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Curve promises Amazon Visa ban hack

As Amazon UK stops accepting Visa credit cards from later this week, fintech Curve says it has a "hack" that will enable shoppers to still make payments with the banned cards.

In November, Amazon said that from Wednesday Brits will no longer be able to pay with Visa credit cards because of the "high fees" charged for processing transactions.

The high fees refer to a move by Visa in the wake of Brexit to increase charges for online and over-the-phone purchases in the UK to 1.5%.

But Curve, the London-based firm behind an app that combines all of a user's debit, credit and loyalty cards into one, easy-to-use smart card, says it has a workaround.

Shachar Bialick, CEO, Curve, says: "Curve is the only solution in the UK that can offset this decision by Amazon. Users will still be able to use their Visa credit via Curve to shop at Amazon while continuing to earn their bank's rewards."

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Editorial | what does this mean?

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community.

Comments: (4)

A Finextra member 17 January, 2022, 10:05

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I'm assuming here that the "hack" or "workaround" is that Curve does what it has always done? As in the card presents itself to the merchant as a Mastercard debit card.

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Alexander McVicker - ChilliMint (Europe) Ltd - Warwick 17 January, 2022, 10:48

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"The high fees refer to a move by Visa in the wake of Brexit to increase charges for online and over-the-phone purchases in the UK to 1.5%."

Is this correct? As I understand it, domestic Visa Credit Card interchange fees are capped at 0.3% and this has not changed as a result of Brexit. What has changed is UK to EEA interchange fees. These types of transactions are now charged as international transactions. And as Amazon processes card payments in Luxembourg, they are subject to the higher interchange.

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Nick Ogden - RTGS.global - London 17 January, 2022, 11:31

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From Amazon today

"The expected change regarding the use of Visa credit cards on Amazon.co.uk will no longer take place on January 19. We are working closely with Visa on a potential solution that will enable customers to continue using their Visa credit cards on Amazon.co.uk. 

Should we make any changes related to Visa credit cards, we will give you advance notice. Until then, you can continue to use Visa credit cards, debit cards, Mastercard, American Express, and Eurocard as you do today.

Thank you for being an Amazon customer."

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A Finextra member 17 January, 2022, 13:32

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Dear Alexander, to my understanding Visa increased the UK domestic e-comm consumer debit card (and consumer credit as well) interchange fee from 0,20% to 1,15% and this triggered Amazon. Most of the UK debit cards are issued with the Visa scheme, so the major cost increas is on Visa, while Mastrecard debit is a much smaller volume.