8/15/2021 Update: Per terms and conditions, US version of Curve looks to be a credit card requiring credit check and all that. You have until September 6th to signup to get wait listed with 1% reward. Also, Curve does not pay cashback for money equivalent transactions like MO, funding cards and accounts, cash advances, purchase of gift cards, person-to-person payments, etc. I still think there will be opportunities and you should queue up just in case there are opportunities that you find appealing.
Curve is a debit card that essentially aggregates credit cards. Instead of holding various cards, you input card details into curve app, choose whatever card you want to use, and swipe curve card.
You are probably thinking, “but I can just use mobile payment for similar benefit”, well sure except did I say that curve is a physical debit card with your name printed on it? This means you can pass more or less any card as a debit card. Obviously, American Express does not cooperate with Curve but pretty much all Visa and Mastercard should be good.
At this point, your mind is probably racing with all the opportunities you know this will create. For example, your fee on Plastiq can be a mere 1%. What if you can add prepaid debit cards, prepaid crypto cards, etc to Curve? What if … ?
But, we are not done yet. Because this product already exists in UK we know what kind of features it may launch with.
1-2% Additional Reward
When you use a card through curve, your original card will still earn rewards. Curve tries to accurately pass the merchant details (and because it is a Mastercard) there shouldn’t be too many issues here.
When using UK curve, you can get additional rewards on top of your credit card rewards. For example, for the first 30 days, you earn additional 1% cashback within the Curve app. If you choose to become a premium member (9.99€/month), you earn 1% cashback on 3 select retailers whereas curve Metal (14.99€/month) users get 1% cashback on 6 select retailers.
Go Back in Time
Curve UK has this insane feature where you can switch payments made in one card to another, up to 90 days after the payment was made. This essentially means, you could be working for meet minimum spend for a card that you haven’t applied for yet. Whenever you get the card, you can simply switch payments to the new card, and voila minimum spend has been met.
This is also a cool feature in case you or your SO uses the wrong card. You use the go back in time feature to switch transaction to the correct card.
Curve Send
Curve Send in UK allows you to send money between Curve users. Unfortunately, you cannot withdraw the money sent by another user but you can use it towards whatever you want.
This feature is particularly useful for those who prepay their bills or even buy giftcards (for the purpose of organically using it later) just so they can meet the minimum spend now. If you fall into this category, you have an option to just put money in Curve and use it.
No Foreign Transaction Fee
One of the great thing about US credit card is that we have credit cards that pay 2-5% cashback. Unfortunately, they often come with foreign transaction fee (FTF). However, Curve card itself does not have a foreign transaction fees which means you can earn 2-5% cashback while travelling aboard while not getting hit with FTF that high cashback cards usually have (thanks to Morris for bringing this up in chat).
Closing Remark
Early bird gets the worm. Be an early bird. Or you will drool at the stories told by the early birds. The possibilities are endless.
I have been told that this is coming by September so there isn’t a whole lot of time to become an early bird. No, I’m not trying to sell you referral. To my knowledge, US version doesn’t have a great kick-back for referrer. Yes, there is an ongoing 10% cashback for those who become top 100 in the queue but that’s not going to me.
