Is Virgin Money planning a Curve-style product?
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Virgin Money has been circulating an interesting survey to selected customers asking for their views on what appears to be a Curve-style wallet aggregator product.
I don’t know any more about it than what you can see in the image here (click to enlarge slightly):
It appears to be an electronic wallet which would allow you to:
- link your existing credit and debit cards
- earn points on all of your spending
- redeem Virgin Points on day to day spending
What is not fully clear is how the product works. If you are ‘earning points on all of your spending’, even from linked cards which do not earn points, it suggests that there may be some sort of Curve-style intermediary card involved.
The product would also include a Klarna-style function to repay purchases in instalments, and a Snoop-style function to monitor your spending and suggest ways in which you could have saved on purchases you made.
I wouldn’t get too excited about the ability to redeem Virgin Points on day to day spending. The rate is likely to very poor, potentially even lower than the standard ‘0.5p per point’ valuation used when you redeem for products via Virgin Red. If you did get 0.5p per Virgin Point then it would be a decent result given that you are effectively redeeming points for cash.
There is no guarantee that this product ever sees the light of day, of course, but it is interesting to see the direction of travel of one of the more established financial institutions.
How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (April 2024)
As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.
You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, the Reward+ card has a bonus of 15,000 Virgin Points):
Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard
15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review
Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard
A generous earning rate for a free card at 0.75 points per £1 Read our full review
You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points.
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 comes with 40,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 40,000 Virgin Points.
The Platinum Card from American Express
40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review
Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.
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
Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points.
(Want to earn more Virgin Points? Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)
