Review of Curve Card
I love a new service that is doing something different in the Personal Finance World. Especially when it offers me convenience, simplicity and control. The app and card service Curve does this and I have been trying it out for a few weeks. Here is my review of the including what I loved about it.
Do you have a wallet full of cards?
I certainly do, I have cards for bank account, my business bank account, a card to use abroad, a card for cash back, another card for petrol and food. My wallet is packed full of too many cards. But now I have a solution to combine most of my cards onto ONE card, the Curve card.
What is Curve?
Yes, it really is this simple. The one Curve card replaces all the payment cards in your wallet. You use it as a regular card and the transactions goes to your different payment cards. I have set up a default payment card which is my most common used card. If the payment has gone to the wrong card you can very easily move the transaction within the app to the right card and account.
Easy to Set up
I downloaded the Curve app and set up all the cards that I regularly use for payment. You take a picture of the card and add the expiry date and 3-digit CVC code. There will be a small verification transaction code to enter from your account and all is done. The card is added to the app and you are then ready to make payments via the curve app and card.
I use an American Express card to earn cashback and this was the only card that annoyingly couldn’t be added. An issue common to American Express as it can’t be used in all retailers, it’s not yet ready to be added to Curve, but watch this space. All of my other cards were added no problems.
The Curve card arrives in the post
Around 1 week after ordering the Curve card arrived. There was one verification to do on the app for the Curve card and then I was ready to start using it.
Simplicity
It really is so simple, I just need the one card in my wallet for all my card transactions. SO far this week my transactions have been a mixture of business and personal, so some have been on my Starling account and others on my regular, paid off in full monthly, credit card. I am always finding myself use the wrong card for payment and of course I did it this week, but it was easy switch of the transaction from one card to another. I often end up putting business transactions onto my personal card incorrectly!
Access to spending information
I can see by card type and an overall list how much I have spent since using the Curve card. I have spent £56.86 with £23.55 on business expenses of stationery and parking and the remainder on personal grocery shopping and takeaway.
This view of my spending is very effective and it makes me think twice about that spend and whether it was necessary. The insights are really useful, and I can see how much better this will get with months’ worth of data.
Cashback
There is a wonderful cashback offer where I can get a 1% cashback reward on three nominated retailers for the first three months of using my Curve card. I have chosen Tesco, H&M and Boots as my nominated retailers. These are the retailer where I sped the most money so it’s a nice gift to get 1% cash back from those purchases as well.
Connectivity
The Curve Connect platform allows you to directly integrate with your Xero account, automating bookkeeping tasks. You can also transfer data into many other systems including Money Dashboard and YNAB, to do this you would have to download a CSV
Refer a friend payment
A brilliant refer a friend tool is offered. Where you and your referred friend will each get a £5 bonus when they make their first transaction. Win-win for the both of you.
Why Should You get a Curve Card?
If you want simplicity with just the one card in your wallet then this is the service and product for you. If you want control over your spending seeing a clear list of ALL your transactions in one place, then this is for you. And if you want a nice boost of cash back in your first three months then this is for you. Give a try and see what you think.
This is a collaborative post.
