Not upheld: Service failures generally complaint against Curve UK Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr P complained about a 1% High Risk Merchant Category Code fee of £19.99 charged on a £1,999 transaction through Curve's digital wallet to an online trading and investment company in June 2025. He argued he should have been warned about the fee at the point of transaction and complained about poor customer service when his complaint was not logged in the in-app chat. Curve had notified customers of the fee in May 2024 (which Mr P had opened) with implementation in July 2024. The ombudsman found the fee was fairly applied as Curve cannot determine the MCC classification until after processing the transaction. The £15 compensation offered for the customer service failure was deemed fair and reasonable. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Curve provided adequate advance notice of the fee change through clear communications in May 2024, which Mr P had opened. The MCC classification is based on the merchant's primary business activity (Securities – Brokers/Dealers), not the specific transaction purpose. Curve cannot determine the MCC until after processing the transaction, so it cannot provide advance warning for individual transactions. The fee was therefore fairly applied. However, Curve failed to log the complaint in-app chat, which contributed to the subsequent email address error. The £15 compensation for this service failure was deemed appropriate.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website