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• Michael says:

  2 Jul2 July 07:29

  Curve is issued as either a Business or a Personal debit card. The business version will have COMMERCIAL printed on the back of the card.

  I can see an issue for Curve here as many people will have the metal card in Commercial form and will want this changed as the primary reason for getting metal would have been HMRC payments. This means a new card number (I believe the last of the first six digits identifies it as commercial) and that means a new card. Given the cost to them of producing the metal cards, they may say no, but then will struggle with metal renewals. Tricky landscape for companies like Curve!

  • DJ says:

    2 Jul2 July 07:48

    It has not been an issue for Curve customers.

    Based on what I read in their community, they always replace the commercial card with a personal card for free on request.

  • MD says:

    2 Jul2 July 07:49

    Slight correction Michael, your Curve card can actually say COMMERCIAL or BUSINESS on the back, I’ve had both. If it doesn’t say either of those you have a personal card and are good to go.

    My first card came as commercial back in the day when that was what they sent most people. After some rejected transactions I requested they change it to a personal account, got sent a new card. It stayed personal when I upgraded to Curve Metal. Then, bizarrely, when my new Metal Investor card came a few weeks back (don’t worry, only invested a tenner as I’m not daft!) it said business on the back. A swift message of outrage via the app and they admitted their error as my account still showed as personal, and sent me a new card.

    Clearly they still try and sneak out business cards when they can as they make more money from those. AFAIK anyone with a business card is entitled to request the change to personal. Anybody planning to use Metal to pay HMRC should request a change ASAP. I imagine if you threaten to cancel your account if they refuse or try to charge for a new card it would focus their minds.

    • Qwertyknowsbest says:

      2 Jul2 July 08:45

      Thanks ‘MD’ clear explanation.

      • Leo says:

        2 Jul2 July 10:14

        +1

• William Avery says:

  2 Jul2 July 08:26

  Sorry but any card payment now incurs a charge?? Even if it’s literally the debit card attached to my business bank account! The only way of avoiding a fee is to BACS?

  I get charged for Credit cards and discouraging personal debit cards but why penalise my business bank account? Or am I missing something?

  • Rob says:

    2 Jul2 July 09:20

    HMRC incurs a cost for accepting Business Debit Cards (because the fees are not capped in the way that personal debit cards are) and it wants to recoup that money.

    • tony says:

      2 Jul2 July 09:42

      I didn’t know that. It does however seem that the government is blindly muddling its way to making it ever more cumbersome, especially for small businesses, to just get on and do their job! Have run a limited company for 17 years now and ironically the admin/red tape burdens were far lower for the portion of that which was under a Labour government.

      • William Avery says:

        2 Jul2 July 09:52

        Quite & this lot just don’t give a toss about small business IMHO. Though for a govt endeavour, I do think the HMRC website is user friendly enough.

        Penalising me for paying by business debit card is chancing it though! They should be picking up the bill on this one. Especially as it encourages recouping quicker payments.

        • tony says:

          2 Jul2 July 10:01

          And I’m not sure about your business bank, but it’s cumbersome for me to have to go in and change reference numbers each time I make a payment.

        • RussellH says:

          2 Jul2 July 10:34

          Have you forgotten the immortal two words uttered a few months ago by the man who claims to be a prime minister?

          “Fuck business”

          Need anyone say anymore?

• Rob says:

  2 Jul2 July 09:19

  Perhaps it will from November if you have the Business Debit version?

  • Peter K says:

    2 Jul2 July 10:06

    That’s what the article was for, to signal a change in the future from what is currently the case 🙂

  • dwadda says:

    4 Jul4 July 09:41

    I have several hundred thousand to pay in tax this year. I don’t have a tesco debit card (or current account). I do have an HSBC world elite credit card. Can I still get a curve metal card to pay HMRC? Is there a limit to how much I can pay through curve?

    • Rob says:

      4 Jul4 July 10:29

      Curve tends to come with a 50k limit and whilst some now have 500k they won’t do this if all you do is pay HMRC (my limit is still 50k). That said, you still get a decent deal paying £180 for a year of Curve Metal to push through £50k.

      Assuming this is personal tax and not company tax, the Lufthansa card is the way to go.

      However, because of the large sums involved and the fact that no card will let you pay crazy figures in a short period, you need to drip feed. I have divided by annual tax bill into 52 and do a weekly HMRC payment every Monday on my Lufthansa card. I do our VAT on Curve (onto Lufthansa) because Lufthansa cause you trouble if you pay corporate taxes on the card.

      Tesco no longer accepts applications for new current accounts so that option is out.

• KBuffett says:

  2 Jul2 July 09:47

  Aren’t all Curve cards business? At least they were when I signed up when they first launched.

• johnnt5a says:

  2 Jul2 July 10:11

  My Curve blue was personal but when I upgraded to metal, as i’ve just discovered it is a business…

• Qwertyknowsbest says:

  2 Jul2 July 11:37

  Me too.

  Confirmed will change within the hour. Excellent service.

  • Pat the Postie says:

    2 Jul2 July 18:05

    How does this work, will you get a new metal card that is personal or are you just cancelling the metal card?

• C says:

  2 Jul2 July 12:22

  My Curve Blue says “Commercial”.

  • Ralph says:

    2 Jul2 July 13:21

    Mine too, and “Beta” haha. It’s also actually dog-eared

  • Matt H says:

    2 Jul2 July 16:09

    Whereabouts, please?

    I remember there was something around 12 – 18 months ago of asking for a re-issue on the Curve card because there was some benefit to it being either personal/business but I can’t remember what this was. Anyone else remember?

• DB2020 says:

  2 Jul2 July 15:35

  The piece on High Life reminded me to download the electronic versions of the magazine. It looks like they have not published any issues after March 2020, understandably. My last flight was in February 2020.

  I, for one, will miss John Simpson’s regular column. Those were my favourite issue after issue. His knowledge, his prose and the way he brought a story full circle have never been matched by any other airline in flight magazines.

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