Ian

Because it’s not worth opening a new current account to make a modest saving on a few £k per year of FX spend.

RussellH

It’s a multipack of Seabrooks actually! The best.

Tom

Wouldn’t that be an issue with the restaurant and not one with Amex?

Rob

Probably a niche market, but I’m finding my Amex is far more widely accepted in Bangladesh than Curve, even in some rather surprising places. Maybe something about the Curve debit to credit model is inconsistent with the local processing infrastructure.

RussellH

Get that potato off your shoulder yorkieflyer

yorkieflyer

No, all the girls at my daughters school do it. None of them seem to go near real drugs.

RussellH

I rather thought vaping was a poor northern thing? Given we’re always been told we all live inside the M25 and are AB1’s I imagine there’d be greater interest in coke dealers who accept Amex?

JDB

@JDB please don’t make such absolutist statements that you cannot possibly justify. I had my IHG closed after using it with Curve for normal overseas spending. I did not use is for manufactured spend. My wife’s IHG card was used in exactly the same way and survived the cull. Each to their own but I personally didn’t think that heavy abuse of the card with cash like transactions would last for as long as did for some more unscrupulous folk. I frankly was somewhat annoyed to lose the card and I suspect like others have binned Curve as other folks abuse clearly can jeopardise less ambitious card holders and I don’t want to lose any other cards I value.
On a separate note I do to be fair think Curve is a parasitic business model and I’m a little surprised card companies tolerated it from the start. At least Amex made it very clear where they stood early on.

RussellH

Lol. I’m curious as to what proportion of HFPers vape

Ian

Chase

RussellH

First of all I must say – I genuinely enjoyed the snobbishness of this post. I’m not having a go – it made me smile. Thank you.

Second – accepting (as you seem to) that non-acceptance of Amex is in fact real: it’s therefore easier to just use a card that’s accepted EVERYWHERE.

Third – Farmfoods does indeed sell a lot of absolute garbage and has a proper Wayne-and-Waynetta-Slob customer base, that is fact. It’s also, sometimes, seriously cheap for some staples, has permanent 8% discount by using vouchers, and for us – right next to Aldi so only adds 5 minutes to the shopping run…

Always remember the Indian restaurant in London that brought me my bill in a fancy Amex folder. And then told me they do not take Amex!

Rob

Curve limit is £1000 a month

https://help.curve.com/are-there-any-fees-associated-with-using-curve-HkkKBu2Lu

John

We don’t believe they are. Next year is looking interesting though – I am expecting 2-3 launches in the space.

TooPoorToBeHere

+1 for the Wise debit card, though for me it is mostly a backup to my Eurozone (+S and RO) and Swiss bank cards.
Will, I hope, be useful next time I am in Czechia.

TooPoorToBeHere

> Chemist
Boot take Amex. Cannot recall the last time I paid a any other pharmacist any money
> Farmfoods
I am not that fussy about where I shop, but I am not at all sure that I would use Farmfoods
> Large online pet-food retailer Kiezebrink
Never heard of them. But my cats will only eat Aldi cat food + Alsi take Amex
> Vape shop
Enuff said!
> Arc’teryx online shop
Never heard of them
> Vet
True – but I do need to use non-Amex cards as well
> National Trust property
Been a life member for over 50 years, so not necessary
> Burger King (! – they said it was accepted, but it wasn’t)
Somewhere else whose doors I would not darken…
> Oxfam
Mostly, I give them stuff to sell, so I do not buy
> A couple of pubs
TBH, I am surprised at the number of pubs that do take Amex
> Several car parks
True, but one or two quid on an Amex rather than a MCard is not going to make much difference!
> Local petrol station, local coffee shop (IME the majority of small/independent retailers refuse Amex)
I did find one petrol station in rural Cornwall last month that did not take Amex, but that is the only time I have used such a place in many years. I mostly stick to supermarkets.
Coffee shops – again true, but again, whether or not I can spend a couple of quid on an Amex once every few months is not really relevant.

David

1. No. 2. Yes/No. Probably best reading Rob’s guides and relevant forum threads.

Jonathan

That is a total myth! I don’t understand why it gets perpetuated here. People haven’t had their Creation cards or any other cards cancelled for using them with Curve; many of those people (ie serious points collections) happened to have Curve cards and used them, but the past and ongoing closures relate to other matters.

TooPoorToBeHere

If you shop in major chains all the time you will probably be alright, but I agree with TPTBH, acceptance at independent stores, and especially food and beverage, is very hit and miss.

Jonathan

Fascinatingly different experiences. Looking at where I’ve been unable to use Amex recently:

Chemist
Farmfoods
Large online pet-food retailer Kiezebrink
Vape shop
Arc’teryx online shop
Vet
National Trust property
Burger King (! – they said it was accepted, but it wasn’t)
Oxfam
A couple of pubs
Several carparks
Local petrol station, local coffee shop (IME the majority of small/independent retailers refuse Amex)

Jonathan

I use Curve quite hard with Barclaycard Avios Plus.

There are issuers which have caused trouble but Barclays have not, thusfar.

If you’re worried about it, though, and want it for overseas spend – why not switch Curve to a “sacrificial” card – or at least one you don’t mind losing – for foreign spend.

Tomasz

You still get 1.5 Avios per £1 so you need to decide whether working towards a sign-up or annual spend bonus on another card is better.

TooPoorToBeHere

Nothing to do with posh places. Poundland, for example, accepts Amex

Mark

Using Curve cards has had people’s accounts closed by their credit card issuer, no names being named, but we all know in the back of our minds, but they’re not recommended, and there’s other reasons also noted in other comments why they’re not the best idea

TooPoorToBeHere

I find it genuinely rare these days to come across a place that doesn’t take Amex. And even if it doesn’t, it only takes a second to switch from my BAPP to the Barclays Avios, either physically or on Apple Pay

TooPoorToBeHere

Amex acceptance is poor ?

I don’t know where you do your shopping but it’s very rarely a problem for myself and almost certainly most other HfP readers and editors !
Yes Amex can’t be used everywhere, no one’s denying that, there are places that’ll only touch debit cards… it’s generally not a problem to deter daily usage of the cards