What alternatives to Curve card are out there 22 September at 12:45AM in Budgeting & bank accounts 11 replies 458 views

mrg9999

I've been with Curve since 2018, and it's been mostly quite painless.

Today a bank card expired I tried to update it and the app tells me that I'm over a limit, It seems now that my card only supports two linked accounts unless I pay them £10 a month and since that's never going to happen, are there any good alternatives.

I already have

Revolut and Google pay

I use Google Pay quite a lot, but do quite like a card that I can use to obtain cash from a normal ATM and switch the card off after use.

What else is out there?

lr1277

I don't quite understand what features you want your replacement card to have?

Front a credit card?

Fee free FX cash withdrawls

Or cash withdrawls at UK ATMs?

If it is just cash withdrawls from UK ATMs, then my bank allows me to freeze my card in the app.

pphillips

mrg9999 said:

I've been with Curve since 2018, and it's been mostly quite painless.

Today a bank card expired I tried to update it and the app tells me that I'm over a limit, It seems now that my card only supports two linked accounts unless I pay them £10 a month and since that's never going to happen, are there any good alternatives.

I already have

Revolut and Google pay

I use Google Pay quite a lot, but do quite like a card that I can use to obtain cash from a normal ATM and switch the card off after use.

What else is out there?

As far as I'm aware there is only one viable alternative to Curve: https://www.vitracash.com/

trient

As in, that VitraCash that was hacked in July, had most of their customers charged fraudulent transactions (I was one), then paused the service, stopped responding to emails and then deleted the forum threads where people were screaming for help (just google "vitracash hacked")? No thanks, for all their faults Curve are in a different league.

StaceyQ

mrg9999 said:

I've been with Curve since 2018, and it's been mostly quite painless.

Today a bank card expired I tried to update it and the app tells me that I'm over a limit, It seems now that my card only supports two linked accounts unless I pay them £10 a month and since that's never going to happen, are there any good alternatives.

I already have

Revolut and Google pay

I use Google Pay quite a lot, but do quite like a card that I can use to obtain cash from a normal ATM and switch the card off after use.

What else is out there?

Your usage is loss making.
I doubt you'll find any 'free' solution. 

NeedSomeHRadvice

what limit are you over? I have had a curve card and not used it much but they still sent me a new one when old one I had not used in years expired.

trient

FWIW just got an email today from Vitra Cash letting me know they were closing my account. The one they never opened in the first place (app kept telling me for months they needed more checks, up until the underlying card I had included on my application got defrauded). You can't make this stuff up.

Astria

What parts of curve do you really like and wish to keep using?

Whilst you can get a card that will front your bank account and allow you to turn it off, it'll come with other restrictions which your bank card will not (such as withdrawal limits), but it may offer other advantages such as lower FX rates.

Daliah

Astria said:

What parts of curve do you really like and wish to keep using?

Whilst you can get a card that will front your bank account and allow you to turn it off, it'll come with other restrictions which your bank card will not (such as withdrawal limits), but it may offer other advantages such as lower FX rates.

I used to use Curve all the time, mainly for its GBIT functionality. I like the idea of Curve Metal, mainly because of its Travel Insurance. Sadly, this only goes to age 69.

It would never occur to me to use Curve for FX as there are plenty of better alternatives.

Astria

Daliah said:

Astria said:

What parts of curve do you really like and wish to keep using?

Whilst you can get a card that will front your bank account and allow you to turn it off, it'll come with other restrictions which your bank card will not (such as withdrawal limits), but it may offer other advantages such as lower FX rates.

I used to use Curve all the time, mainly for its GBIT functionality. I like the idea of Curve Metal, mainly because of its Travel Insurance. Sadly, this only goes to age 69.

It would never occur to me to use Curve for FX as there are plenty of better alternatives.

I used to use Curve all the time too, as my CC provider wouldn't work with Google Pay, and my second CC provider Barclaycard refused to work with Google Pay saying I should use their app instead which sucks. I'm currently getting 1% cashback on a debit card which works well with google pay so I'm using that to pay for everything at the moment, in a years time I might switch back or find another card.

The_Urbanite

pphillips said:

mrg9999 said:

I've been with Curve since 2018, and it's been mostly quite painless.

Today a bank card expired I tried to update it and the app tells me that I'm over a limit, It seems now that my card only supports two linked accounts unless I pay them £10 a month and since that's never going to happen, are there any good alternatives.

I already have

Revolut and Google pay

I use Google Pay quite a lot, but do quite like a card that I can use to obtain cash from a normal ATM and switch the card off after use.

What else is out there?

As far as I'm aware there is only one viable alternative to Curve: https://www.vitracash.com/

No, not Vitracash. They started a beta last year, our cards stopped working in January 2022. Allegedly some customers cards were reactivated. They got hacked in July 2022 resulting in people’s cards being charged - then sent us an email this week saying the Vitracash card programme was closed on 29th June 2022.