Curve’s big selling point is that you can connect all of your separate debit and credit cards to your Curve account and then spend from any of them using just a single Curve payment card. So you can leave your bulging purse or wallet at home and head out for the day in the UK or on a longer trip abroad and just take your Curve card with you, managing the whole service from its app.
Curve also offers 3 premium options called Curve Pay X, Curve Pay Pro, and Curve Pay Pro+, that come with added benefits but at a cost.
Curve is a fintech company operating in the banking and payments space. It was founded in the UK in 2015 by entrepreneur Shachar Bialick and now has over 5 million customers across Europe.
Curve acts as the meeting point for all of your payment accounts, allowing you to keep track of your money – and spend it – whichever bank or credit account it’s being held in. You can use your Curve debit card to make transactions from any funding source that’s added into your Curve Wallet. In other words, you can load all of your Visa and Mastercard debit cards and credit cards onto the app, and then use the Curve card to pay with any of them.
By connecting all your accounts, Curve also works as a virtual bookkeeper. So rather than looking through a mountain of receipts or tabs of online statements, Curve keeps a record and lets you know what you’ve been spending.
We go into more detail about how Curve works below, but here’s a summary of its main features:
Curve works from your phone, bundling your accounts into one app. This record of your transactions encourages good spending habits. In addition to all this, Curve partners with different companies, allowing customers to spend their money at selected stores to earn cashback.
The app itself relies on simplicity rather than style, with a functional design allowing easy access to every feature.
After you sign up, you’ll receive a contactless Curve card. Customers have complete control over their card, with the ability to freeze and unfreeze at the touch of a button, a feature that provides added security and convenience.
The app is easy to navigate. Features include:
Here at Finder, we set up a Curve account and documented the process. Within 5 minutes you can have access to a virtual card that you can start using immediately, and within 3 to 5 days you receive your physical card in the post.
Curve makes itself useful on holiday in a variety of ways.
As mentioned already, you can view the balances on your linked cards and accounts, allowing you to check your spending at any time. As well as this, you always have a record of your transactions with Curve, to make sure you don’t go over your holiday spending allowance.
You’ll also get the interbank exchange rate for currency conversion when using your Curve card overseas, plus there’s fee-free international spending on all plans – although your free allowance limit for this will vary depending on what level of Curve subscription you have. Only the paid plans have fee-free ATM withdrawals overseas, but again, your free allowance limit depends on your plan.
If you’re going overseas and are thinking about travel money, head to our travel money section for the cheapest deals on foreign currencies, or to our travel section for tips on how to get cheap flights!
 | |  |  | |
| Name | Curve Pay The Classic | Curve Pay X The Step Up | Curve Pay Pro The Premium | Curve Pay Pro+ The Ultimate |
| Price | Free | £5.99/month | £9.99/month | £17.99/month |
| Combine Your Cards in One | ||||
| Works with Google Pay, Samsung Pay and Apple Pay | ||||
| Secure iOS and Android App | ||||
| Curve Customer Protection up to £100,000 | ||||
| Go Back in Time: Move previous payments | 3 trips up to 30 days | 3 trips up to 60 days | Unlimited trips up to 90 days | Unlimited trips up to 120 days |
| Curve Cash: 1% Cashback | 6 selected retailers (unlimited time) | 12 selected retailers (unlimited time) | ||
| Access to fair FX rates | Access up to £250/month | Access up to £3,333/month | Access up to £50,000/month | Access up to £100,000/month |
| Fee-free foreign ATM withdrawals | £300/month | £500/month | £1,000/month | |
| Worldwide Airport LoungeKey Access |
Limits are fairly generous when you join, and Curve will also raise them on an individual basis, after a certain amount of time and activity on your account. The free account comes with these standard starting limits:
Subscribers signed up to Curve X, Curve Pay X, Curve Pay Pro and Curve Pay Pro+ will get higher limits than these on their paid-for plans.
Curve customers in the UK can also add their Curve payment card to Samsung Pay, Apple Pay and Google Pay, if they’d prefer to make contactless payments using their mobile phone rather than use the physical Curve card. A big advantage here is that any payment card added to Curve will work with these mobile payment systems, even if the card issuing bank itself doesn’t normally support them.
Fans of wearables can also register their Curve card with Garmin Pay, Fitbit Pay or Apple Watch so they can tap and go with their payment watch or fitness wristband. Curve has also partnered with a range of brands to offer payment rings, watches, fobs and bands.
Curve says that customer privacy and data security is a top priority, and that all data is protected with “industry standard” encryption and security measures.
In terms of spending, purchases made using a Curve card are not covered by Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act – except for their commercial credit card, which is covered. This would normally protect you for purchases over £100 made with a credit card, where the product doesn’t turn up or is damaged, or if the retailer goes bust before delivering your goods. Section 75 doesn’t apply here because the Curve card is a Mastercard debit card, plus Curve is essentially acting as a middleman – you’re technically using your Curve card to make a purchase not the credit card linked to it.
So Curve has instead introduced its own “Curve Customer Protection” policy, which covers most purchases of up to £100,000 (there are a few exceptions). If there is a problem with your purchase, and you have contacted the retailer yourself but not managed to resolve the issue, then Curve will raise a dispute on your behalf to get the money back from the merchant.
Curve users are also protected by Mastercard chargeback rights, where refunds might be provided if goods are damaged, not as described or the merchant has ceased trading.
Pros
Cons
| Email support | |
|---|---|
| Telephone support | |
| In-app or live chat | |
| Contact form | |
| Branch support |
The main advantage of Curve is that you can go out and about with just one card, instead of bringing all your debit, credit, prepaid and don’t-know-what-else cards. The integration with Samsung Pay, Apple Pay and Google Pay means that you only need your phone. Plus, say you have a rewards credit card that earns you cashback or reward points but charges a foreign transaction fee – if you use it through Curve, you can make payments abroad without fees while still earning your rewards (as long as you don’t exceed your plan’s fee-free limit). Win-win.
But, for anyone with a lot of cards, it can be a bit of a faff to swap your cards around all the time in the app, depending on which one you ultimately want to pay with. Get started by downloading the app.
All in all, Curve is a great tool if you have many different cards and hate carrying them with you all the time, and if you want to save on foreign transaction fees without getting (another!) dedicated card for your travels. Finally, it’s worth mentioning that it’s an innovative fintech solution that will make you look cool with your friends (just saying).
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