Curve Digital Wallet review – A handy solution for endurance athletes?

Having a payment method to hand might not be an obvious item on your pre-training check list. But if you’ve ever had a “two punctures, one inner tube” incident, or discovered your Apple pay won’t work when you make it to the mid-ride coffee stop. You’ll know that having something with you to facilitate payments is always a good idea. Curve promise to make this even easier, with their one card does it all solution. But how does it work in the real world? TRI247’s Patrick Alexander has been putting it to the test. From his regular trail runs, to a trip to Challenge Roth and Chamonix. Find out how he got on and get his verdict on if Curve is worth looking into as an endurance athlete.

What is Curve?

The Curve card is a neat global digital wallet, which also has a physical card meaning it can become the one card to rule them all. Having both a physical card and digital wallet that are linked together gives users the best of both worlds, it can also be linked to a wearable device (ring or bracelet) providing an even more convenient way to pay, especially for endurance athletes who want to have the minimal amount of things to carry whilst out training or racing.

There are 4 different levels of card membership ranging from free to £17.99 a month in the UK. But with the paid accounts come an increasing number of benefits. I’ve been testing out the Curve Metal account, the £17.99 a month service, which offers the highest level of benefits and it comes with a pretty cool metal credit card.  

The digital wallet allows you to add all of your physical cards (both debit and credit) to the one wallet, doing so will then provide you with a number of benefits including anti-embarrassment mode, meaning if for any reason one of your cards decline the payment due to you reaching your limit the Curve Card/wallet will automatically allocate it to another card you have registered. Now fortunately I haven’t had to use this functionality but it is certainly something that could be useful at certain times. 

How could it benefit endurance athletes? Garmin Pay and other wearables

The Curve card helps solve a few issues for many endurance athletes like myself who may have had issues using Garmin Pay in the UK where many card/banks don’t support the service. Personally I have found this a real frustration since moving from an Apple Watch to Garmin. The Curve card is compatible with Garmin Pay so it makes your Garmin watch an instant wearable payment device. This means I no longer need to worry about having to have my phone with me when out training.

Beyond that the fact that Curve can be linked to multiple wearables means you can also go one step further and invest in a wearable device such as a ring or bracelet which mean you don’t have any of the faff of using your watch or worrying about the battery life or being in the right environment to wear it. My wife and I are regularly debating whether we should be removing our watches for weddings and other smart occasions as they don’t seem to suit the setting and outfits, although they can be a good icebreaker with fellow endurance athletes hiding in plain sight at these events. 

Perfect card for international travel

As an endurance athlete I spend a lot of time abroad going to races and events, the Curve card has been a welcome friend on these trips this summer due to a number of benefits. 

On my recent trip to Chamonix for UTMB I was able to get access to the premium lounges at Manchester Airport at a 60% discount meaning I had a great place to relax and work ahead of my flight out and enjoy the free food and drink on offer. 

One of the biggest headaches when travelling abroad is getting stung with awful exchange rates on transactions when you use your card abroad. One of the best things I found about the Curve Card was that headache was almost totally removed as there are no international transaction fees. Also on the couple of occasions I had to get cash out, particularly on a recent trip to Roth, I didn’t have to worry about being penalised at the ATM. With Curve, I could withdraw up to £1000 a month with no fees. For me as a regular traveller this was a big relief as those fees can quite quickly add up over the course of a couple of trips!

Cashback

All purchases on your Curve card get a 1% cashback in the form of Curve Cash. This “cash” can then be used to make purchases on the card, you can spend this in two ways either having it set automatically so that a payment under the value of the amount you have in Curve Cash will come out of the “cash balance”. Or you can manually select it in the digital wallet to be the payment method to use at the point of making the transaction.

Depending on your spending levels, you could see that cashback covering your monthly membership fee. It should be noted that this cashback is on top of any cashback or rewards you already get from your existing cards. So for example if you’ve linked a card that earns you Airmiles to your Curve account, you can still collect your Airmiles while also getting the cashback.

The wallet with a time machine

I don’t know if you are like me and when you get to the end of the month and you find you have maybe spent a little too much on your training kit and wished you’d put it on your credit card so you can avoid expensive overdraft charges. Well the Curve Card can allow you to do just that with their Go Back in Time feature. This allows you to move payment from one card to another up to 120 days later (for Curve Metal accounts), 30 days for the Curve Lite.

This can easily be done in the app and shows up in any statements as a refund from the business onto one card and then an outgoing payment from the business on the other account, and shows up in the accounts in line with normal times for payments in and out. I’ve tested it out a couple of times to see how easy it is and it’s worked well.

Are the Wearables… wearable?

Along with working as a digital wallet on your phone or via Garmin Pay. Curve have also partnered with several wearables partners. I’ve been testing out one of the Tapster rings, but there’s a range of other designs and styles from rings to bracelets.

Smart wearable devices make contactless payment even easier.

I’ve really liked the Tapster ring. It was great to not have to worry about getting my phone out when stopping off for a drink during a trail run – as ever my phone was stuffed away at the bottom of my backpack! And there’s an element of added confidence that comes with knowing if my phone runs out of battery (or I manage to lose it somewhere in the wild) I’ve still got a method of payment should I need emergency supplies or for whatever reason want to get a taxi/bus ride home. That was reassuring when I took part in Unsanctioned Athletics’ event in Chamonix, a trail race where you have no clue about the route or where the checkpoints are until 30 minutes before you start!

The ring has been comfortable to wear and so far has stood up to the tests of being used during exercise nicely. I’ve been wearing mine almost everyday, and it means it’s one less thing to remember to pick up before I head out – I’m already wearing it.

The verdict

Overall, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the experience of using Curve as my main means of payment over the last couple of months. Set up was easy and features like the discounted airport lounge access and fee free ATM use abroad have come in really handy.

For endurance athletes regularly training, and particularly those heading overseas for races or training camps, the Curve card could be a worthwhile investment as you’ll have ample opportunity to make the most of the perks and features.