Amex Blocks Curve in Anti-Competitive Move

cjv

Just posting for anyone who is interested. The title of this thread was the subject line of the email I just received.

"We are extremely sorry that the top-up functionality of your Amex wallet is currently disabled.

Like thousands of other UK merchants, Curve has a valid merchant agreement to accept Amex payments into its e-wallet. However, on Tuesday evening, Amex decided to terminate this agreement and block all Amex transactions to Curve with immediate effect.

Amex has given no good or fair reason for their decision and we believe it is entirely disproportionate and discriminatory to Curve and all our (joint) customers. UK payment regulations clearly state that Curve should be allowed to access the Amex payment network on a level-playing field with every other fee-paying and legitimate merchant.

Rest assured that you can still spend the funds that you have already topped up to your existing Amex Wallets. If you have contacted us for support, we apologise for the delay in response and will endeavour to do so as soon as possible. We will update you as soon as we have any further information.

With your interests in mind, and our mission to deliver a truly innovative product, we intend to fight Amex's decision with our full might. We believe financial freedom is the future and we are prepared to fight for yours.

Team Curve"

System

I got this too. Very frustrating. I, like others I'm sure, waited for the re-introduction of Amex to the Curve offering. Curve announced yesterday full (non-Beta only) access for 'new' Amex usage. I even used it the same day for a linked Amex payment to buy a new tyre. Now it's gone again in less than 24 hours. Curve must be furious - hence the tone of their announcement I guess. I'd like to think this is a teething problem with the recent change but Curve seem rather accusatory of Amex for this problem, so perhaps they are less optimistic. I for one hope they sort this out amicably and get Amex working with Curve, again... again. Again!

john1002

Must also affect curves new pricing model as Amex was a big factor in this, wonder if it’s not resolved whether they will keep the pricing as it is.

Also they have issued new terms starting from end of March which specifically stop payments of credit cards by credit cards within app.

Regards

John

bxboards

Regardless of the reasons and the finger pointing, on Monday night when i got an e-mail regarding Curve Metal and now supporting AMEX I added my AMEX to the Curve app.

I was very disappointed you need to load the Curve via AMEX and then pay a fee on top as well - effectively turning the Curve card into a pre-paid Card if AMEX if the source. I didn't fancying loading on 100.00 upfront + fee as it seems uttterly pointless doing so.

So it's not big loss due to the implementation - yes AMEX is 'free' ie no loading fee for the paid Curve cards, but they carried an annual or monthly fee. For the free Curve users who I'd assume make up the vast majority of users, the loading / fee charging model renders it unattractive if using AMEX.

I'm more annoyed by the poor AMEX implemention by Curve rather than its enforced removal. I suspect AMEX probably are in the right here.

PRAISETHESUN

Got this email too, and only a day after they announced their Curve metal card too. The metal card didn't have that many things going for it anyway and now one of the few good parts of it has just gone - I'd be very interested to see how that affects their offering here and if Amex reverses their decision (although I suspect they won't)

System

Curve really doesn't have a decent offering now and is clutching at straws. Other that extremely niche situations I don't see how my curve is beneficial to most people now.

An interesting idea but I think it's going to die now.

Former_MSE_Megan_F

Curve cardholders have been stopped from linking their American Express cards to the 'all-in-one' service less than two days after the new functionality was rolled out...

Read the full story:
'Amex blocks Curve 'all-in-one' debit card'

Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply.

Herbalus

Lack of Amex functionality was the only reason I didn't get the Curve card, as there is one website I use frequently that doesn't take Amex.

I wasn't aware there was a trial, but just as well, but it hasn't lasted!

I wonder if it was a revenue issue for Amex or whether too many people found a way to abuse it somehow.

Pablo2010

Curve app and its offering is not for everyone. It is very useful tool and I may suppose not only for me.

Alex1982

alexjpearson1 wrote: »

I got this too. Very frustrating. I, like others I'm sure, waited for the re-introduction of Amex to the Curve offering. Curve announced yesterday full (non-Beta only) access for 'new' Amex usage. I even used it the same day for a linked Amex payment to buy a new tyre. Now it's gone again in less than 24 hours. Curve must be furious - hence the tone of their announcement I guess. I'd like to think this is a teething problem with the recent change but Curve seem rather accusatory of Amex for this problem, so perhaps they are less optimistic. I for one hope they sort this out amicably and get Amex working with Curve, again... again. Again!

Exactly this. Just feels like we've been here before and given how long it took to get Amex support running again after last time, not too optimistic

mrchagle

Latest update can be found in the Curve Community Forum @

https://community.curve.app/t/bringing-amex-back-to-curve/4227

Updated just a few minutes ago.