Curve Card

steveing64 · 6 May 2016 at 9:42AM

Received my card yesterday have used online no problem and twice in shops all good so far hopefully, they will sort out any problems as they go along . It is a beta so expect a few problems its a chance you, take with beta programs

armistice · 6 May 2016 at 1:26PM

HI, Sorry if I've missed this somewhere I've looked through the thread and not found an answer.

My questions is this, When you make a payment using curve mastercard (which it states is a pre-paid mastercard) does the retailer see it as a debit or creditcard transaction?

I have a large payment coming up for which debit cards incur no fee but credit cards do, hence my reason for wishing to know how the card is defined.

Thanks

DeeWestern · 6 May 2016 at 1:39PM

If the retailer has an up to date list of card codes, they will recognise it correctly as a debit card. Some retailers don't have an up to date list sadly, and Curve are reusing a code that used to be used by an Australian credit card company so it may confuse them.

Regardless, the retailer will pay about 2% of the transaction in debit card fees (a very high amount compared to what it usually is, and a cost that is similar or even higher than accepting a credit card) so some retailers won't accept the card at all, and others will get a surprise when the bill comes in! This is how the Curve business model makes money.

You should be absolutely fine though.

NFH · 6 May 2016 at 1:50PM

DeeWestern wrote: »

Regardless, the retailer will pay about 2% of the transaction in debit card fees (a very high amount compared to what it usually is, and a cost that is similar or even higher than accepting a credit card) so some retailers won't accept the card at all, and others will get a surprise when the bill comes in!

I understand that if the merchant accepts MasterCard, then they have to accept all MasterCards, and they can't pick and choose which ones they accept. Am I wrong?

DeeWestern · 6 May 2016 at 1:55PM

NFH wrote: »

I understand that if the merchant accepts MasterCard, then they have to accept all MasterCards, and they can't pick and choose which ones they accept.

That's not correct - try funding your ISA or share dealing account with Curve and you'll get a decline.

I can understand why this is - retailers like the one armistice is using need to pass on high transaction costs, but are prepared to eat the 40p fixed debit card charge. Having a debit card in circulation that bypasses consumer protection on low card fees by having its users say they are 'business users' means that retailers are inadvertently paying for Curve's profits and the customer's American Express loyalty points. If there were no restrictions, then your ISA company would be paying £300 for Curve funding, rather than the <£1 fee they were expecting - and it would like a long time to make this money back when they're charging £15 a year for their service.

reclusive46 · 6 May 2016 at 1:56PM

Since an EU ruling, retailers can choose not to accept cards that arnt capped.

NFH · 6 May 2016 at 2:35PM

OK, maybe I was thinking of American Express then. They definitely require their merchants to accept all Amex cards.

Given that Curve is classed as a debit card, has anyone paid DVLA for road tax without a £2.50 credit card surcharge? Unfortunately mine was due just before I received my Curve card, although the DVLA now finally accepts Amex, albeit with a surcharge.

JLED121 · 6 May 2016 at 4:15PM

Still waiting for my card... they've managed to miss not only the end of March target, then the shipping target they provided, but now also the 5-7 day leeway they gave themselves on top of that.

Willing to forgive the sins of tardiness if the card delivers, however the ATM is annoyingly restrictive. I barely ever withdraw cash, however I would not define >£200/month as in breach of "fair use". Given as any debit card would allow you to withdraw more than that in a day. I understand why they're restricting it, but it doesn't seem in good faith to allow so many people to sign up, and then set the monthly limit at an unprecedented low level.

The card remains valuable for replacing my obligate mastercards/visas in the long-run, however the day that Curve loses AmEx is the day the company becomes valueless. If I want to recoup the value of my £75 Curve this year (being pessimistic about how long this business model can last...), I'll need to spend at least £7.5k on the card that I would have otherwise been forced to put on a non-AmEx card (best yielding AmEx ~1.5%, best yielding non-AmEx ~0.5%, difference 1%). Withdrawing £200/month would artificially lower that to £4k - however that is inconvenient.

Admittedly, when one takes into consideration the tumi wallet - let's say I value that at £40 (regardless of it's RRP, as I already have several wallets), then simply withdrawing £200/month is enough to break even.

I wouldn't recommend using the card online currently as long as these issues with CNP transactions being declined persists - if Curve were to go bankrupt it's not clear where your money would go.

steveing64 · 6 May 2016 at 5:43PM

Have used my card twice online no problems once to pay BT and just for an Amazon order, that's coming tomorrow so fingers crossed they have sorted problems.

newuser86 · 13 May 2016 at 3:08PM

I have had my curve card for the two weeks and i am delighted in how it has worked. I have linked it to my virgin AMEX and used it daily for an array of shopping, online and instores.

There was one issue with a double charge but this was rectified without me even noticing it, it was only for a small amount.

I am off to America next month so will see how it holds out there but all in all it seems to work very well, and will let me run up my 10k limit on virgin to get my upgrade.

Hopefully the loyalty scheme they bring out will be worth it

Curve Card

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