Curve Card has rolled out its revamped Curve Rewards scheme – ‘Curve Cash’. This allows you to double dip by earning Curve cashback on top of existing credit card rewards earned via your underlying payment card.

Curve Cash gives 1% cashback at 3-6 chosen retailers which you can select from 100+ options within the Curve app. There are a number of differences depending on the type of Curve Card you have – more on that below.

But first a bit of background for those of you who haven’t come across Curve Card before.

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What is Curve Card?

Curve Card is a debit card that allows you to link any of your Visa and Mastercard cards to a single Mastercard via an app. You pay as normal using your Curve Card and Curve will recharge that purchase to whichever underlying card you currently have selected within the app. You can change this selection at any point.

You can also use your regular debit and credit cards abroad – linked to Curve – with no foreign exchange fees (see this article for more info on using Curve abroad).

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Curve Cash

Curve’s Rewards program has long impressed us as cashback is awarded and is available to spend pretty much immediately after making a purchase. Many other airline shopping portals/cashback sites will have some sort of validation period that means you are often left waiting for your rewards for weeks, if not months after purchase.

Curve Rewards took a bit of backseat as Curve focussed on rolling out their new subscription tiers and other product features. Curve Cash introduces an impressive list of 100+ retailers including TFL, Uber, Amazon, Netflix, Pret a Manger, Deliveroo and McDonald’s. The rewards are loaded instantly on to your Curve Cash card and can be used anywhere Mastercard is accepted.

Here’s the full list of Curve Cash retailers for your reference:

Food & Drink

• Burger King (Coming soon)
• Byron
• Caffè Nero
• Costa Coffee (Coming soon)
• DB Automaten (Coming soon)
• Deliveroo
• EAT
• Foodora
• Honest Burgers
• itsu
• Just Eat
• Leon
• McDonald’s
• Nando’s
• Pizza Express
• Pret a Manger
• Starbucks
• Wahaca
• VIPS (Coming soon)

General

• American Golf
• Arcadia Group
• Argos
• Ask Italian
• Auchan (Coming soon)
• B&Q
• Belgo
• Bella Italia
• Burton
• Café Rouge
• Carpetright
• Clarks
• Debenhams
• Dorothy Perkins
• Ernest Jones
• Feelunique
• Goldsmiths
• H.Samuel
• Halfords
• Laithwaites Wine
• La Poste (Coming soon)
• Leroy Merlin (Coming soon)
• Leslie Davis
• Marriott International
• Miss Selfridge
• Moss Bros.
• Mothercare
• National Express
• Nero Express
• New Look
• Outfit
• Papa John’s Pizza
• River Island
• Spafinder
• T.G.I. Friday’s
• The Works
• Thorntons
• TopmanTune Tribe
• Virgin Experience
• Wallis
• Waterstones
• Wilko
• Wyevale Garden Centres
• Yo! Sushi
• Zizzi

Groceries

• Aldi
• Asda
• Continente (Coming soon)
• Franprix (Coming soon)
• Intermarche (Coming soon)
• Lidl
• Marks & Spencer
• Mercadona (Coming soon)
• Netto Market- discount (Coming soon)
• Ocado
• Planet Organic
• REWE
• Sainsbury’s
• Tesco
• Waitrose
• Whole Foods

Lifestyle

• Cowshed
• Electric Cinema
• Everyman
• Netflix
• Spotify
• Tate

Shopping

• Amazon
• Apple
• ASOS
• Boots
• Carrefour (Coming soon)
• DM-Drogerie Market (Coming soon)
• El Corte Inglés (Coming soon)
• Gap
• H&M
• House of Fraser
• IKEA
• John Lewis
• Media Markt
• Monoprix (Coming soon)
• Saturn
• Selfridges
• The White Company
• Topshop
• Zara

Travel

• Booking.com
• BP
• BVG
• DB Bahn
• easyJet
• Four Seasons Hotels
• Gett
• MVG Automaten
• Norma (Coming soon)
• Ratp (Coming soon)
• Shell
• TFL
• Trainline
• Uber
• Virgin Trains

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1% cashback at 3 or 6 retailers – choose carefully

This is how Curve Cash works, depending on which card you have:

Curve Blue

Unlimited 1% cashback at 3 retailers for 90 days

Curve Black

Unlimited 1% cashback at 3 retailers

Curve Metal

Unlimited 1% cashback at 6 retailers

Once you select your chosen three or six retailers, it isn’t clear how quickly, you can change your selection, if at all – so choose carefully!

You can read more about the differences between Curve Blue, Black and Metal cards in our full Curve Card review here.

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How it works

Access your Curve Cash card by opening the ‘Wallet’ tab within the Curve app and scrolling through your list of cards.

For example, if I used my Virgin Atlantic Reward+ card as my underlying card for a £100 purchase on Amazon, I’d earn:

150 Virgin Atlantic miles (1.5 miles per £1 x 100) + £1 cashback 

Now that doesn’t sound like a lot but especially at retailers like Amazon where it’s pretty difficult to get any sort of consistent discount, I’ll take what I can get!

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What about ‘Curve Black Legacy’ cardholders?

If like me, you signed up to Curve before 16th February 2018, you are currently enrolled in Curve Rewards.  You can choose to continue earning Curve Rewards or switch to the new Curve Cash program.

For perspective, here’s the difference between Curve Rewards and Curve Cash:

Curve Rewards – 3-5% cashback at 50+ current retailers for an unlimited time

Curve Cash – Unlimited 1% cashback at 3 (Curve Black) or 6 (Curve Metal) of 100+ retailers

Note: If you do choose to move to Curve Cash you will not be able to move back to Curve Rewards. To switch to Curve Cash you need to contact Curve Customer support.

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Get £5 credit for trying it out

If you haven’t already done so, you can get £5 of Curve Cash to spend by getting a Curve Card – even the free Blue Card.

Here’s how it works:

Firstly, download the Curve app via the App Store or Google Play links below or visit the Curve website from your mobile or tablet and follow the instructions to download the Curve app.

Then use code SPACX (our referral code) when ordering your card within the app and you’ll receive a free £5 Curve Cash credit after making your first purchase and we’ll get £5 too!

There’s no credit check when applying for a Curve card. 

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Verdict

For me, Curve Cash is a positive development overall. It’s not the 3%-5% we once saw with Curve Rewards but for many, 1% cashback at an extensive list of 100+ retailers will be preferable to a higher rate of cashback at retailers they’ll use less often.

The ability to earn cashback on top of regular credit card rewards at retailers such as Amazon, Deliveroo and TFL where it can be tricky to access discounts regularly is a perk I’ll definitely be using.

You can apply for a Curve Card using this link here – don’t forget to use code SPACX for £5 of free Curve Cash credit.

What do you make of the new Curve Cash program?