Curve and NS&I

[Kelvin K]

Hello – I’ve just opened up an account with NS and trying to top-up with Curve metal with no success at all.

I’ve had 3 underlying cards in curve, all are being “declined by issuer” in the curve app.
Do I need to enable fronted for this to work?

Only reason I’ve not tried fronted for myself is that I’ve used my allowance for August and don’t want to incur fees.

[Rui N.]

Yes, NS&I needs fronted. That is the reason that it is being declined.

[Carlos]

What allowance did you use up on metal if fronted wasnt on?

[Kelvin K]

Carlos wrote:

What allowance did you use up on metal if fronted wasnt on?

Manually toggle fronted – switch in on to clear AMEX balance onto Visa/Mastercard, then switch it off again.

[Carlos]

Yes you need fronted on, better to wait until Sept or try with £25

[bungalow]

Kelvin K wrote:

Carlos wrote:

What allowance did you use up on metal if fronted wasnt on?

Manually toggle fronted – switch in on to clear AMEX balance onto Visa/Mastercard, then switch it off again.

I have had Curve Metal for about 3 years and have had fronted turned on ever since prompted to do so about a year ago, and just left it on.
I pay off my Amex and top up my ISA etc all the time, never had a problem until prompted that one time. Been working fine ever since.
Is there any particular reason I should keep turning it off?

[Rui N.]

There could be some transactions that get tagged as Fronted when they shouldn’t have and thus will eat into your £10k monthly limit. You might then get charged if you usually use close to the limit every month.
Otherwise don’t see a reason.

I turn it off because I think sooner or later they’ll classify taxfree childcare as fronted and I want to know when that happens.

[bungalow]

Oh dear, I wasnt aware of the £10k rule! I’ve already put £10k into an ISA in August, plus will have Amex to pay off soon, is there any way to know which of these transactions have eaten into my 10k allowance, or any way to track the fronted spend (assuming like me you just leave it switched on)

[NorthernLass]

Do you find the benefits of metal outweigh the charges?

[bungalow]

Very much so, travel insurance for maybe 10 trips a year, just had the phone ins pay out, and thats before reaping the reward points on all spend, inc foreign

[Mick S]

bungalow wrote:

Oh dear, I wasnt aware of the £10k rule! I’ve already put £10k into an ISA in August, plus will have Amex to pay off soon, is there any way to know which of these transactions have eaten into my 10k allowance, or any way to track the fronted spend (assuming like me you just leave it switched on)

No, there is no way to track it unfortunately. Maybe contact Curve and see, but no trackable in the app. Surprised the app doesnt show it really, as they clearly track it at the back-end. I think they are busy bloating the app rather than put useful things into it.

[Mick S]

it could be your ISA has topped up with the need for fronted. There is at least one company out there where top-ups to ISA/Savings work without having fronted enabled. 🙂

• This reply was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[Carlos]

Any clues on which bendy to use without fronted?

[bungalow]

Mick S wrote:

bungalow wrote:

Oh dear, I wasnt aware of the £10k rule! I’ve already put £10k into an ISA in August, plus will have Amex to pay off soon, is there any way to know which of these transactions have eaten into my 10k allowance, or any way to track the fronted spend (assuming like me you just leave it switched on)

No, there is no way to track it unfortunately. Maybe contact Curve and see, but no trackable in the app. Surprised the app doesnt show it really, as they clearly track it at the back-end. I think they are busy bloating the app rather than put useful things into it.

Well what about this. How long does it take after a transaction over the 10k, for the 1.5% charge to hit your account? If it’s immediate, or a day or so, given I know I have already put £10k through my ISA, I could pay just £10 or £20 off my Amex bill now and see if it triggers?

[CarpalTravel]

Charge gets applied by curve immediately. It is added to the cost of the relevant transaction.

[Mick S]

CarpalTravel wrote:

Charge gets applied by curve immediately. It is added to the cost of the relevant transaction.

+1.
The charge will automatically be applied – what you do need to watch out for is the transaction automatically approving. Most cases I’ve had to “approve” via text or app, but once I was hit with the fee after a transaction sailed through without intervention.

[Toaster]

I find all my fronted transactions get tagged as “Services” and I can keep track of the total in my money > insights > categories

[bungalow]

Toaster wrote:

I find all my fronted transactions get tagged as “Services” and I can keep track of the total in my money > insights > categories

If that’s the case then not so good, all my ISA and Amex payments are listed under the services tab, even a few Marriott points I purchased last month to make up a 5 for 4 stay 🙁

[Rui N.]

Mick S wrote:

No, there is no way to track it unfortunately. Maybe contact Curve and see

Do not contact Curve about this… they won’t tell you, and will just look at your transactions and send you an email reminding you that there are “fair usage” rules associated with Curve, they’ll ask you to stop paying credit cards with Curve (despite Fronted being marketed to do exactly that…) and will put your account one step closer to being audited (which means you’ll get your account closed in practice, unless you are willing to give them access to all your financial information since before your parents were born).

NorthernLass wrote:

Do you find the benefits of metal outweigh the charges?

Well, annual fee is £150. Just on my Aqua card I get £100 back, so I get travel insurance for £50/annum even not considering anything else.

[bungalow]

However I’m so glad it came up in here, as the second £10k of my ISA allowance was going in this month as well !

[Mick S]

bungalow wrote:

Toaster wrote:

I find all my fronted transactions get tagged as “Services” and I can keep track of the total in my money > insights > categories

If that’s the case then not so good, all my ISA and Amex payments are listed under the services tab, even a few Marriott points I purchased last month to make up a 5 for 4 stay 🙁

I topped up a savings account yesterday without fronted being enabled, and it’s showing as “business services”.

[mynameisjonny]

Rui N. wrote:

Just on my Aqua card I get £100 back

Could you elaborate plz?

[CarpalTravel]

Aqua rewards card – 0.5% cashback, capped at £100.

[Rui N.]

Yep, that’s it. Not available anymore I believe.

[Toaster]

Mick S wrote:

I topped up a savings account yesterday without fronted being enabled, and it’s showing as “business services”.

I don’t even have a category for “business services” but “services” is probably the same thing.

I have had some non fronted transactions go into this category too, for example, gift card purchases from an employee rewards website.

It should be simple enough for people to keep track of fronted spending if they only switch it on when prompted, then they can ensure the transaction is assigned to the correct category and if you spot non fronted transactions being assigned that category, edit it to something else.