American Express suspends its relationship with Curve Card, just 36 hours after launch

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• Jon says:

  31 Jan31 January 11:39

  Still don’t have access to my Curve Rewards card within the app. Not really a big deal, there’s less than a tenner on there, but a bit annoying.

  On another note, it’s been very interesting reading all these comments on the morning and evening commute! I never took the mick with the curve card, and while I feel there is still a place for something like Curve (financial start ups have often spurred innovation/catching up in the wider sector), I’ve had a few failed transactions both in the UK and abroad (for no apparent reason), that still means I wouldn’t at this point go along with one of its main slogans to “carry less”.

  • EvilGazebo says:

    31 Jan31 January 16:30

    Yes, the “carry less” benefit doesn’t really work when you get stuff like that.

    Not helped by their reliance on the fintech favourite card processor GPS who had a spate of unscheduled outages last year.

    I’m all in with Starling as my primary current account (and love it) but they also use GPS. So I make sure I’m always carrying a big bank issued VISA debit as well so GPS and/or MasterCard can go down and I’m covered.

    Monzo ended up building their own dedicated links into MasterCard to remove their reliance on GPS.

• Dan says:

  31 Jan31 January 12:08

  OT: any idea if it’s possible to get BA to release row 1 in first to non-gold? In a cabin with just 2 rows and row 1 is blocked. Row 2 has 1-2-1 confit but one of the middle seats is baby-only. So 2 ppl travelling can’t sit “together” unless you’re gold or you have a baby. Do BA release row 1 or the baby seat closer to travel?

  • James says:

    31 Jan31 January 12:18

    I’ve often nabbed Row 1 at T minus 72 hours (I’m a lowly bronze!)

  • Tilly says:

    31 Jan31 January 12:52

    I have managed twice to book row 1 in F at the time of booking tickets. Both times are on 241 reward tix and I’m only bronze.

    Maybe someone else already booked row 1 before you tried?

    • Dan says:

      31 Jan31 January 13:44

      Wow. That sounds great – well done! I may call BA again, they’re all currently empty in row 1.

      • Dan says:

        31 Jan31 January 13:59

        Called BA. No go. Absolutely flat refusal on unblocking row 1. Said only the airport desk can allocate these to non gold which seems wrong. I will try again and hope to find the person you spoke to!!

      • Neil says:

        31 Jan31 January 14:18

        Dan, this appears to be a new rule since before x-mas but if the seats are still available, you can get them at the check in desk.

      • Tilly says:

        31 Jan31 January 14:32

        We didn’t book seats over the phone. Just selected them in Manage My booking online.

  • Polly says:

    31 Jan31 January 14:18

    Dan we were able,to,book row 1 had a bassinet sign, we are silver, but booked it the day we got,our F redemptions. Is on line not working for you?

  • Nick_C says:

    31 Jan31 January 14:31

    How many seats are available in F? Do a dummy booking.

    I did an F redemption on the 789 in December. 1A and K were blocked but we were able to book the middle pair (E and F) . We could have also booked the middle pair in row 2. 2F is a bassinet seat, but anyone can book it.

    There were three empty seats on our flight, including 1K, although I couldn’t select it at check in.

    • Dan says:

      31 Jan31 January 22:46

      No, online doesn’t work. When I call BA they say all 4 seats of row 1 are empty but blocked for gold (they didn’t say gold but he confirmed when I asked if that’s the reason). Seems a bit weird but maybe it’s because it’s a small cabin. It’s LHR – KUL and only has 2 rows of first:

      1a ——1e 1f ——1k
      2a —— 2e 2f ——2k

      All of row 1 is empty but not selectable. BA won’t reserve by phone either. They reckon only the airport desk can release them. Does that sound correct?
      2a is available and good for a solo.
      2e and 2f would be perfect for two travellers but 2f has a bassinet so is unselectable.
      2k is available and good for a solo.

      Guess we’ll have to wait! Otherwise my neck will be at a permanent 90 degree angle for 13hrs. 🙂

    • Polly says:

      1 Feb1 February 09:08

      Nick, that’s what we could book, the middle pair, no problem..

• Simon Spanswick says:

  31 Jan31 January 12:34

  Just received, having upgraded to Metal at the start of this week:
  Dear Simon,

  Thank you for upgrading to Curve Metal. Your card should be on its way, or already in your hands. We hope you like it!

  By now, you may have heard the disappointing news about Amex blocking Curve top-ups. We want you to know that we are fighting for your right to financial freedom and doing all we can to get Amex back on Curve. See more here.

  At Curve, we value you as our customer. If the current lack of Amex support is important to you and you want to cancel your subscription:
  – You have a 14-day “cooling-off” period as provided by law;
  – On top of this, Curve is giving you more time to decide: 14 extra days of cooling-off period. We want you to properly try Curve Metal, enjoy its many benefits and see how it looks in your wallet.

  The above extension applies to both monthly and annual subscriptions. Please note that if your subscription is cancelled, your Curve Metal card will be blocked and no longer usable.

  We thank you for being our customer and hope you enjoy your Curve Metal experience and decide to stick with it. We promise you it will be worth it.

  Best wishes,
  Team Curve

  • Stuart says:

    31 Jan31 January 12:53

    Nice try from them, but if you were a cardholder prior to 27th January (when T&C’s changed) you have until 29th March to close without charge…

  • Mr Dee says:

    31 Jan31 January 14:34

    Strange they are not offering any discount off the monthly fee seeing as the key feature is no longer included…

• L says:

  31 Jan31 January 12:41

  They have said we can cancel our subscription. But what they havnt addressed is people who Did the beta
  Can we cancel and just keep our orginal curve card ?

  Please can we get this confirmed?

• Jamie says:

  31 Jan31 January 12:53

  My Virgin Atlantic card is giving me 0% FX at the moment until April I think as part of a user-targeted offer… so really no need for Curve for my non-Amex/FX spend.

  It’s an innovative product but they should have fully ironed out issues with their product before making big announcements. At the moment they are so all over the place it wouldn’t be wise to trust them with you rmoney!

  • Tom says:

    31 Jan31 January 13:55

    Still paying the card provider exchange rate right? Appreciate the 1-2% delta from Interbank rate offered by Curve matters less without a miles benefit. (pinches self for saying something nice about Curve)

• Mark2 says:

  31 Jan31 January 13:55

  I suggest a test of Curve’s case against American Express:
  Have Curve persuaded a leading firm of lawyers to take the case on a ‘No Win, No Fee’ basis?

  • Dan says:

    31 Jan31 January 20:36

    This kind of case is very rarely taken NWNF, the fee can run to Hundreds or thousands. Some very spurious legal experts suddenly popping up in the comments today!

  • Alex Sm says:

    2 Feb2 February 16:01

    Maybe they only promised them 0.65%…

• TripRep says:

  31 Jan31 January 14:01

  Just spent some of the AMEX top up I put on the other day no probs.

  Also noticed that the app seems to still let me top up from my linked AMEX, shall I risk it?

  • Waddle says:

    31 Jan31 January 14:04

    Might let you but probably won’t go through.

  • Neil says:

    31 Jan31 January 14:15

    Do it TripRep – What is the worst that could happen?

    • Polly says:

      31 Jan31 January 14:20

      Memory loss, as if tuesday never happened!

  • TripRep says:

    31 Jan31 January 14:48

    Tried a tiny amount and as expected it was declined.

    Weird that they haven’t disabled the ability to try and update.

    Obviously not that sophisticated

    • Chrisasaurus says:

      31 Jan31 January 16:00

      Well they’d have to make a change to the code, test it build it and release it and you’d have to have downloaded and installed the update for your app to have been updated to no longer show amex topups as an option wouldn’t it?

    • Sundar says:

      31 Jan31 January 16:30

      Might need an app release, may not have resources available as fire-fighting now….?

• Alexey says:

  31 Jan31 January 16:49

  I think we can compare Curve to early Uber…
  They definitely far from perfect but they provide competition, and on that basis I wish them to survive and challenge usual players (for instance on 0%fx) in the same way Uber is putting pressure on Black cabs fees

  • Alex aka illuminatus says:

    31 Jan31 January 17:06

    +1

    I love Amex, their support is great, and I can see that Curve pushed it with the wider ‘beta’… but I have been faced with the heavy-handed apporach from large corporates before, when with a flick of a compliance finger they put a business in peril, so really sympathise with Curve

  • Wizzywig says:

    31 Jan31 January 17:11

    I’m not sure that’s a fare comparison. Curve’s whole business model is to be, for lack of a better word, a parasite. To use other companies products to make money. Hence the heavy use of Amex branding and imagery recently to sell Curve…

    • Alexey says:

      31 Jan31 January 18:08

      A bit harsh I would say…

      They add value, it is in the same as bakery is using flour to make break, we can’t call them parasites for using others firm products/ingredients

      They do things more convenient and profitable for end user, and that what matters for me

      I do angry with them however for giving me 10k yearly limit which made it much less usable than it would have been)

    • illuminatus says:

      31 Jan31 January 18:25

      Sorry, but that does not make any sense. Is Uber also a parasite as it uses other drivers’ cars and labour? Are banks parasites too, as they use other people’s money?..

      • Callum says:

        1 Feb1 February 15:38

        Well no… Uber drivers CHOOSE to work for Uber. People CHOOSE to give their money to banks.

        Not only are the banks getting no say in being used by Curve, Curve actively ignores their desire to not take part.

        Not that I personally have any issues with it, your example was just ridiculous.

    • Flynn says:

      31 Jan31 January 18:40

      I disagree, it is a *fair* comparison. Both are parasite business models.

  • Mr Dee says:

    31 Jan31 January 19:19

    I don’t even really know what Curve is anymore apart from a way to pay certain bills to avoid card fees, clearly this isn’t profitable for them and isn’t going to last forever so will make the most of it whilst it lasts.

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