A new fintech company which I was introduced to earlier this year. Travel Card Currensea…
It has actually won a couple of awards over current months for what it does (using you an affordable way to invest abroad) however what I like about is that it is simple as hell. This is a good idea.
is, successfully, 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 simply spend as you would on a normal debit card and the cash is drawn from your current account– simply without the usual 3% fee.
Oh, and is totally free to request, which also helps.
There are likewise some intriguing travel benefits if you select a paid strategy, but the free strategy works fine. You can apply here.
There is a business design in fintech which Curve, Revolut, Monzo and so on have actually all followed:
launch by doing one thing well, and totally free or more affordable than the competition
include more and more features which your existing customers don’t actually desire or require
add charges, restrictions or fees to the feature that made individuals get your item in the first place, eliminating any competitive advantage
is presently still in Phase 1 of this procedure and will hopefully stay there. Revolut, monzo and curve are currently in Phase 3 …
is easy 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? Travel Card Currensea
It is a free direct debit card to utilize abroad and which immediately recharges all purchases to your existing bank account in Sterling, less a small 0.5% cost.
That’s it.
You do not (yet …) earn any airline miles or points for using it.
Why would I wish to get a card?
If you have a credit card offering 0% foreign exchange fees, then you don’t require a card, unless you want totally free ATM withdrawals. You can stop reading now.
Credit cards which offer benefits and charge 0% FX fees are couple of and far between. The only ‘miles and points’ choices which offer a partial option are the Virgin Atlantic credit cards which have 0% FX costs in the Euro zone.
IS potentially for you if:
you don’t have a credit 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 permits you to make �,� 500 of foreign currency ATM withdrawals monthly with no charges and only a very little FX mark-up (there is a little 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 stated previously, a really simple process. You utilize 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 instantly validates 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. includes a 0.5% charge if you have the free card. There are no costs if you have among their paid cards.
You get an automated spend notification through the app, if you select to install it.
The cash is drawn from your current account a couple of days later on.
Here is an example. Without any foreign travel in the journal, I decided to splash out and purchase 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 few days later:.
Transforming pounds was expensive.
A pet peeve of mine is when ATMs forewarn you about the daylight robbery that is almost to take place (often in a various language) while not telling you about the expensive currency conversion charges taking place in the background. Don’t get me began. Anyhow back to the positives for a bit anyhow.
Fortunately in the last few years a handful of fantastic travel debit cards have popped onto the scene … and like other terrific cards assures big cost savings (85%) and a terrific app.
But I think the very best bit might be what no other card does: connects to your existing high street bank account.
What this implies is you can invest cash you have in your existing current account with less fret about lacking cash and the additional step. That does not imply it is perfect.
In this Currensea evaluation is the excellent, the bad, the awful and the options, so that you can decide.
FX markup.
While our premium plans have no FX markup, we charge a small FX markup on our Essential Strategy of 0.5% per deal, permitting us to make income from our Vital Plan whilst staying more affordable than other prepaid cards and high-street debit cards. We also charge an FX markup on ATM use over the complimentary amount on all our strategies, complete information can be discovered on our pricing strategies.
Membership fees.
We charge a yearly membership cost of �,� 25 for our Premium Plan, and �,� 120 for our Elite Plan. The subscription charge likewise eliminates all FX markup on transactions.
Interchange.
Every time you spend with your card we receive a small % of the transaction, referred to as interchange, this comes straight from the merchant and won’t be credited you. Travel Card Currensea