Revolut vs Curve - how do they compare?

Looking for a new way to manage your money? If you’re considering a change from a traditional bank, a digital account or mobile wallet service could be a better fit.

In this guide, we’ll take a look at two of your options - Revolut and Curve.

Curve is a unique solution allowing you to link all your cards together, bringing the ease of online payment wallets to a physical card. Revolut, meanwhile, is more like a bank, offering a current account, card and other financial services all managed through an easy-to-use app.

Read on for a full comparison between the two, of everything from features to fees. This should help you choose the best one for your needs.

But if your priority is making the most of your money abroad, the Wise multi-currency account could be a better solution. It lets you transfer money overseas in just a few taps, for low fees and the mid-market exchange rate.

For now though, let’s get back to Revolut vs. Curve.

Revolut vs. Curve: an overview

Revolut is a financial super app initially launched in 2015. It aims to bring together many different parts of the financial world together into one place. Part of its mission is to remove the borders, both financial and geographical, that keep people from investing and managing their money¹.

Curve is quite different. It’s not a bank account in its own right, but is more of a digital wallet with a physical card.

It links together debit, credit and some prepaid cards together under a single card and PIN. It provides additional rewards and cashback opportunities. Ultimately though, Curve aims to help people avoid the muddle and confusion that can sometimes come with multiple cards and accounts.²

They have different approaches, tools and features, although there is some overlap. Let’s take a look at a few of the key points you need to know:

• Both have a free payment with a delivery charge
• Both provide an extensive reward service, providing cashback on sales with partnering groups.
• Both have fee-free currency exchange and ATM withdrawals, albeit with similar limits.
• Both have four tier levels, with additional insurance, a metal card and airport lounge access highlighted perks for higher tiers.

Costs to get started

When it comes to signing up with either Curve or Revolut, the process and indeed the costs of getting started are remarkably different.

With Revolut, the sign-up process is a simple matter of supplying a phone number, selfie and picture of a photographic ID.²⁰ This process is free and takes only a few minutes and the account can be used almost immediately to add money to or buy things with.

That said, there is a delivery cost for getting a Revolut card, unless you choose a paid subscription tier.³

Curve is a different process entirely. Choosing your card comes at the start of the process and is not optional. This means that the app will immediately take at least £4.99 either for the card itself or to sign up for Curve X.⁴

As well as this, you’ll need to have a debit or credit card already. This can come with its own additional costs depending which provider you use.

Once you have the app and the plan, you can add cards quickly, easily and safely. Once Curve is integrated into Apple Pay or Google Pay it can be used straight away.

Accounts and features

Both Revolut and Curve have four tiers. Both also have perks that relate to enjoying the finer things in life, from shopping to travel.

Revolut has four main types of account to choose from:⁵

• Standard, a free account with no perks and strict limits to how it is used.
• Plus for £2.99 per month. Plus gives the user purchase protections, access to young person-focused <18 accounts, priority consumer support and free card delivery for less than the typical card delivery charge.
• Premium for £6.99 per month. It gives the user higher interest rates, a discount on international transfers, higher limits on withdrawals, travel perks and airport lounge access.
• Metal for £12.99 per month. It comes with an exclusive metal card, adds 2.5% interest as well as 10 commission-free stock trades each month, lower investment fees, 1% cashback, higher withdrawal limits and greater discounts for international transfers.

Curve also has four main account types:⁶

• The original Curve account, which aside from a £4.99 card delivery charge is free. It provides access to the app, the ability to add up to two cards, Anti-Embarrassment Mode, a single smart rule and 30-day “Go Back in Time” access.
• Curve X, available for £4.99 per month. This allows up to five cards to be added, free card delivery, the ability to add up to five smart rules and the ability to add business cards and get rewards in Bitcoin.
• Curve Black, available for £9.99 per month. You can add as many cards as you like, get unlimited smart rules, unlimited fee-free currency exchange, 1% Curve Cash cashback from three select retailers forever and worldwide travel insurance.
• Curve Metal, available for £14.99 per month. Alongside the card itself and enhanced versions of every other perk, you also get mobile phone insurance, access to LoungeKey airport lounges and car hire excess insurance.

Features

The first headline feature for Curve is Anti-Embarrassment Mode, a rather confusing name for automatic account switching.⁷

If you use multiple cards with different amounts in them for specific situations, there are sometimes cases when you choose the wrong one and it gets rejected. Anti-Embarrassment Mode stops this from happening.

A similar feature to this is what Curve amusingly calls “Go Back in Time”. This allows you to swap accounts for a payment after it has been made.⁸

It was designed to help fix issues where a payment is made with the wrong card and can be used for up to 30 days after the payment was made (up to 120 days with Curve Metal). This also works with Curve’s buy now, pay later service called Curve Flex.⁹

Finally, there is the smart rules system. These are programmable rules that let you choose automatically what cards are used for which purchase.¹⁰

For example, if you have a specific debit card for food, that can be set to always make grocery shopping purchases unless otherwise requested.

They are set according to a priority system, with the topmost being activated first. This helps to avoid potential clashes such as buying groceries over a certain amount.

This comes alongside the perks, rewards and cashback system. This uses a token system known as Curve Cash instead of depositing cash into a rewards account.¹¹

Revolut’s perks are based around making both jet-setting and investment easier and more rewarding, with cashback on bookings and shopping available at higher tiers.

There are also lounge discounts and SmartDelay eligibility available. This gives you and three friends free airport lounge access if your plane is delayed by an hour or more, as well as travel insurance and coverage for lost or delayed luggage.¹²

People who want to dip their toes into the world of investment (being mindful that their capital is at risk) can take advantage of Revolut’s commodities and stock trading features, complete with a small number of commission-free trades.¹³

Finally, there is the cryptocurrency platform, which allows people to invest in tokens and withdraw them into fiat currency for relatively low fees.¹⁴

Protection, security and support

The first thing to know is that neither Curve² nor Revolut¹⁵ are banks. Therefore, they use their own protections to safeguard accounts and protect your money.

Curve has a dedicated customer protection system¹⁶, whilst Revolut uses its safeguarding protocols¹⁷ to ensure that in the event of a financial catastrophe, your money is safe with them.

Account security

In terms of account security, both use two-factor authentication. Plus, the ability to lock and unlock cards from the app.

In Curve’s case, this feature is essential, as losing a Curve card could give a thief access to not only one account but any card connected to the account.

International Payments

One of Revolut’s specialities is its international payments. It offers competitive exchange rates across major currencies, with no conversion fees on weekdays.¹⁸

Curve similarly has no conversion fees on weekdays. And it uses a wholesale rate to ensure that conversion fees are lower than typical big bank rates.¹⁹

But if you want to spend, send or convert currency for the mid-market exchange rate all the time, with no hidden fees, it has to be Wise.

Open a Wise multi-currency account and you can manage your money in 50 currencies, and spend like a local in 175 countries.

¹ Please see the Terms of Use for your region or visit Wise fees & pricing for the most up-to-date information on pricing and fees

After reading this guide, you should have a better idea of what’s on offer with both Revolut and Curve. This should help you choose the right option for you.

Sources used for this article:

Sources checked on 19-January-2023.