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We’ve spoken about Curve a fair bit on InsideFlyer – a lot has happened since Curve first launched in 2016 and there has definitely been some ups and downs. I thought it would be useful to quickly take a look at the ‘evolution’ of Curve before examining its current offering.

2016

• Launched as a public beta for business users with iOS devices only, issuing pre-paid corporate Mastercards
• Two card versions, free (Blue) or premium (Black) with the premium having access to a better rewards scheme (at the time, still to be defined)
• Stopped supporting American Express cards in May
• Finally added an Android app at the end of 2016

2017

• Launched ‘Go Back in Time’ feature, allowing you to switch the funding card up to 14 days after you’ve made a purchase

2018

• Launched to the general public (not in beta any more)
• Changed card type issued to debit card
• Switched the reward scheme to support a limited number of retailers in the first 3 months only (3 for Curve Blue and 6 for Curve Black)
• Introduced a new payment system that enabled merchant categories to be passed to the underlying payment card. This enabled credit card providers to see the merchant category on Curve payments, touted as a way to ensure you are rewarded for certain category spending (such as supermarkets, fuel, etc.) It also makes it more obvious when you have withdrawn cash using your Curve card, which a number of card providers would like to charge you fees and interest for
• Launched 0% FX fees on overseas spend
• Launched a small closed beta in November to trial American Express once more. This time, users had to top up an e-wallet from their American Express cards, before spending it via Curve, making it less flexible than Mastercard or Visa cards for Curve users

Quite a lot happened this year – for more detailed coverage of most of these, take a look at the previous articles

Curve Card – Valuable Travel Tool with Added Cashback Rewards (Special Offer Included!)

Curve: Key Features – Enjoy a free £5 with code “INFLY”

The Benefits of Travelling with a Curve Card

2019

• Launched public American Express support, which was promptly withdrawn a matter of hours later – This article from Curve founder Shachar Bialik covers some of the reasons and what you can do to help bring it back.
• Launched Curve Metal – a premium shiny card in a choice of 3 colours, with further travel benefits

Metal?

Besides being shiny, what else does Curve Metal do for the savvy traveller? Look out for an article that will try to answer that for you very soon.

In the meantime, why not try out Curve and get paid £5 for doing so. You can easily move between cards using the app if you decide one of the paid offers is right for you. All you have to do is download the Curve app for iOS or Android, or visit the Curve website and they will text you a link to download it. Use the code INFLY when signing up to get your free £5 after your first transaction.