Curve Card: Signature Required

JackieR91

Hi all,

I recently obtained the Curve Metal World Elite Mastercard so I could combine all credit and debit cards into one, which makes things a little easier in terms of managing payments plus with the bonus of cashback as well.

All of my cards have been added to Curve without a problem. However, whenever I make a transaction in-store with the Curve card, with any of my underlying cards, the terminal comes back with "Signature Required" and doesn't ask me to enter a PIN which means I have to sign the back of the receipt.

I contacted Curve who claim that my card providers are returning a response code to their payment system which requires a signature for them to authorise the payment. I have contacted my card company who have all said that no signature is required on my account and the transactions are treated as online purchases.

I forwarded the correspondence to Curve who said they basically had no clue what the issue was and that if I didn't want to keep payments in this fashion I'd have to use another card (even though they all seem to do this) or cancel my account. But then they tell me that cancelling before 6 months means I'll be charged a metal card fee of £50.

Is there anyone I can escalate this matter to as I shouldn't have to pay this fee to a company who can't fix their own problems and the card issuers themselves claiming it has nothing to do with them.

Chino

JackieR91 wrote: »

Is there anyone I can escalate this matter to

See section 24 Complaints of Curve's Terms of Service.

Ben8282

Is this really a big problem for you?

Terry_Towelling

Doesn't sound like a big deal but it does sound odd. Why should this be happening to you only? If it was a general problem, we'd have had it reported on the forum before now.

Is this every transaction with every underlying card on every occasion? How many times has it happened so far?

Can you explain exactly what you mean when you say 'the transactions are treated as online purchases'? That seems to mean they are being treated as internet purchases - is that what you mean?

Ben8282

Of course, 'online purchase' and 'signature required' are contradictory. How do you sign an online purchase transaction?

T-G-C

It would be Curve who are requesting the signature, not the bank. Curve transactions are essentially like PayPal. It collects the funds from your bank, who then receive the funds in an invisible e-wallet and then send it to the merchant. The bank receives the MCC code and a description of the transaction, for which Curve mirrors the original merchant's business name. As far as the bank are concerned, the purchase is with Curve and not the merchant directly.

You are correct in that Curve purchases on your underlying card are treated as Card not Present, since it uses the card number, expiration date and security code to produce charges, which is the same for internet purchases, hence how the bank made this conclusion for you. Transactions for Card not Present / Internet cannot require a signature, so in cases where the bank are not able to satisfy due diligence of security, it would simply be declined and the same would reflect on the card terminal when Curve replicates the response it receives.

In this case, it seems that Curve are receiving approvals for these "online" purchases, but are choosing to request a signature for them to approve the transaction on their own system. This relates to the Curve card and account itself, fully independent of the main card, which has served its purpose once charged.

If Curve are requiring a signature but then claim otherwise, it cannot be anything more than a system issue, which they have not immediately diagnosed. You should either continue to persist in them identifying the exact cause of their signature requests or close your account and move elsewhere.

As for the £50 charge... no contract was signed or other legally enforceable agreement. You are bound by their terms and conditions, but refusing to settle their requested closure payment does not constitute a court case. Plus, their expenses to pursue a civil claim would outweigh the charge.

gt94sss2

JackieR91 wrote: »

Is there anyone I can escalate this matter to as I shouldn't have to pay this fee to a company who can't fix their own problems and the card issuers themselves claiming it has nothing to do with them.

Have you tried posting on Curve's own forum? Its at https://community.curve.app/

Terry_Towelling

T-G-C wrote: »

You are correct in that Curve purchases on your underlying card are treated as Card not Present, since it uses the card number, expiration date and security code to produce charges, which is the same for internet purchases, hence how the bank made this conclusion for you.

This is interesting. Does Curve pass through the card number, expiration date and security code of the underlying card to the underlying issuer?

I know that Curve is not a retailer as such, but surely even they are not permitted to store the security code of an underlying card - unless I am misinterpreting you.

T-G-C

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

This is interesting. Does Curve pass through the card number, expiration date and security code of the underlying card to the underlying issuer?

I know that Curve is not a retailer as such, but surely even they are not permitted to store the security code of an underlying card - unless I am misinterpreting you.

It is difficult to explain, so I will breakdown the process:

1. Customer initiates a transaction on the terminal using their Curve card.

2. It passes through the network and onto the card issuer, which is Curve.

3. Curve's system identifies which underlying card has been selected for use and makes a request to that card's issuer for the amount of the transaction in progress.

* THIS PROCESS IS ENTIRELY SEPARATE TO THE CARD TRANSACTION TAKING PLACE AT THE TERMINAL *

4. Curve receives a response back from the underlying card's issuer on whether the amount requested has been approved or declined.

5. If the transaction has been approved, Curve returns back to the cardholder's terminal transaction and returns an approval. If it has been declined, the same is done but returns with a decline.

The transaction taking place at the terminal is between the customer; merchant and Curve. The separate transaction made to collect the funds for the first transaction is internal and no underlying card data is needed at the original terminal.

The transaction that Curve performs on an underlying card is considered an internet transaction. The data sent through the card network is the card number; expiration date, MCC code based on the product or service the original transaction is for and any other metadata required to process it. Underlying card information is stored securely, using industry standard security measures.

Curve used to use a static MCC code for all its transactions with an underlying card, listed as Elsewhere Classified, however as people were exploiting their credit card to withdraw cash without the charge or interest, pressure was placed on them to use a dynamic MCC or face being blacklisted to protect credit card companies' commercial interests from customers being able to withdraw cash as a purchase transaction, which as we know is treated differently in terms of interest and charges.