Partially upheld: service failure, account access failure, inadequate complaint handling complaint against Curve UK Limited
Financial Ombudsman decision DRN-6321239 of 2026-05-15T00:00:00+00:00. service failure, account access failure, inadequate complaint handling complaint against Curve UK Limited. Outcome: Partially upheld.
Decision detail
| Reference | DRN-6321239 |
|---|---|
| Decision date | 2026-05-15T00:00:00+00:00 |
| Firm | Curve UK Limited |
| Product | e-money account |
| Claim type | service failure, account access failure, inadequate complaint handling |
| Outcome | Partially upheld |
| Remedy | Curve UK Limited must pay £75 compensation to an account nominated by Mr T (not credited to his Curve account) and refund any account fees charged on or after 14 December 2025. |
Summary
Mr T complained that Curve UK Limited failed to migrate his account from a Samsung Pay+ arrangement and was unable to verify his identity, leaving him with severely limited app access. Curve acknowledged the issue, claimed to fix it, and offered £30 credit compensation, but the problem persisted. An FOS investigator recommended £75 cash compensation and refund of fees from December 2025. The ombudsman partially upheld the complaint, ordering £75 payment to Mr T's nominated account and refund of fees from 14 December 2025 onwards, but rejected refunding fees from August 2024 as Mr T had received the service he agreed to pay for until the migration failure.
The Ombudsman's reasoning
The ombudsman agreed that Curve's handling of the migration issue was poor and that the problem was never fully resolved. While accepting that £75 was fair compensation (rather than the £30 credit offered), the ombudsman rejected refunding fees from August 2024 because Mr T had agreed to those fees and received the service he was entitled to until December 2025. Fees from 14 December 2025 onwards should be refunded as the service was compromised from that date. The ombudsman was not persuaded that the access method posed a genuine security risk.
How this compares
| Group | Decisions | Uphold rate |
|---|---|---|
| Curve UK Limited, all decisions | 57 | 34% |
Source
Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website