Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Curve Card is back – but with a £5 fee for new joiners

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Curve Card is back in action via a new processing deal with Checkout.com.  This is a pretty impressive turnaround given that their previous payment processor, Wirecard, was closed down with no notice on Friday.

By an exceptional stroke of luck, Curve was due to move away from Wirecard on Sunday anyway having already seen the writing on the wall.  It seems that the team was still able to pull this off despite Wirecard being shuttered.   

There are still some outstanding issues – anyone refunding a purchase made on Curve before Friday may not see their money for a while – but in general all seems well.

Curve Card £4.99 fee

As part of the move away from Wirecard, Curve has now brought in a fee if you want to receive a physical plastic card.  These are:

  • Curve Blue: £4.99
  • Curve Black / Metal: No fee

Whilst much of Curve’s functionality can be accessed via Apple Pay and other mobile wallets, or via online payments, HFP readers are likely to want a physical card.  This allows you to make cash withdrawals in the UK – up to monthly limits – and have it recharged as a purchase without fees to a miles or points earning Visa or Mastercard.

You can learn more about Curve Card in our master article here although it has not been updated to reflect the £4.99 fee.

You can join via our link here which gets you a special £10 credit.


Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

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