Curve Card - Is It Good for a Traveller?

• By Ceasar Cotting
• 12 October 2024 - 16 min read

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Curve is a mobile wallet that helps you to save money, especially among travellers. Read our review to find out how we have benefited from Curve.

Curve Card

Curve is not just a card but a mobile wallet with extra benefits. We have been using its premium subscription for many years and are happy with its features. In this review, we share our own Curve Card experiences and analyse the card from a traveller´s point of view.

Is Curve a Credit Card?

When Curve was launched in 2018, it only featured a Curve Debit card. However, in October 2023, Curve launched an additional product in the UK - the Curve Credit card. Both types of accounts have mostly the same features except that Curve Debit customers do not have Section 75 protection. Curve Credit customers can enjoy flexible payments with Curve Flex so it has also a credit feature.

A user can have only one Curve card: a Debit or Credit.

You can't buy or pay anything with a Curve card alone, instead, at least one regular Visa/Mastercard credit or debit card is needed to be linked to your Curve card in the Curve application. In addition, UK users can link their PayPal accounts to the Curve mobile wallet.

Curve conveys a payment transaction to another card set in advance by the card user in the Curve application. For example, with the combination of Curve and Bank Norwegian credit card, the transaction is executed in Curve, which forwards the payment in real-time to Norwegian's credit card.

Since Curve is not a traditional card, almost anyone living in the European Economy Area (EEA) can order its debit version.

The Curve card is a genuine plastic or metal card bearing the same features as all bank cards have. It is PIN-code enabled and it has a contactless payment feature. All the settings of the card can be managed easily through the application installed on a mobile phone. The card can be used on the internet and physically on almost any Mastercard-approved shopping site just like a regular card. You will find your card details in the application already before the physical card has arrived.

Curve declares some of the fees and limits in British pounds. However, a user may select his/her card's transaction currency from multiple options. For example, residents within the EEA can set euros as their payment currency which can be easily customized through the Curve app.

Curve has similar features as Wise but Curve is more like a mobile wallet than a multi-current account and a money transfer service.

Benefits of Using Curve

We've been using a Curve card for years and have found it beneficial. Below, we'll highlight some of the advantages of using Curve. And yes, double dipping is possible, so you can continue enjoying the benefits and bonus programs of your underlying cards.

Multiple Cards Managed by Curve App

To holders of multiple payment cards, Curve is an excellent tool. The user can pay all purchases with the Curve card and choose from the application to which preferred card should the transactions be sent. The selected card can still be changed or customized later in case of a change of mind or an honest mistake of choosing the wrong card while paying. The correction can be made within up to 120 days after the payment transaction.

Let's simply put this, you have set in your Curve application, that you have 3 payment cards, cards A, B, and C. You made a transaction that is supposed to be billed to Card C instead of Card A. No worries about this, you can still make corrections by simply using the Curve app. You have 120 days after the time of the purchase to make such a correction.

The feature that allows you to change the card used for a transaction after it's been made is called Go-Back-in-Time

This feature of the Curve card is useful, especially for those who have credit cards, work cards and perhaps a common card among couples. You can always pay for a purchase with Curve, and choose from the application beforehand or afterwards to which card it will be charged.

Debit Fronted Credit

With Curve, you can pay with a credit card even in stores that accept only debit payments. The curve itself is a debit or credit card that can forward the transaction to an underlying credit card.

This feature comes with an extra 1,5% charge when paying government fees. In Curve Pay Pro and Pro+ subscription levels, the perk is free up to a certain limit.

Spending Statistics

The Curve app provides clear statistics as to where money was spent. By using categories, the app shows how much money has been spent on, for example, travel, entertainment, groceries food and drinks etc. At the point of purchase, the retailer forwards the information to which category the purchase belongs. Using this information, Curve knows how to make statistics about money spent by a particular card user.

Cheaper Currency Conversions

For purchases either with a debit or credit card whereas paying the transaction with a currency outside the card's primary currency, the bank converts the amount into your card's currency using agreed exchange rates. On top of this, a regular bank also charges an additional conversion fee of about 2%. Curve offers almost free currency conversions.

Curve handles the currency conversion on behalf of the underlying card's bank by using Mastercard Exchange Rates without any supplementary fees. Mastercard rates are close to the interbank exchange rates.

In our case, we are using cards issued by banks in Nordic countries having the euro as the home currency. For example, when we travelled to Israel where the currency is the Israeli New Shekel (a non-euro currency), Curve converted transactions made in this foreign currency into euros using the current exchange rate and transferred the payments to the selected underlying card. We have had Curve as our primary payment card during our travels in Croatia, Turkey and Israel. We have saved 1 - 3% of our daily budget thanks to the cheaper currency conversions.

Curve has limits: general usage and ATM withdrawal limits and a limit for discounted currency conversions. After Curve knows the customer better, some of the limits may increase but most likely, the currency conversion limits stay the same. In addition, the limitations set in the linked payment cards are naturally valid.

Free Cash Withdrawals

With the paid subscriptions of the Curve card, you can withdraw money from ATMs for at least £200 within a month without cost.

However, this advantage can be a trap. Although Curve does not charge ATM withdrawal fees, some ATMs may ask for withdrawal fees. Therefore, it is important to check carefully whether the withdrawal transaction is free or not before proceeding from such ATMs. If you want to avoid withdrawal fees, be patient to check other automated teller machines that allow free withdrawal as you will always find them quickly from place to place.

Since Curve needs to transmit the transaction details to another card, the issuer of this card may charge for withdrawals. When you use ATMs with a Curve card, it is important to direct the transaction to a card that does not ask for fees when using ATMs. A good choice is, for example, a credit card from Bank Norwegian that does not charge you for using the ATM.

Anti-Embarrassment Mode

Curve's Anti-Embarrassment Mode is a lifesaver designed to prevent those awkward moments when you try to pay and find your card declined because you do not have enough balance. This feature works seamlessly in the background.

If your funds are insufficient, Curve will notify you and automatically attempt the transaction using your backup card(s) set in the app. If any backup card has enough funds, the transaction will go through.

LoungeKey Membership

The top Curve subscription tier includes LoungeKey membership, granting you access to over 1,000 airport lounges worldwide at a discounted rate. To access a lounge, simply present your LoungeKey membership and pay with your Curve card. Alternatively, you can use the LoungeKey app on your phone.

Curve Protections

Like every existing credit card, Curve card offers protection to its card users. For example, when we travelled to Krakow, Poland, we had a small problem while paying for the dining. Ceasar made it clear twice to the restaurant staff that he pays in Polish currency, the Poland zloty. Thanks to the real-time report of transactions, Ceasar got a notification of such payments through the Curve app. We approached the cashier and asked her to kindly correct the payment, by shifting the chargeable amount to local money instead of GBP. She repeatedly said she couldn't do anything to make changes to this transaction. Ceasar then contacted Team Curve via email. After a few conversations, we were happy to get a positive response from Curve:

...Thanks for sending this through.

The dispute process is quite lengthy and not always successful. Due to the value of the transaction, we would like to refund you as a gesture of goodwill.

We can see that without the merchant's exchange rate, the 110 PLN would be 23.08 GBP. We would, therefore, like to refund you 1.85 GBP directly...

From such a quick and helpful response from Team Curve, we felt like they value every single customer they have.

Curve doesn't offer travel insurance. For travel insurance options, why not check SafetyWing?

Google, Apple and Samsung Pay

Curve is a modern card so it supports Google, Apple and Samsung Pay. That means, it is enough to have your phone with you. No physical card is needed.

Smart Rules

With Smart Rules, you can automatically select which payment card to use based on pre-defined conditions. For example, you can use your main payment card for groceries and another card for travel expenses. Smart Rules are just simple conditions. If they are true, the transaction will be directed to the card mentioned in the rule.

Curve Credit

Curve is testing a credit feature (Curve Flex) in the UK. After the test phase, the feature will be launched in Europe and the United States. As we are not living in the UK, we have not been able to try this feature yet.

Curve Subscription Levels

Curve offers four subscription tiers. The free tier has limited features or lower limits on some features. Let's explore each Curve subscription level and its key benefits.

Curve Pay

The majority of the features we mentioned above are included in the free Curve Pay card. It doesn't cost anything except the delivery to avail of this card, and there is no monthly charge for card usage. The Curve Pay is a perfect choice for trying the features. After registering, you get the virtual card details immediately and the physical card in a few weeks.

You can only add 3 payment cards to the free version of Curve. Also, the spending limits are lower and only 2 Smart Rules are possible.

Curve Pay X

Curve Pay X is a little better version of the basic Curve. The delivery is free but the monthly fee is £5.99. Curve Pay X supports 5 payment cards and it has higher spending limits. In addition to the Curve Pay, you get the following perks:

• You get 1% cashback for almost all spending outside the UK and Europe.
• You can also create multiple Smart Rules.
• You get free ATM withdrawals up to £300 per month.

Curve Pay Pro Card

There is also a paid version of Curve with a lot more features: Curve Pay Pro. The acquisition of this card does not cost anything, but there is a monthly fee of £9.99. The card has the same features as the Curve Pay X card and a few extra features:

• Higher ATM withdrawal limit up to £500 per month
• 1% cash back at 6 selected retailers

Curve Pay Pro+

Curve Pay Pro+ is the best subscription in terms of card benefits. It costs £17.99 monthly.

Curve Pay Pro+ has a few more perks.

• The card is made of metal.
• Spending limits are even higher.
• 1% cash back at 12 selected retailers
• Visits LoungeKey airport lounges for a discounted rate

Review of Wise

Curve Cash

Curve Pay Pro and Curve Pay Pro+ give users 1% cashback called Curve Cash from purchases made at selected retailers. Curve Pay Pro users may select 6 retailers and Curve Pay Pro+ holders 12. The list is long including for example Amazon, Shell, Lidl, Booking.com etc. The payback is paid by Curve and you will still get possible bonus points from the underlying cards.

Paying with Curve Cash

Curve Cash is collected to the Curve application. It can be used to pay for any purchase in the same way as using any payment card linked to Curve. However, to pay a purchase with Curve Cash, you need to have Curve Cash for the whole amount of the payment.

It is also possible to use Curve Cash automatically by turning the feature on. Then, Curve Cash will always be used when the payment amount is less than your Curve Cash balance. Otherwise, the user-selected payment card will be used in the normal way.

Curve Rewards

Curve has slowly been introducing Curve Rewards. In this bonus program, Curve partners with local and international brands which are paying back additional bonuses from the purchases paid with a Curve Card. The bonus is paid as Curve Cash. The feature is available for all Curve users in the UK.

For spending outside the UK and Europe, users in the paid Curve subscription levels will get an additional 1% cashback.

Curve Safety Features

Curve subscriptions have safety features and protections. In the Curve App, you see all transactions in real-time. The card can be temporarily locked on the application and opened as easily. Therefore, following your transactions and spending in real-time is easy with the Curve App.

When using the card on the internet, Curve authenticates the user strongly. Authentication happens with a PIN code sent by SMS to the user´s phone or via the Curve App.

Customer Protection

Curve Customer Protection protects you against unsuccessful or fraudulent purchases. Fraudulent or otherwise unauthorized transactions will be refunded. You may also ask for a refund if you have not received the purchased item or the service or if there have been some quality issues. The exact terms are complicated and we recommend you check them on Curve´s website.

For example, if you have booked flights but the airline goes bankrupt before the travel dates, you may be allowed a refund.

Our Way to Use Curve Card

You may have been wondering, which payment cards we have linked to Curve. The optimal combination depends on your location and most likely, our model does not work for you. Anyway, we tell it briefly.

We pay almost all our daily spending and purchases with Curve. We have linked Bank Norwegian Visa Credit and Nordea Mastercard Debit/Credit to our Curve Apps. Bank Norwegian Visa is especially a good choice because it gives 1% cashback usable for Norwegian Air Shuttle flights, it has free ATM withdrawals and no monthly fee. Nordea's Mastercard does not have similar perks, but as our main bank provider, it is a good backup card.

Rating

Curve Card together with the Curve App makes directing transactions to different cards easy. You will also stay aware of your spending habits. Our Curve cards have technically been working almost perfectly and the customer service has been good but sometimes a little slow.

We have subscribed to Curve Pay Pro+ level with nice extra features. The level offers a LoungeKey membership and a cashback feature. These are really useful perks while travelling but are not unique among payment cards.

We rate Curve as a 4-star card based on our own experiences.

Where to Order Curve?

It is easy to acquire your Curve card. You just need to install Curve App to your phone. The card can be ordered via the app and it will be delivered to your home in 2 weeks. Before that, you can start using Curve Card with a virtual card available on the app.

Curve Pay Pro and Pro+ give a 1% bonus on purchases from selected merchants. The merchant list includes among others: Lidl and Shell. In other words, you get a 1% bonus for all Lidl purchases. The bonus accumulates as Curve Cash, and it can be used later to pay for purchases.

Download Curve App via our referral link and you will get a welcome bonus if there is an active campaign.

Curve in the USA

Curve card was launched in the United States in 2022. The Curve US Credit Card is issued by Hatch Bank.

Bottom Line

According to our Curve review, Curve is an excellent payment card among travellers whose destinations are using a different currency from one's home currency. As a free card, Curve Pay brings clear savings in currency conversion costs. The card is also suitable for those who travel for work with credit cards from different banks. In addition, Curve is also a great choice for daily spending. As a basic rule, when using credit cards, one needs to spend wisely when using Curve cards too.

Since Curve Pay is completely free, trying it yourself is the easiest way to find out the suitability of this card.

Are you a Curve card user? Comment on your experiences below.

Tags: Curve, review, payment card
Destination: Finland, United Kingdom