the background. Do not get me began. Anyway back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Fortunately in the last few years a handful of great travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards guarantees big savings (85%) and a fantastic app.
I think the best bit may be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this suggests is you can spend cash you have in your existing bank account with less fret about running out of cash and the additional action. That does not imply it is ideal.
In this Currensea review is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the alternatives, so that you can choose.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make income from our Essential Plan whilst staying more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free amount on all our strategies, full details can be found on our pricing plans.
Subscription costs.
We charge a yearly membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Strategy, and �,� 120 for our Elite Strategy. The subscription cost also eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we get a small % of the deal, known as interchange, this comes directly from the merchant and will not be charged to you. How To Get A Free Currensea Card