Curve Card and App: Complete Review – All you need to know!

Curve is a great payment card not only for traveling. It will save you money with better exchange rates, free up space in your wallet and protect your cards from potential abuse. We have prepared for you complete review of Curve card and app.

Let’s have a look at all the important information you need to know. Use this link to get a £5 bonus. Enter the promo code N3AB6K4D when registering.

What is Curve?

Curve is a mobile app that is associated with a debit card. As opposed to Revolut or Wise, it’s not a bank account. The Curve service allows you to combine all your payment cards into one card. You do not need to carry a large number of cards in your wallet or remember several different PINs.

Curve is a regular MasterCard contactless debit card.

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Curve card review

Why is Curve advantageous?

Let’s summarize the biggest benefits of Curve:

1) Combining all payment cards into one

Are you tired of carrying lots of different cards in your wallet and remembering several different PINs? Curve debit card will help you to solve this problem. You insert all your payment cards into the mobile app, and you can only carry a Curve card in your wallet. This service actually works on a slightly similar principle as Google Pay or Apple Pay, where you also store your payment cards.

2) Security

You might think that safety may be a disadvantage. What if someone steals my Curve card? He’ll gain access to all my cards … Not at all. Only one active card is selected in the mobile app at a time, and if the Curve card is stolen, the thief can’t use any other card. Curve doesn’t even give the data of the currently active card.

You can also lock the card with one click in the mobile app. For example, if you lose your wallet, you don’t have to panic. Just lock your card and no one will be able to withdraw your money. For a complete security, you can keep your card locked permanently and always unblock it before a specific payment.

Curve also doesn’t share your card numbers with anyone. Only the Curve card number goes to merchants.

The app will also notify you whenever a payment is made, so you know immediately that a transaction has occurred.

Curve card and app review
You can lock your card at any time.

3) Better exchange rates

Many people pay by their card abroad and do not care about the exchange rates at all. You are maybe thinking – the difference is really small and it’s not worth caring about? It’s not small. Banks (especially the largest ones) often have very unfavorable rates for converting into foreign currency. You can easily lose hundreds of dollars during just a week-long holiday.

Curve app, however, offers very advantageous rates (Mastercard interbank exchange rate), which are in most cases more advantageous than all the rates you get when paying with a card from your regular bank.

4) ATM withdrawals without a fee

Most banks charge fees (often quite high) for ATM withdrawals abroad. Curve card allows you to withdraw up to £200 per month from ATMs worldwide for a free tariff (£400 for Black tariff and £600 for Metal tariff). If you withdraw more than the limit, you will pay a 2% fee.

You still need to pay the fee to the bank that operates the ATM (you would pay two fees when you pay with your classic card, but only one when you pay with a Curve card).

5) 1% Cashback from selected merchants

In the mobile application, you have the option to choose up to 3 merchants (6 merchants for Metal tariff), where you will get bonus points when paying. For this purpose, a virtual card (Curve Cash) is available in the mobile application. 100 points are worth £1. If you pay with a Curve card at selected merchants, you will earn points of 1% of the amount, which you can then use for any subsequent payment.

Just be aware that if you have the free Blue tariff, the points are valid only for 90 days. The points have unlimited validity if you have Black or Metal tariffs.

You can find the complete list of merchants where you will get cashback directly in the mobile application or here. These are for example Tesco, Lidl, Norma, Aldi, McDonald’s, Burger King, Starbucks, DM, IKEA, Booking.com, Uber, and many more.

Curve review

6) “Back in time” function

Another useful function of the application is the function “Back in time”. Did it happen to you that you have paid with one card and realized after that it would be better to pay with another card? Or have you forgotten to switch the card in the app? You don’t have to mourn. This is because you have the option to move any payment not exceeding £1000 to another card within 14 days. Note that it can be done only once for each payment.

7) Sending money between Curve users

If you have friends who also use Curve, you can easily send money directly through the app with just a few clicks. This is done by the Curve Send function. Just select a friend, enter currency, amount, choose which card to pay with and the money is sent immediately.

Curve app review

8) No need to charge money

Unlike Revolut or Wise, there is no need to charge any money to the app. Curve works directly with the account balance of individual cards. This saves you time and hassle with forwarding money.

9) Virtual cards as physical

You can also upload all your virtual cards to the application. Curve app allows you to use a virtual card as a physical card and pay with it in regular stores.

10) Detailed spending statistics

In the mobile app, you have clearly listed all transactions and you have a good overview of your spending. You know exactly how much money you spent using which card. You can search and filter individual transactions. All transactions can also be easily exported to .csv format, which can be opened, for example, in MS Excel.

Curve app review

11) Google Pay and Apple Pay Support

Curve Card supports Google Pay and Apple Pay, which provide access to an easy, secure, and private payment method in stores, apps, and online payments via Android and Apple devices respectively.

12) Travel, phone, and car insurance (paid tariffs only)

If you opt for one of the paid tariffs, you will get another benefit of included insurance. For Curve Black, you will get worldwide travel insurance from AXA. For Curve Metal, you will get travel insurance, phone insurance, and car collision waiver insurance.

Disadvantages of Curve

Curve has also some disadvantages. Let’s have look at them together:

1) Limit for ATM withdrawals

With the Curve card, you can withdraw only £200 per month from ATMs (£400 or £600 for paid tariffs, respectively). Above this limit, you will pay a fee of 2% of the amount withdrawn. However, even with this fee, it’s often still better than a regular bank card. Fortunately, you can pay directly by card and don’t have to withdraw too much cash in most countries nowadays.

2) Limit on currency conversions

For a free plan, your monthly conversion limit is £500. If exceeded, Curve will charge 2% of the amount. You can easily avoid this limit by paying in the same currency as your card. There is no limit for paid plans.

3) Beware of weekend exchange rates

At the weekend (UK UTC time), Curve charges a 0.5% – 2% surcharge on all currency exchanges. Major currencies such as EUR, GBP, and USD are 0.5%. This is in order to protect itself against any exchange rate depreciation over the weekend. Therefore. you will pay a little more at the weekend, but it still usually a better rate than paying with your regular card.

4) Daily, monthly and yearly limits

Curve has maximum payment limits set to protect itself against abuse. The basic limits are as follows:

  • Daily ATM withdrawal limit: £200
  • Daily Payout Limit: £2,000
  • Monthly (30 days) Payout Limit: £5,000
  • Annual (365 days) Payout Limit: £10,000

Limits can be increased by regular usage.

5) Curve only supports Mastercard and Visa cards

Unfortunately, Curve does not support cards other than Mastercard and Visa. For example, it does not support American Express, Maestro, or Diners Club.

6) The mobile app doesn’t display current exchange rates

Another disadvantage is that the application doesn’t display current exchange rates. Therefore, you don’t know exactly how much you’ll pay in advance. However, I wrote to customer support and they replied that it’s their priority to add current exchange rates to the app and it should be soon.

Curve Tariffs

Curve offers three tariffs – Curve Blue, Curve Black, and Curve Metal (however Metal is only available in UK). The biggest advantages of paid tariffs are increased limits for withdrawals from ATMs, unlimited currency conversions, unlimited cashback or worldwide travel insurance.

Here’s a detailed tariff comparison in the table:

Curve BlueCurve BlackCurve Metal (only UK)
PricingFree £9.99/month£14.99/month
1% Cashback3 merchant, 90 days validity3 merchants, unlimited validity6 merchants, unlimited validity
ATM withdrawal limits £200/month (2% surcharge if exceeded)£400/month (2% surcharge if exceeded) £600/month (2% surcharge if exceeded)
Currency exchange limits £500/month (2% surcharge if exceeded) unlimitedunlimited
Travel, Car & Phone InsuranceNot includedWorldwide Travel Insurance (restricted cover)Included

How to order a Curve card?

Ordering the debit card is absolutely free. In addition, if you use our link to register, you will receive an extra £5 bonus. You need to install the mobile app and fill in your personal information. Enter the promo code N3AB6K4D during sign up to make sure you get a £5 bonus.

You must upload at least one of your real cards to the app before they send you a card. They just want to make sure that you are a real person, who is going to use the card.

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How does adding cards to the app work?

You can easily add cards to your app by taking a picture of the card number and entering data from the other side. Even the card number can be entered manually without taking pictures. After that, your card will be verified by deducting a small amount from your account – up to £1. Once verified, Curve will refund the amount back to your account.

For each card, you can then choose its currency and appearance in the app. You can also turn on email invoices for each card.

Adding cards in the Curve app

How do foreign currency payments work?

Curve app allows you to assign a default currency to each card inserted. The right settings can save you a lot of money.

Curve -> Your home currency cards

For your home currency cards, it is necessary to preserve the home currency as the base currency and not to switch to a foreign currency. The Curve will then withdraw the amount in the home currency from the bank and the conversion to the foreign currency will be made through the advantageous Curve exchange rates.

But if you set a foreign currency, Curve will withdraw money from the bank in foreign currency, which will not be nearly as advantageous.

Curve -> Foreign cards (eg Revolut or Wise)

When paying via Curve abroad using a Revolut or Wise card, the setting is not always so clear. Again, if set to another currency, the exchange will be made within the Curve. If the same currency as the paid transaction is set, the exchange is performed on the card used (Revolut, Wise).

Rates vary and sometimes is more advantageous Revolut rate, sometimes Wise and sometimes Curve. However, the differences are usually so small that the vast majority of transactions are not worth thinking about. All three services save you money compared to a regular credit card.

What to be aware of while using Curve?

1) Withdrawals from ATMs in your home country

The Curve card is issued in the UK and therefore some ATMs in other countries charge fees. You can easily pay with the Curve card at home, but we recommend checking first if your bank charges some fee for withdrawing from ATMs with foreign card.

2) Exchange rates on weekends

At the weekend (UK UTC time), Curve charges a 0.5% – 2% surcharge on all currency exchanges. Major currencies such as EUR, GBP, and USD are 0.5%. This is in order to protect itself against any exchange rate depreciation over the weekend. Therefore, you will pay a little more at the weekend, but it still usually a better rate than paying with your regular card.

3) Limit for ATM withdrawals and monthly and yearly limits

With the Curve card, you can withdraw for free only £200 per month from ATMs (£400 for Black tariff and £600 for Metal tariff). Above this limit, you will pay a fee of 2% of the amount withdrawn. However, even with this fee, it’s often still better than a regular bank card. 

The monthly conversion limit for a free plan is £500. If exceeded, Curve will charge 2% of the amount. You can easily avoid this limit by paying in the same currency as your card. There is no limit for paid plans.

Beware also of maximum payment limits:

  • Daily ATM withdrawal limit: £200
  • Daily Payout Limit: £2,000
  • Monthly (30 days) Payout Limit: £5,000
  • Annual (365 days) Payout Limit: £10,000

Limits can be increased by regular usage.

Review summary: Curve is just worth it!

We use Curve ourselves and can only warmly recommend it. It saves you a lot of space in your wallet, you do not need to remember several different PINs, you save money on international transactions and you get some small money back from everyday payments. Order your Curve card with a £5 bonus here. Enter the promo code N3AB6K4D when registering.

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Watch this video with complete Curve review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=897vi4ja3wk

More tips for your travels:

We have prepared for you this comprehensive list of links, discounts, and resources for travel planning in one place. Bookmark this page and whenever you plan a vacation in the future, just open it and save yourself a lot of time.

1) Where to book accommodation?

2) How to find cheap flights?

3) How to rent a car?

  • We recommend a comparison portal RentalCars.com to compare the best offers of all available rental companies.

Pin this Curve review for later or for your friends:

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Curve review – FAQ:

How do I get a £5 bonus?

To get the £5 bonus, register via this link and enter your promo code N3AB6K4D.

Is the Curve Card free?

Yes, it is absolutely free to receive a Curve debit card. There is no charge for having your account and card in the basic plan. In addition, if you use this link to register and enter the promo code N3AB6K4D, you will receive a £5 bonus.

What are the benefits of a Curve?

The main advantages are the unification of all payment cards under one, advantageous exchange rates, withdrawals from ATMs free of charge or clear spending statistics. Read more about Curve benefits here.

What are the disadvantages of a Curve?

The biggest drawbacks are limits on ATM withdrawals, slightly worse weekend rates or support for Mastercard and Visa cards only. Read more about the disadvantages of Curve here.

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