What is Curve?
Curve is a smart payment card and app designed to simplify your banking. You connect your debit and credit cards through one simple application available for Apple IOS or Google Play. Curve has been designed to combine all your Visa and Mastercard accounts into one, so you can leave them all at home, you just use the one Curve card.
Sign up to Curve here with my affiliate link to get a £5 credit after making your first purchase.
How much does it cost?
Curve has three membership options below.
As you can see there is a range of benefits and the more you play the more you get. The basic package is however free.
All Curve cards give you 1% cashback on a number of companies, for a set amount of time, fee-free foreign exchange, and fee-free ATM withdrawals. The free account has these benefits time-limited and there are different limits on the ATM withdrawals.
Ordering the card
The Curve Metal Mastercard was easy to order and came quickly. The Curve Metal looks smart with its brushed steel, I went for the blue steel but there is also a limited edition red and a rose gold colour too. It feels luxurious in your hand as it's not made of plastic. Once you receive your card you have to activate it online to start spending. You have to link a card and every time you do a small charge (less than £1.50) is taken to verify it. This is then refunded back to your card straight away.
You can also select up to 6 retailers listed on the app to get 1% cashback with them when you pay with the card. With companies like Sainsbury's, Boots, Amazon and Uber included then this is a nice little perk don't you think? If you do your grocery shopping with Sainsbury's, for example, pay on the card and spend £100 a week, the money you could get back works out at £52 a year - better than nothing!
Travel benefits
There are a number of big benefits if you are travellers.
Immediately on ordering the card I was sent documents via email for the worldwide travel insurance included with the Curve Metal account. The travel insurance seemed comprehensive and is from AXA, a well-known travel insurance company, giving you peace of mind. It included Collision Damage Waiver for car rental insurance and electronic gadget insurance as well up to £800. I was impressed with the coverage as medical coverage was up to 15 million pounds, enough for coverage to the US where medical bills are high.
When you use your Curve Metal card abroad you get unlimited fee-free foreign currency exchange, and fee-free ATM withdrawals up to £600 a month too. This is a great perk and I can't wait to see how this works when we go to Spain next month. With the exchange rate against all foreign currencies being dire at the moment with Brexit on the horizon, anything that helps you save money abroad is much needed.
The last major perk of using the Curve Metal card if you are a traveller is the discounted airport lounge access with Lounge Key at £15 per person for you and a guest. To access this you need to download and register the Lounge Key app with your Curve card. You can then see what airport lounges are included. I was pleased to see the Plaza Premium lounges and No 1 Lounges at Heathrow included for example, and even our local airport Cardiff is included, as well as hundreds of other lounges worldwide. Just show your card as eligibility when you arrive at the lounge and your payment of £15 per person is taken on the card there and then.
Time travel
Ok, well you won't turn into Dr Who but they say time travel is included with every card. What that means in practice is that the Go Back In Time feature allows you to switch which card you use for each transaction, within 14 days of your purchase. This is useful if you have personal transactions and want to swap them over to business transactions, or if you have got to the top of your credit limit on a card.
Day-to-day use
So daily use of the card is easy. You use the smart card like you would normally with a debit or credit card. You are allocated a 4 digit pin number but this is then easily changed through an ATM. There is a £200 a day cap on the amount you can take out.
I used the contactless feature on the card to pay for groceries at the supermarket with no problems at all. What is great is that the app categorises each transaction so that it is easy to see what you spend your money on, for example, Groceries, Transport, Travel, and so on. It also allows you to add a receipt, write a note or mark it as a business purchase. A feature I like is that you can immediately see what you spend as it happens. Other useful features include being able to lock your card with one tap, view your pin and get instant customer support.
Curve also offers its own customer protection in case of things going wrong which is good to know.
If you are interested in trying out Curve for yourself, download it for free with my affiliate link and enter the code JEWEL for a £5 credit after making your first purchase.
As you can see Curve offers some interesting ways to spend and manage your money. Let me know what you think!
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The Curve sounds like a great app to use especially since it helps to organise your finance and you have the transaction history as well so you know how your money is spent
ReplyDeleteI like the organisation aspect. So many of us could do with that!
DeleteThis sounds like a great card to have on your side. I like the fact you can set certain retailers to get cashback from! That is an awesome feature.
ReplyDeleteAny cashback is fine by me!
DeleteI am always forgetting to take all my cards with me when I go shopping as try to travel as light as possible. This would save me so much hassle!
ReplyDeleteYes this smart card is linked to your debit and credit cards.
DeleteLove that you can use one card with Curve so that you don't have to have all your cards with you, I never seem to have enough room for all my cards in my purse. Think it's fantastic that the app categories transactions to help with budgeting. Amazing that Curve offers its own customer protection.
ReplyDeleteI like the organisation it can offer you with budgeting too.
DeleteIt looks like a very stylish card and very posh! I love the fact that you can get cash back in shops like Sainsbury's too.
ReplyDeleteThe Curve metal card is very stylish, isn't it?
DeleteThis sounds great for travellers, the perks are amazing.
ReplyDeleteKatie xoxo
Some great perks indeed for travellers.
DeleteThis sounds like such a great little gadget and as someone already said, perfect for travellers!
ReplyDeleteI love that this saves having to carry around multiple cards, perfect for days out and travel as well as everyday use
ReplyDelete