UK start-up Curve invents ‘financial time travel’

UK start-up Curve has today announced the launch of a patent-pending financial time travel capability. Curve is a digital wallet platform that is designed to connect all of a person’s financial services into a single go-to place.

The card works just like a normal bank card and is accepted anywhere in the world that accepts Mastercard. After more than 50,000 sign-ups in Beta mode, Curve cards have been used for over £50m of payments in over 100 countries.

Today, Curve announces the ‘financial time travel’ feature in its app that gives consumers the option to switch the card used for a transaction after the purchase was made. Users can pay with the Curve card anywhere in the world, and within 14 days, choose to change the card that was charged. The update will give Curve users more confidence in the way they pay, and save the time and hassle people previously faced when making a transaction on the wrong card.

Curve CEO Shachar Bialick spoke exclusively to PaymentEye at Money20/20 Europe to discuss the new payments platform.

“Curve is a safe and smart way to manage your money. The card and app allows users to combine all their debit and credit cards in one place.

“It makes it much easier to track how you’re spending across all your cards and accounts, and you can keep track of receipts digitally which is automated.

“People feel disconnected with money; there are a lot of apps, but as a user you’re unaware of which ones may be suitable for you. With Curve, everything is one place, and it works the same way as Netflix and Spotify. Curve collects all your financial services into one place. It’s the same idea for banking.”

Curve has a community of 500 users that get to check out and test new features that normal users don’t see, and if successful, these may get passed onto the normal banking app.

“There’s a disconnection in the market with accessibility,” says Shachar.

“Now, if a user makes a payment with the wrong debit or credit card, they can retrospectively switch the card they use to pay any time in the next two weeks. No manually re-wiring money; no missed loyalty points; no unintentional incurred fees by using the wrong card – with Go Back in Time, it’s just one tap. Curve takes care of the rest,” explains Arthur Leung, Curve Product Lead and a former Barclays director of customer experience.

Shachar Bialick says: “People want simpler, safer ways to stay on top of their money, but they don’t always want to switch away from their trusted bank accounts. Curve cardholders get the best of both worlds and that’s exactly the mission we’re on – to simplify the way people spend, see and save their money.”

“Go Back in Time was actually an idea that came from a customer, and is just one way in which Curve’s unique approach perfectly suits the way people actually want to use payments technology. Our customers save money when they travel, earn points when they spend and are more protected from financial crime – all simply layered on top of the accounts they already have.”

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