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【Update 2024.6】Curve sent users an important email today: inactive users will have their accounts closed. Curve will also stop service on July 8, so if you still have rewards, redeem them as soon as possible.

Thanks for getting in touch about the next steps following the temporary closure of our US Beta program.Curve Cash can only be spent. It cannot be redeemed for cash and has no monetary value, as set out in our terms.As your account is now closed, you no longer have access to these rewards.Furthermore, I can confirm your Hatch Bank issued Curve Credit Card account has been closed. This decision was made due to a period of inactivity on your account. Please refer to the agreed terms and conditions​ for more information.

  1. If there is any outstanding balance on your account, please ensure that it is settled in full by the termination date (July 8, 2024) . Any remaining balance after this date will accrue interest according to the terms of your agreement​ until it is completely paid.
  2. Automatic Payments: If you have any automatic payments or direct debits linked to this credit card, please update them to another payment method to prevent any disruptions in service.
  3. Rewards or Points: Once the account is closed, you will no longer have access to Curve Cash as per our terms.
  4. Final Statement: After your account is closed, we will send you a final statement that will include any recent transactions and the final balance due, if applicable.

I hope this helps to clarify.Thank you so much for your understanding, and I'm sorry for any frustration or inconvenience this may cause.Have a good one!

Previous Updates

【Update 2022.6】Curve has already invited several waves of people to apply for the card. This card offered 1% cash back on all purchases for 6 months after approval. A few quick highlights:

  • You can link all Mastercard credit and debit cards, including China-issued Mastercard single-network cards (enabling some card-stacking use cases, and later use with WeChat Pay, Alipay, etc., effectively making domestic Chinese cards work like overseas cards within China)
  • The application uses a Soft Pull, and the verification charge posts in the UK (strongly recommend not using a Citi credit card)
  • The IT is especially bad: if you enter the wrong email, phone number, or other information, or if card verification fails, you may waste your chance to apply
  • If you are selected to apply based on your waitlist position, you get two chances total: once via phone number and once via email. If both fail, you are out of luck. 【I was ranked #16 globally and had a 10% $1000 reward, then got burned by Citi and Curve together】
  • You cannot put too much spend on Curve in a short period of time; around $20,000 is about where it starts getting declined

Application link — the earlier you join the waitlist, the sooner you may get selected:

【Update 2021.9】As of September 6, the first 100 people on the waitlist would receive 10% cash back after applying. In addition, based on the latest Terms, US Curve appeared to be a Credit Card rather than the debit card version in Europe. HT: 青葉

【Update 2021.8】It was about to launch, reportedly in the fall of that year. This card would offer 1% cash back on all purchases, and the first 100 people on the waitlist would receive 10% cash back for 6 months. Note that in Europe, this card can link Visa and Mastercard credit cards, and its card BIN is coded as a debit card. 【Similar to PayPal Key, with lots of potential angles】

【Original article below】

Europe actually has some very powerful virtual credit card (debit card) issuers, such as Revolut (which has already launched in the US). We briefly mentioned Revolut in our Guide to Virtual Credit Cards in the US. In 2019, the UK launched a very interesting card called Curve. It is not really just a virtual card, because Curve does issue a physical debit card. Similar to Apple Card, you can change the card number yourself.

There is currently a US waitlist, along with a referral reward: for each successful referral, your ranking improves by 10... Feel free to use our referral:

  • US Curve application waitlist link
  • Enter your name, email, and ZIP code, then confirm your place on the waitlist from the email
  • Once it launches, we will review it as soon as possible. Thanks for your support

Here is a quick summary of UK Curve: lots of upside, though we suspect it may also be monetizing transaction data from linked credit cards.

Curve Features

You can think of it as somewhat similar to the Dutch payments company Adyen, which aggregates payments across multiple currencies. Curve aims to combine fragmented credit card payment methods into one, and it runs on the Mastercard network. Among Chinese frequent-flyer communities, this card has been called the ultimate “god-tier” card.

Curve can link all Visa/Mastercard credit and debit cards. It is a kind of Card-linked Card, meaning you can use Curve to choose which credit or debit card you want to pay with. Unlike Drop, which simply tracks your spending, Curve can directly route the purchase to that linked card. The official description is as follows:

This is not a card
This is your badass 100 Cards in One*.
Your gateway to money for nothing.
Your personal firewall.
Your kickass travel companion.
And yeah, it's a time machine.
*Visa and Mastercard cards only

There were three card tiers at the time: Blue, Black (£9.99 monthly), and Red (£14.99 monthly or £150 annually):

Their features are shown below; you can also refer to the official page:

A few quick points:

  • There is an app where you can choose which card to use for purchases, and you can also generate virtual card numbers
  • Curve charges the linked credit card directly, and whether it is a cash withdrawal or a purchase, it may still post as a purchase on the linked card
  • It can be linked to Apple Pay and other mobile wallets (the setup gets a bit wild: you link me, I link you)
  • Curve is a debit card, and that opens up a lot of possibilities in the US (based on UK Curve data points for using linked US credit cards to buy MO, some issuers may treat it as Cash Advance, so be careful with MO)
  • Regardless of version, there is a monthly free ATM withdrawal allowance (at ATMs worldwide that support Mastercard), which is effectively a way to cash out from a credit card for free
  • It offers an extra 1% cash back at select merchants, without affecting the rewards earned from the linked credit card itself
  • It offers a Rewards system
  • Some other perks as well

All of the above are features of UK Curve; it is unclear whether US Curve would keep them. It feels like that would be hard to sustain. AMEX directly banned UK Curve. So far, the company has not revealed much more information about the US version.

How UK Curve Works in Practice

UK Curve can link all Visa and Mastercard credit cards, including cards issued in the US and China.

Linking US Credit Cards

Quite a few readers who hold both UK and US cards have already been using it in the US, and it really does provide some of the benefits described above:

  • Normal purchases work quite well, with an extra 1% cash back (if you choose eligible merchants).
  • Cash withdrawals funded by a US credit card can post as regular purchases rather than Cash Advance. The free tier’s monthly £200 allowance is quite strong.
  • Buying Money Orders with a US credit card through Curve may still be treated as Cash Advance by some banks, such as Chase, even though the transaction runs as a debit card purchase.

Below is the app interface showing a linked CSR card; image provided by WeChat reader 大米:

UK Curve linked to CSR; image provided by WeChat reader 大米

Linking Chinese Credit Cards

There are also many ways to use it with Chinese credit cards, which is one reason it is viewed as a top-tier card by Chinese travel hackers. For example, its cash withdrawal capability can be especially powerful when combined with overseas cash back promotions on Mainland Chinese credit cards.

Our Take

  • First, Curve’s concept is creative, and that deserves credit.
  • Second, Curve had already been operating in the UK for more than a year and was still alive at the time, and it could also be used in the US.
  • Third, the benefits were so generous that they almost seemed unbelievable.
  • Finally, launching in the US carries risks. The US manufactured-spending environment is on another level. See Drop: it got hit hard shortly after launch, though it ultimately survived (barely).

In short: this is a debit card built for earning signup bonuses and maximizing high-rewards credit cards.

The benefits of the US version were still unknown at the time, and some UK-version perks might have been cut. I would not recommend linking too many credit cards, since it could collapse at any time. My impression is that it survives on funding and possibly monetizing linked-card data. If you are interested, you can join the waitlist first and decide later once the benefits are officially announced.

This card was quite popular; the US waitlist had already grown to more than 5,000 people.

Waitlist Link