What is Curve card? Curve card combines all your bank cards, credit cards and gift cards in a single card and allows you to use them from a single place through an app, a single virtual and physical card. It also gives you 1% daily cashback as you spend. Curve serves customers in the USA, UK and EU. Its main selling point is its ability to flip between multiple cards and its support for multiple currencies. Also, the Curve card does not charge any fee on foreign spending.
What’s Special About Curve Card
- You can make purchases using your credit card from merchants who don’t accept credit card by using Curve debit card details.
- Curve doesn’t apply any fees when spending in the currency your payment card is set to in-app.
- You save money on purchases and ATM withdrawals made abroad with Curve because there aren’t any fees.
- You can use your Curve card to buy cryptocurrency from supported merchants.
- You earn cashback via Curve Cash program when spending with your Curve Card.
How Curve Works
Curve Card is basically is linked to an e-money account. The money in the account comes from your linked payment cards. When you use your Curve Card, you are using the e-money loaded on the account linked to your Curve Card. Purchases or withdrawals made by Curve card are categorized as eCommerce transactions.
How to Create a Curve Account
The Curve app is available for both Android and iOS. After downloading the app, verify your phone number and email address. Then, provide personal details including your address and country of residence. Next, choose the type of Curve card you want. Then add and verify your bank cards. To verify your card, there will be a Curve card verification fee in form of a microcharge, less than 1.5 GBP, which will be immediately refunded.
Types of Curve Cards and Curve Card Fees
When you sign up for a Curve account, you get both a Curve physical card and a Curve virtual card through the app. You can generate the virtual Curve card instantly and start using it before the physical card arrives. To order the physical card, tap the “Account” tab on the bottom part of the screen and select the “Order a physical card” option. Lastly, choose your delivery address. Your card will arrive in 3-5 business days. Curve does not charge any fee for linking your payment cards to your Curve account. Using Curve Mastercard in the UK is free but you will pay a 1.5% fee for currencies other than Euros and Dollars.
There will also be a Curve card verification fee to be charged from your card and later to be refunded and Curve card weekend fee since the forex markets are closed. Curve uses the currency conversion rate from Friday 23:59 GMT – Sunday 23:59 GMT (or Saturday 00:59 BST – Monday 00:59 BST) and apply a surcharge.
In June 2022, Curve introduced a new tier, Curve X, which costs £4.99 per month.
Curve Blue
The Curve Blue card is free and simple to use. It comes with the Curve Blue virtual card. This card type gives you access to the introductory Welcome Cashback offer for 30 days, and fee-free FX spend up to £5000 per month then a 2% fee thereafter and fee-free FX ATM withdrawals up to £/€ 200 per month then 2% or £2 thereafter.
Curve Black
Curve fee for the Curve Black card is £/€9.99 per month, which also comes with the Curve Black virtual card. The Curve card helps you enjoy unlimited Curve Cash offers for 3 selected retailers, the introductory Welcome Cashback offer for at least 30 days, worldwide travel insurance provided by AXA, and unlimited fee-free FX spend and up to £/€ 400 per month of fee-free FX ATM withdrawals then 2% or £2 thereafter.
Curve Metal
The Curve Metal card is offered for £/€ 14.99 per month and it comes with the Curve Metal digital card. You will enjoy unlimited Curve Cash offer for 6 selected retailers, worldwide travel and phone insurance provided by AXA, the introductory Welcome Cashback offer for at least 30 days, discounted LoungeKey airport access, rental car collision damage waiver provided by AXA, and unlimited fee-free FX spend and up to £/€ 600 per month of fee-free FX ATM withdrawals then 2% or £2 thereafter.
Samsung Pay+ Review
Samsung Pay+ (formerly Samsung Pay Card) is available to all UK Samsung Pay customers provided they don’t already have a Curve account. To discover the card’s full potential, download the Curve app on a Samsung device and log in using your Samsung Pay+ credentials. Some of the features you will access include the Go Back in Time feature, FX rates, Curve Cash offer of 3 selected retailers for 90 days, Transactions Timeline, Refunds, Curve Wallet, and Digital card details.
Curve Frontend
What is Curve Frontend? Curve Fronted is a feature that allows you to pay with your Curve debit card by using an underlying credit card in situations where the merchant doesn’t accept credit cards. There’s a 1.5% service fee for this feature. Curve Metal customers aren’t charged a fee for the first £10,000.00 they spend via these types of transactions, but there will be a 1.5% service fee on the total transaction value in excess of the limit. Note that you won’t be able to earn Curve Cash with Curve Fronted transactions.
While Curve Fronted may not directly affect your credit score, it’s possible that availing large sums of credit on multiple cards and making transactions with an underlying Merchant Category Code (MCC) of 6012 can affect your credit rating. This depends on your underlying card provider and the way these transactions are processed by them
Curve Cash
Curve Cash is a loyalty program that allows you to earn cashback while spending with your Curve Card. It involves the following schemes.
- Welcome Cashback. Earn 1% cashback on almost every purchase made with your Curve Card for at least your first 30 days.
- Curve Cash program. Pick 3-6 favourites from a list of over 100 popular retailers, including Amazon, Deliveroo, TfL and more. Each purchase at your chosen retailer will give you 1% cashback.
You will instantly receive cashback points on your Curve Cash card when spending on supported retailers. One Curve Cash point is equivalent to one pence (GBP). So 100 points = £1.00. However, your Curve Cash points have no monetary value themselves and are converted to e-money only when you spend them with your Curve Card. You can see your Curve Cash balance in either Curve Cash points or GBP.
How to withdraw Curve cash. You can use your Curve card to withdraw cash at any ATM that supports Mastercard cards.
Curve Virtual Cards
You can generate a Curve virtual card instantly and start using it before your physical card arrives. To start spending with your virtual Curve Card, you will first need to activate it in the app.
How the Curve Virtual Card Works
Curve is straightforward and easy to use. The Curve App is designed in a way that it’s simple to add cards, track payments, and navigate external wallets. Once you activate your virtual Curve card, you can safely pay for online transactions using your card details found in the app. You can also add your virtual Curve card to Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay. To view your card details in the Curve app, tap the “Account” tab on the bottom left corner of the screen and select the “View card details” option. The details of your virtual Curve card will be updated once you receive your physical card within the Curve app.
Curve Cash is a feature of the virtual Curve card in the Curve app. It stores all Curve Cash (your Curve balance) which is made up of money earned through cashback, promos, any money sent to you from other people on Curve, and referrals.
Curve Supported Cards
Curve supports Visa, MasterCard, and Discover debit and credit card. However, it does not support American Express, JCB, Maestro, or UnionPay card.
Curve Payment Card Problems
Sometimes, you might experience declines when making payments with your Curve cards. These declines could be as a result of using inactive cards or using incorrect Curve card details when making transactions. Other underlying payment card issues include the following:
- No payment cards added to Curve. To transact using your Curve card, you must add at least one payment card to your Curve Wallet.
- Reaching spending limits. If you exceed your payment card’s spending limit, your transaction will be declined.
- Payment timeout. If a payment takes too long to complete, it gets declined.
- Blacklisted merchants. Curve does not allow/support some transactions especially those considered high-risk such as those in the gambling categories.
- Insufficient funds. If your selected payment card does not have enough money, your transaction will be declined.
Curve Card Limits / Curve Card Spending Limits / Curve Card Withdrawal Limit
Curve card app has limits set on how much you can spend and withdraw in a day, a month, or a year. These limits increase over time as you cultivate a “spending history” and pass Curve’s risk checks.
- Curve Blue Card limits. The free plan offers a daily spending limit of £2,000 in the UK and €2,400 in the Eurozone. The daily withdrawal limits are £200 in the UK and €240 in the Eurozone.
- Curve Black and Curve Metal Plan limits. The limits are higher for the two card types. The daily Curve spending limit is £3, 750 and the Curve daily limit for withdrawal is £1,000.
Curve Supported Countries
Curve offers services in the US and 31 countries in the European Economic Area (EEA) including the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium, France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, etc. Other countries where Curve services are not available and there are no known plans to expand its services are Australia and Canada.
Curve Supported Currencies
Curve supports cards in the following currencies: USD, RON, NZD, GBP, JPY, PLN, SGD, CNY, EUR, BRL, AUD, INR, USD, HRK, RUB, NOK, HKD, ISK, ZAR, CAD, SEK, HUF, DKK, BGN, CHF, ILS, and CZK. If you select a currency not supported by Curve, your card will be charged in GBP.
Is the Curve Card Safe?
Yes, Curve is safe. Curve has its own Customer protection scheme, which protects customers’ money up to £/€100,000. Also, Curve does not share your information with card retailers during transactions. Additionally, Curve uses the 3D Secure (3DS) technology for some online transactions to ensure that customers are protected from fraudulent activities. Integrating Curve with 3DS technology allows customers to enjoy shopping on multiple websites without experiencing declines. Also, within the app there is a functionality to lock your card should it be lost or stolen.
Curve Customer Support
Curve offers reliable customer support services. You can reach the team through Curve card email; [email protected] or through Curve card phone number +44(0)2033222585. (UK customers) and +370 5214 3815 (EU customers).
How to Close Curve Card Account
To close Curve account, you need to cancel your account. To do this, you’ll have to contact Curve and they will do it for you. All they will ask will be the reason for your decision (but you are free not to provide reasons) and some security details. If you ever decide to come back, you can do that at any time.
If you are on one of premium Curve Black or Metal tiers, your account will have to be downgraded and cancelled afterwards. You have a 14 day cooling-off period from the date you paid for your Curve subscription. If you decide to cancel within this time you’ll receive a refund.
If you’re on Curve Metal and you request to cancel your Curve Metal contract within the first 6 months, you’ll have to pay a £50 Curve Metal Card fee consisting of the delivery and manufacturing costs. If you want to close Curve Card account because of the cost, keep in mind that you can enjoy all Curve’s benefits for free by using Blue subscription tier.
Curve Card Trustpilot Reviews
There are over 4,000 Curve customer reviews on Trustpilot. Users have given the service a rating of 4/5 star. 71% of its customers are satisfied with the company while 11% of customers considered Curve card service bad.
Curve Card Alternatives
Other services that allow you to combine your cards into a single card are the following:
Final Thoughts on Curve Card Review
If you are looking to monitor your spending with no hidden fees, then Curve is the ideal card for you. Curve is also an excellent choice if you hold multiple cards and wish to use them conveniently from one place.