One card for everything

My finances are a mess, Stuff. Won’t you fix them up for me? Firstly, you still owe us 20 quid from way back before Christmas, so don’t think we’ve forgotten about that. Secondly, you’re better off asking Curve for help. It won’t do anything to sort out your overdraft, but it might stop you getting in such a pickle again. How? By using a single card to manage your sprawling network of debit and credit cards, so you needn’t flit between several apps just to find out how much you actually spent this month. Just one will do the job. So you’re telling me that I should go and get another card? No, not really. The Curve Mastercard acts as a cipher for every other card that you’ve connected to its app. You could use it to pay with your Natwest debit card or your credit card from Santander. Either way, all your outgoings are tracked through the same place to help prevent overspending. You can even switch between cards for a payment that was made up to two weeks beforehand. It’s like travelling back in time, without the risk of your future mother taking a fancy to you. OK. Now I’m sold. How do I get one? Join a waiting list with 50,000 people in front of you, we’re afraid. Demand for the card has been sky-high since its launch in January. That’s no surprise, since Curve comes with a host of other benefits including zero exchange fees for purchases made abroad and itemised expenditure for easier tracking of how many times you’ve drunkenly dived into a kebab shop in the last month. You even get rewards for spending at selected stores, hotels and restaurants. Although hell will still have to freeze over before we eat at Cafe Rouge again.