If you’re reading this, you’re interested in finding a new card to use when travelling abroad. Specifically, a card that doesn’t charge you high, or even worse, hidden fees when you’re spending on your trip.
We’ve compared Starling's Terms and Conditions for spending abroad with our own, to help you make the right decision.
What is Starling Bank?
Starling Bank was founded in 2014 and is an app-based mobile bank. Starling's Personal Account provides you with a contactless debit card and works just like a standard current account, with the key difference being that it's all digital.
What card options and plans does Starling offer?
Starling offers a Personal Current Account and a Joint Current Account as free to use options. There is a paid for Connected Card service which costs £2 per month, but for the purposes of this comparison, we’ll be focusing on the Personal Current account.
Card scheme vs interbank foreign exchange rates
The card scheme foreign exchange rate is set each day by major credit card networks such as Visa and Mastercard.
While the value of currencies fluctuates throughout the day, the card scheme rate stays the same for the whole day. The rate will contain a mark-up to protect the card schemes from fluctuation risks. It’s difficult to figure out exactly how this rate is calculated as the information isn't shared, but this is the rate that Starling uses.
The interbank rate, on the other hand, tracks the real-time value of currencies and is considered the fairest rate in the industry. It fluctuates throughout the day, and is the rate that Currensea uses, with an additional 0.5% markup.
So what does Starling charge you to spend abroad?
We don’t believe fees should ever be hidden - so we’ve done the calculations for you.
Using data from January to March 2023, we were able to calculate the average markup over the interbank rate applied to the card scheme rates. We did this by comparing those rates with the average highs and lows of the daily interbank rate, using a selection of the most popular travel currencies. On average, the markup built into the card scheme rate was 0.54% for Mastercard and 0.6% for Visa- since Starling uses Mastercard, this means that you're typically being charged 0.54% above the interbank rate when you use their card to spend abroad.
What other fees does Starling charge?
Replacement cards
There is a £5 replacement charge for a lost or stolen card in the UK and £10 if you need a replacement while you are abroad.
Cash withdrawal fees
Starling doesn’t charge cash withdrawal fees in the UK or abroad. However, some individual ATMs may incur a charge to withdraw your money. You’ll also be subject to the card scheme rate.
What is Currensea?
Currensea is a travel debit card that allows you to spend money directly from your trusted bank account, rather than having to open up a new one or top up a prepaid card. It is based on open banking, which was introduced several years ago to promote innovation and competition in financial services so that you have access to a wider range of options and rates.
What card options does Currensea offer?
Currensea has three travel cards, including Currensea Premium and Currensea Elite. For the purposes of this comparison, we'll be focusing on Currensea Essential, which is free like the Starling personal current account.
So what is different about Currensea?
Not only do we offer realtime (and better!) rates, but unlike Starling users you won’t need to faff around opening a new bank account to get a card.
What Currensea offers is a card that partners directly with your trusted bank account. That means you can spend with your Currensea card abroad just as you would at home with your regular debit card. Funds come straight out of your bank account, and you can spend whatever balance you have.
Because it’s not a prepaid card (like some travel cards), you never have to top up your Currensea card. You don’t have to worry about losing it and any funds that might remain on it, nor do you have to constantly top it up and remember how much you have on it: we offer travel, but without the hassle.
We also check how much your bank would have charged you to use your regular debit card abroad- and we can tell you exactly how much money you saved by using your Currensea card.
What does Currensea charge you to spend abroad?
We convert your currency based on the real-time interbank exchange rate, with an additional markup of 0.5% per transaction no matter when you use it or how much you spend with it. No hidden fees, no weekend fees, no increases to the markup - just clear, transparent information on how much we charge and how much you save.
What other fees does Currensea charge?
Cash withdrawal
We charge our usual fee of 0.5% for withdrawals up to £500 a month, and for anything over this amount we charge 2%.
Replacement cards
While your first card is free, we charge a £5 replacement fee (but no delivery fees).
How does Currensea stack up against Starling?
We compared how much it would cost spending with Currensea versus Starling on a 10 day holiday to Florida for a family of four. Take a look at the table to see the breakdown of spend- we've also included the card scheme rate that Starling charges.
| |
Currensea charges |
Starling charges |
| $10,000 on card spending |
£39.06 |
£0 |
| $600 on ATM withdrawals |
£2.34 |
£0 |
| Card scheme rate |
£0 |
£44.72 |
| TOTAL |
£41.40 |
£44.72 |
Total saved with Currensea vs using Starling: £3.32
% saved with Currensea vs using Starling: 7.41%
In summary
Starling and Currensea are fairly similar when it comes to Fx charges. Both products offer competitive rates that significantly undercut those offered by high street banks, and whichever product you choose there is no doubt that you'll save a significant amount when spending abroad. If you’re travelling somewhere where you’ll need to withdraw lots of cash from ATMs, Starling could be a good choice as they don't charge any additional fees to do so.
However, if you have no plans to leave your high street bank, Currensea is the easier option for you. While Currensea simply partners with your existing bank account, Starling requires you to create an entirely new bank account. Assuming this is used as a secondary account, you'll then need to faff around topping it up as you spend abroad. With Currensea on the other hand, you can spend abroad just as you would at home with your regular debit card- we do travel, but without the hassle.
Even if you leave your high street bank and operate with Starling as your primary bank account, rates are still a consideration. Although Starling uses the Mastercard card scheme rate, this includes a 0.54% markup over the interbank rate. We offer the real-time interbank rate with a markup of just 0.5%, meaning that typically our rates are slightly lower. It's pretty marginal though, so we would never advocate basing a decision on that alone.
Overall, if you are in the market for a new primary bank account that will cost you less than high street banks when spending abroad, Starling is a great option. But if you are happy with your existing bank account and want a product focused on great rates when travelling abroad, then Currensea is the right choice for you.
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