Curve

lon_don

Lloyds is buying Curve. HFP says it's the end of Curve https://www.headforpoints.com/2025/07/13/lloyds-bank-in-talks-to-buy-curve/ .

Newbie_John

Please quote where is says "it's buying".

There is a difference between having a chat about potential purchase and buying.

Grumpy_chap

Why would Lloyds (or anyone) buy Curve to then simply close it down?
A prospective purchaser may have plans to reformat the product offering but must, presumably, see some value in the current product that is better than simply starting their own, new, comparative competitor product.  Particularly a bank, who already have all the processes to create a debit card product easily.

I have the Curve card, and will only ever have the free version (I don't think I'd gain value from the paid upgrades). 
The main advantage is it allows me to link my CC to Garmin Pay. 
At the start, it was also helpful to make my CC work as a contactless card, but my CC has that now in any case.
There is one place I go that will accept debit card and not credit card, so Curve was useful there once a month also.

I always thought the free Curve business model must be challenged, or have some clever behind the scenes magic.  On the face of it, they process payments as debit card transactions (lower fees) and then make that a credit card transaction (higher fees) so that's already an apparent loss for every transaction.  Then, the Curve card adds "Curve Cash" on whatever basis the incentives are for the time being.  That all looks like a loss-leader to me.  As I suggested, there must be some behind the scenes magic...

Ultimately, if Curve went, it would be the access to Garmin Pay that I would notice the loss.  There are other cards I might be able to get that fill this void - hopefully one of them would be available with a "free" option.

lon_don

I don't have/use Curve, am totally agnostic wrt its future. I'm just reading the news, and Sky News is not the worst source (of business news). It does appears HFP's Rob Burgess knows Curve well (having worked there previously apparently) + knows the Curve founder well, so his musings might not be too far off the mark.

Olenna

Grumpy_chap said:

Why would Lloyds (or anyone) buy Curve to then simply close it down?
A prospective purchaser may have plans to reformat the product offering but must, presumably, see some value in the current product that is better than simply starting their own, new, comparative competitor product.  Particularly a bank, who already have all the processes to create a debit card product easily.

I have the Curve card, and will only ever have the free version (I don't think I'd gain value from the paid upgrades). 
The main advantage is it allows me to link my CC to Garmin Pay. 
At the start, it was also helpful to make my CC work as a contactless card, but my CC has that now in any case.
There is one place I go that will accept debit card and not credit card, so Curve was useful there once a month also.

I always thought the free Curve business model must be challenged, or have some clever behind the scenes magic.  On the face of it, they process payments as debit card transactions (lower fees) and then make that a credit card transaction (higher fees) so that's already an apparent loss for every transaction.  Then, the Curve card adds "Curve Cash" on whatever basis the incentives are for the time being.  That all looks like a loss-leader to me.  As I suggested, there must be some behind the scenes magic...

Ultimately, if Curve went, it would be the access to Garmin Pay that I would notice the loss.  There are other cards I might be able to get that fill this void - hopefully one of them would be available with a "free" option.

There is not some behind the scenes magic; each debit card (Curve) transaction that is funded by a credit card will operate at a loss. Curve cash may be funded via a retailer deal or by Curve themselves. 

Grumpy_chap

Olenna said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Why would Lloyds (or anyone) buy Curve to then simply close it down?
A prospective purchaser may have plans to reformat the product offering but must, presumably, see some value in the current product that is better than simply starting their own, new, comparative competitor product.  Particularly a bank, who already have all the processes to create a debit card product easily.

I have the Curve card, and will only ever have the free version (I don't think I'd gain value from the paid upgrades). 
The main advantage is it allows me to link my CC to Garmin Pay. 
At the start, it was also helpful to make my CC work as a contactless card, but my CC has that now in any case.
There is one place I go that will accept debit card and not credit card, so Curve was useful there once a month also.

I always thought the free Curve business model must be challenged, or have some clever behind the scenes magic.  On the face of it, they process payments as debit card transactions (lower fees) and then make that a credit card transaction (higher fees) so that's already an apparent loss for every transaction.  Then, the Curve card adds "Curve Cash" on whatever basis the incentives are for the time being.  That all looks like a loss-leader to me.  As I suggested, there must be some behind the scenes magic...

Ultimately, if Curve went, it would be the access to Garmin Pay that I would notice the loss.  There are other cards I might be able to get that fill this void - hopefully one of them would be available with a "free" option.

There is not some behind the scenes magic; each debit card (Curve) transaction that is funded by a credit card will operate at a loss. Curve cash may be funded via a retailer deal or by Curve themselves. 

Well, yes that is what I thought and what I thought I said.
Every transaction loses money.
Not a sound business model...

toothdoctor

I have a curve card (free) which I still use regularly. Back in the day it was great you could pay your tax bill and have it charged to your credit card at no charge (need curve fronted now). Could take out money from atm free, this is now charged. Used to link Barclaycard to gpay but you can link Barclaycard directly now. All the useful features have been eroded over time. What do I use it for now? £250 fee free foreign exchange on weekdays (not weekends as extra charge, use chase debit for additional purchases above £250 abroad). The app is still handy if I want to filter and categorise my spending, easier than barclaycard). Never really used the go back in time feature. Shame really as I really liked the card and it had some good features which like everything in life gradually got out behind a pay wall.