NEW: Curve Card launches cashback rewards

If you have a Curve Card sitting in a drawer, you may want to dig it out again.

Curve has launched a new cashback rewards programme. This allows you to earn cashback, credited to the ‘Curve Cash’ part of your Curve account, when you spend at qualifying retailers.

I don’t know:

• if this is currently targeted to specific people or card types
• if this replaces the previous Curve Rewards programme

You must opt-in to each individual retailer offer. There is no ‘add all’ option and, in a bad bit of design, you need to open each offer individually before you can save it to your account. It also isn’t made clear that you do need to opt-in.

What is Curve Card?

Here is a quick reminder for new readers about how Curve works. To learn more, read our introductory article to Curve Card here.

Curve Card is an intriguing payment product which has something offer to miles and points collectors.  The key thing to remember is that Curve Card is free – in fact, they pay you £5 for trying it – so you have nothing at risk.

Curve is NOT a bank account.  Curve is simply an intermediary card, a Mastercard to which you can link all of your existing Visa and Mastercard payment cards.

Via the Curve app you can select which linked card you want to use at any particular time.  Curve transactions are automatically recharged onto that card.  Even if a shop does not accept credit cards at all, only debit cards, you can still pay with your Curve Mastercard, which is a debit card, and earn miles on the underlying Visa or Mastercard.

You will even earn miles and points on ATM cash withdrawals up to certain limits.

You can find out more about Curve in this article. You can sign-up via our link here which gets you £10 for joining.

How do I find Curve cashback rewards?

Open the Curve app and click on ‘Rewards’ at the bottom. If you get a blank screen, try fully closing the Curve app and reopening it.

You will see a screen like this:

I don’t know if the offers list is personalised or not. This is what I see:

• 5% at fanatics.co.uk or kitbag.com
• 5% at Five Guys
• 5% at Coach
• 5% at Kate Spade
• 5% at Selfridges (£30 cap, note)
• 5% at Hawes & Curtis
• 5% at Quiz
• 5% at FatFace
• 5% at Harvey Nichols (online only)
• 5% at Kidly
• 5% at Amazon Fresh
• 5% at Mountain Warehouse
• £10 at HelloFresh

Some of these offers are doing the rounds on other cashback schemes, and are often more valuable. My MBNA credit card, for example, is offering 7% at FatFace, 10% at Harvey Nichols online, 10% at Coach, 10% at Kate Spade and 15% at Hawes & Curtis.

Is Curve simply negotiating poorer deals because of its smaller size, or is it pocketing the difference between what MBNA is giving out and its own cashback? That said, I haven’t seen a Selfridges offer anywhere else.

Does cashback replace Curve Rewards?

I don’t know if this replaces the old Curve Rewards programme. The Curve website still talks about Curve Rewards and does not mention the new cashback programme.

Curve Rewards was primarily a time-limited scheme for most people:

• free Curve Card holders got 1% cashback at three retailers, chosen from a list, for three months

• £50 Curve Black holders got 1% cashback at three retailers, chosen from a list, permanently

• £150 Curve Metal holders got 1% cashback at six retailers, chosen from a list, permanently

This new scheme offers higher rewards and the list of participating retailers will change on a regular basis.

There is no downside – except that so many credit and debit card issuers are now offering cashback rewards, it is increasingly hard to keep up with them, and their impact will inevitably drop.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2021 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit or charge card, here are our November 2021 recommendations based on the current sign-up bonus. 

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the top current deals:

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

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

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee 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.

American Express Business Gold

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

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and a long list of travel benefits Read our full review

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

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company 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 Credit Card

1% cashback and no annual fee Read our full review