Here's why Curve is the perfect solution when traveling and not paying in euros
Review of Curve card in travel key and benefits through free fees on overseas cash advance and insurance
Recommended by TFC
One of the most obnoxious jolts while traveling are the fees that are charged When paying in a currency other than the euro, and if these expenses are not even made in dollars you risk paying twice.
Many credit cards convert spending, for example in Thai baths, first into dollars and then into euros. In addition to the exchange rate, which is not always advantageous, ancillary fees are charged that affect the final value of each individual expense.
Very few solutions are available in the Italian market that allow travelers to avoid paying these additional costs, among the few present the best is definitely the Curve credit card.
What is Curve
Curve is not the classic credit card 2.0, like Hype or N26, but is a container of credit cards. This means that on its own Curve is nothing, you cannot charge it or link it to a checking account. The only thing you can do is link the Curve card to the other credit cards you have. By doing this, when you pay an expense, it will end up on one of the cards we have in our profile.
Curve's credit card, physical or virtual, is thus a payment tool as is, for example, Paypal, and can be used worldwide for any type of transaction. The final transaction is charged to one of the linked cards of the cardholder's choice.
There are 3 Curve products, Blue that we discuss in this article Is the basic version and is free for life. The other two options are the Black card and the Metal card. Which cost €9.99/month and €14.99/month, respectively.
Benefits included in the basic card:
- The Curve card belongs to the Mastercard circuit
- 1% of cashback on any spending made with the card. For the Blue card, cashback is recognized for the first 30 days and then for 30 days for each friend who becomes a Curve cardholder
- Access to exchange rates FairFX up to €500/month
- No foreign cash advance fee up to 200€/month
- Function "go back in time"
La Black card compared to the free card, allows fee-free cash withdrawals abroad up to 400 euros per month, no spending limit for accessing FairFX exchange rates, guarantees unlimited cashback, includes travel insurance and online shopping protection. All this as mentioned at a fee of 9.99€ month
La Metal paper Is the most exclusive and has a monthly cost 14.99 euros. The benefits go up: no fees are charged for up to 600 euros per month for cash withdrawals; travel insurance is also added to coverage for accidental damage to rented cars; it offers insurance that covers theft, damage or loss of cell phones; and it allows access to airport lounges around the world through its affiliation with LoungeKey.
Our advice is from Apply for the basic card, free forever, start using it and in case switch to one of the superior products, which you can easily do via the app
Why it is perfect for travelers
The card is free, and that alone is a good reason, but the fact that within a single card it is possible to concentrate all the cards held allows, for example, less cards to be carried around in the wallet which, for those who travel a lot, means Risk less in case of theft or loss.
Then there are the economic advantages such as the FairFX exchange rate, the best on the market and especially theelimination of cash advance fees to ATMs all over the world and in any currency. So here already the basic version allows the traveler to save money whether traveling in the UK or flying halfway around the world, because you will be able to swipe the Curve card and not the individual card.
Thanks to the Go Back in time function you will also be able to change, after the purchase, which card to charge the expense to. For example, if we used a card that doesn't generate points or where we hadn't seen a specific promotion, we can literally time travel and change the charge, all for free and all through the app.
The only shortcoming of Curve
Unfortunately, it is not possible to include American Express cards among the cards linked to the Curve account, only Visa and Mastercard cards. That said, the benefits are truly many and unique since there is no similar product on the Italian market at this time.
- Go back in time. After paying it allows you to change your mind and charge it to a different credit card
- Cashback of 1% of the amount of purchases made at selected partner stores;
- Has no fees on foreign cash withdrawals up to 200 euros per month
- Has no fees on expenses made in currencies other than the euro