Wirecard: What’s Happened, What it Means and How We’re Fixing it.
Latest updates from Team Curve about the Wirecard situation, and how it impacts customers.
Latest Update: Tuesday 30th June, 8:00pm
FCA allows Wirecard UK to resume regulated activity
Yesterday, the FCA announced that Wirecard UK could resume its regulated activity. We are now separated from Wirecard so this news no longer directly impacts us however, we still need to figure out how to manage the refund process for purchases made prior to Friday June 26th.
Progress with Curve migration activities
✅ Enabled Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Pay as well as Garmin Pay, Fitbit Pay and WENA Pay by Sony
👷👷🏽♀️ Reconstruct Go Back in Time
🔜 Sort out Refunds (see previous post for details)
🔜 Get back Curve Send
Top Trending Questions from our Customers
We also have an amazing Curve Customer Experience team that is answering all of your questions. Here we answer some of the most frequently asked:
Are all mobile payment wallets and wearables now enabled? – Yes, you can now use Curve Card to pay through your preferred mobile phone wallet as before.
What is the latest regarding refunds? – If you are asking “what is going to happen with my refund?” We want you to know that our main priority is to get refunds up and running again for you as quickly as possible. The best way for us to do this is to build our own refunds process (totally in-house).
In the first instance, the quickest way to do this is to send that money back to you as Curve Cash so you can use it right away.
If we are able to process a refund; you will find it on your Curve Cash balance. You will just need to select Curve Cash as the payment card and you will be able to use the money stored inside!
We are working hard to get refunds working in a normal way – our priority has been to get you access to money owed to you as quickly as possible.
What is card re-verification & how can I add a new funding card? – When we moved across to our new partner, we had to re-map (what we call “re-tokenise”) your funding cards so that they can be used seamlessly with your Curve Card. This is why you may have seen “Curve card check” on some of your other banking apps over the weekend. However, some banks required an additional piece of information in order to link your card to Curve – your CVV. If this is the case, you will see “tap to verify” across your card. Follow the instructions and enter your CVV to start using your card again.
For some banks, they require an even higher level of verification for you to use your card with Curve again. This is why some people are unable to add new funding cards and why you may see “incorrect CVV” even though the CVV is correct. We’re working on building this extra step right now. We don’t have an exact ETA for when it will be finished but we are working hard on this and will let you know as soon as we can.
Can I still view my card details in-app? – If you are not able to see your card details in-app, we ask that you go old-school again for the moment and make your online purchases with your card beside you. We know this is not ideal (yeah we love the feature too) and we’re sorry it’s not quite there yet – but we are well on the way!
Latest Update: Monday 29th June, 4:26pm
And……Drum roll please…🥁 … We’re back! Wow, what a weekend!. We know how much you were missing us, so we moved Heaven and Earth to make it happen. As we mentioned yesterday, you’re now once again able to pay with your Curve Card, use Curve Fronted and see your balance and Curve Cash points. If you are not seeing this, check out our previous update to learn how to get your Curve app up and running again. (Updated app available in Google Store and Apple Store).
We are now working on enabling Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Pay as well as Garmin and Fitbit. Plus, we know how much you love the “Go back in time” feature, so we will also have that up and running again in no-time.
👷 Enable Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Pay as well as Garmin and Fitbit
👷 Reconstruct Go Back in Time
🔜 Set up Curve Send
🔜 Sort out Refunds (see previous post for details)
Is my Curve Card still valid… It says ‘issued by Wirecard’?
Yes, it’s still valid. You can still use your card, even though Wirecard’s name is still on it. And, if you’re a customer getting a new card, it will likely still say “issued by Wirecard” on the back and that’s OK.
If not Wirecard then who?
We are 100% Wirecard-free after the migration work we did this weekend.
Wirecard used to be our card issuer, but we brought that in-house and are doing that ourselves now, as a Principal Member of Mastercard.
To bring the card issuing in-house, we had legal requirements to also become an e-money issuer (we sent you a letter about this earlier this year). Therefore, we had to open settlement and safeguarding accounts (to keep your money safe) and Investec was able to accommodate our requirements over the weekend.
We still use GPS for our Curve card processing and we also thank them for pulling through for us this weekend for the migration to bring issuing in-house
We also used Wirecard as our ‘merchant acquirer’ to process the transactions of your bank cards through to make a Curve payment. Because of the shutdown of this part of the process, we had to find a new supplier, sign a contract and integrate them – all in one weekend to get the service up and running. Thank you, – one of Europe’s finest fintechs and, as luck would have it, the agile, flexible, hard-working heroes we needed to get us back up and running. Thank you – we are amazed by you already! You jumped in and worked as hard as we did to get this over the line.
Again, thank you to our amazing Partners, without you we couldn’t have done this!
Alright, that’s all for now. Over and out. (Sorry, still in battle mode from the weekend)
Latest Update: Sunday 28th June, 9:28 pm
We are — almost — back in business! We’ve nearly completed “Phase 1” of the plan below, and we’re crossing things off our list. Here’s what will be available as of Monday June 29th, and what’s still to come:
✅ Enable payments with your Curve Card
✅ Enable Curve Fronted
✅ Enable Curve Cash Points and Balance
🔜 Enable Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay
🔜 Set up Curve Send
🔜 Reconstruct Go Back in Time
🔜 Sort out Refunds (see previous post for details)
Steps to use your Curve Card again:
You’ll be prompted to update your Curve App, please do!
Some of your cards may need to be re-verified. Don’t worry, it’s easy! We’ll point out which ones and include clear instructions on what you need to do.
We need to do some extra testing tomorrow for your mobile wallet and wearables to work (i.e. Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Garmin, Fitbit and Wena), so these payments won’t be possible immediately, but shouldn’t be far behind.
Thank you for all your support so far, you’ve been fuelling Team Curve all weekend!
Latest Update: Sunday 28 June, 2:53pm
We’ve got a plan to bring you back the Curve that you know and love as quickly as possible. It’s a phased approach and we want to share it with you:
PHASE 1: Restore Payment Functionality
It’s our priority to allow you to pay in store and online, with your Curve card, and with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay.
Verifying your Cards
We’ve been migrating your payment cards onto our new platform, so you may have seen “Curve Card Checks” similar to these:
Screenshot 2020-06-28 at 14.49.11
These Card Checks are nothing to be alarmed by. It’s simply a way for us to verify your card details and reconnect them to our systems as we move away from Wirecard.
If you’ve seen a micro-charge (usually less than £1) from Curve on your bank card, it’s not a real charge and it doesn’t take any money from your account. The card check is a standard process to confirm that your cards have been successfully and accurately mapped in our systems (what we call “re-tokenisation”) so that you’ll be able to make transactions securely once we’re operating again.
Through this check most of the cards have been automatically verified, however, we were unable to do this automatically for around 18% of the bank cards on our platform. This means some of you may have to re-enter your 3 digit CVV code for some of your bank cards (Don’t worry, we’ll prompt you if this is needed).
How will I know when I can spend again?
We will notify customers via email as soon as Curve is up and running again (please check your spam or junk folder if you haven’t received our first email). We’ll also announce it here, via in-app push notifications, on social, basically everywhere!
Some of you haven’t received our push notifications, this is likely because you’ve turned off push notifications from Curve. We’ll look into how we can better update our customers through in-app notifications.
PHASE 2: Continue to restore our in-app feature functionality
We know Curve is more than just payments. We want to be fully back as soon as possible. We will update this blog, social media, and send in-app notifications as we confirm features are enabled.
PHASE 3: Addressing Refunds
And for those who have asked, we want to address refunds. This process is out of our hands for the moment. It is being controlled for Wirecard by the FCA, who should advise us how they intend to manage the process. This means that if you were expecting a refund, or have initiated one, on or before Friday, 26 June 2020, we have to ask you to sit tight while we sort this out with them.
We know this is a priority for some of you, we are listening. We assure you we are working through this, and will update you every step of the way.
Latest Update: Saturday 27 June, ~4:00pm
It’s all hands on deck here at Team Curve. We are quickly progressing through the transition away from Wirecard. We can confirm that we are on track to be back up and running soon. Below are some answers to additional questions you might have.
What if I have a dispute with a merchant that Curve is managing?
We are continuing to work through your merchant disputes as normal. Nothing has changed to this process. If a refund is due, we are still working through how this will happen and when. Rest assured we are doing all we can to enable this again and we will keep you updated here on next steps and timings.
What’s Happened.
On 26 June, the Financial Conduct Authority suspended its permission for Wirecard Card Solutions Limited (the company who currently issues the Curve Cards for us, and processes transactions) to operate, without prior notice or warning. Unfortunately, this has not only affected Curve, but many other companies relying on Wirecard in the financial sector.
What it means for Curve and you.
Curve depends on Wirecard for operational support, which means your Curve Card and all associated Curve services will be temporarily suspended.
Here are a few things we can tell you before you ask:
You can still access your account. You’ll be able to access your Curve account via the app and view all your existing account information and details of past transactions.
You won’t need a new card. Once we’re up and running again we anticipate that you will be able to continue to use your existing card.
Time travel is suspended. Go Back In Time is unavailable for the time being.
Curve Cash is suspended. Your Curve Cash balance will remain the same, but is also inaccessible, for now.
Refunds may be delayed. We are currently unable to process refunds. When we are back up and running, we intend to address refunds as a priority.
Apple Pay, Google Pay & Samsung Pay won’t work. Using your Curve card through a digital wallet will also be unsuccessful while we’re down.
How we’re fixing it.
We began our transition away from Wirecard a few months back and we are moving furiously down the path to complete this migration. We are hoping to be fully operational soon.
This isn’t the first challenge we’ve faced, and it won’t be the last. We intend to respond, as always, with the conviction and resilience that Curve was built around.
In the meantime, we’ll be keeping all your payment details safe, so that once we’re back up and running, you can pick up where you left off with your Curve Card.