A brand-new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. Is The Currensea Card A Credit Card…
It has won a few awards over current months for what it does (offering you an affordable method 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 merely invest as you would on a normal debit card and the money is taken from your current account– simply without the typical 3% fee.
Oh, and is free to get, which also assists.
There are likewise some interesting travel benefits if you choose a paid plan, however the complimentary plan works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo etc have all followed:
launch by doing something well, and totally free or more affordable than the competition
add more and more functions which your existing consumers don’t truly require or desire
add charges, charges or limitations 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 ideally remain there. Revolut, monzo and curve are already in Phase 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? Is The Currensea Card A Credit Card
It is a totally 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% fee.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline company miles or points for utilizing it.
Why would I want to get a card?
If you have a charge card offering 0% foreign exchange charges, then you do not require a card, unless you desire totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Nevertheless, credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX costs are scarce. The only ‘points and miles’ options which provide a partial service are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX fees in the Euro zone.
IS perhaps for you if:
you do not have a charge card offering 0% FX charges and do not want to affect your credit report by getting another charge card particularly to use abroad
you want an item which allows you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no charges and just a minimal FX mark-up (there is a little cost beyond �,� 500).
you want a product for you, your adult kids, moms and dads, partner or anyone else in your life who needs an easy, easy to understand payment card that will save them cash when taking a trip.
How does work in practice?
It is, as I said previously, an extremely 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, internationally).
Your bank account bank automatically confirms that you have sufficient money in your account and authorises the deal.
The transaction goes through at either the interbank rate or the Mastercard rate, depending upon the currency. If you have the totally free card, adds a 0.5% cost. There are no costs if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automatic invest notice by means of the app, if you pick to install it.
The cash is drawn from your current account a couple of days later.
Here is an example. With no foreign travel in the diary, I decided to splash out and buy 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 pricey.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is almost to occur (typically in a different language) while not telling you about the exorbitant currency conversion fees taking place in the background. Do not get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Fortunately recently a handful of excellent travel debit cards have actually popped onto the scene … and like other fantastic cards assures huge savings (85%) and a terrific app.
I believe the best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this means is you can spend cash you have in your existing current account with less worry about running out of money and the extra step. However that does not imply it is best.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the unsightly and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium strategies have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Necessary Plan of 0.5% per transaction, allowing us to make income from our Necessary Plan whilst remaining more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We likewise charge an FX markup on ATM usage over the totally free amount on all our strategies, full information can be found on our prices plans.
Membership fees.
We charge an annual subscription charge of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription charge likewise gets rid of all FX markup on deals.
Interchange.
Whenever you invest with your card we get a small % of the transaction, known as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be charged to you. Is The Currensea Card A Credit Card