Topping up Payment Balances

Introduction

When making use of Curve's Payments functionality, before you can make Payments, you will need to make sure you have adequate Payment Balances on your account to make Payments in each of your currencies. In this article we will discuss how you can add new currencies, and how you can add balances to each of these currencies.

Please note that for businesses based within the EEA, a penny test is required before you can top up your Payment Balances for the first time. A list of countries within the EEA can be found here.

Demo Video

To get started with adding and topping up Payment Balances to your account, please go to Payments > Balances.

Add Currencies to your account

You have the ability to add multiple Currencies to your Payment Balances, and top up balances in each of these currencies. To add a Currency to your account, on the Balances page, please select a Currency and then press the "Add Currency" button. This will add this currency to your account, ready for you to top this up.

Wondering which Currencies to add?

• You’ll need to add a Currency balance for each Contract Currency in which you create statements on Curve.
• Adding a Currency balance for additional Payment Currencies (the preferred currency provided on the Payee's Payment Details) is optional. It’s not required to hold a balance in every Payment Currency, as Curve can automatically convert funds from your existing Currency balances when making a Payment. A 2% conversion fee applies in this case. To avoid this fee, we recommend creating and topping up a separate Currency balance in the relevant currency.

Your account can hold balances in up to 24 available currencies, and you are able to make Payments in a few more additional currencies. A list of available currencies can be found here, though the list of available currencies may differ per client subject to regulatory constraints. For a list of Currencies available to you, we recommend viewing the list of Currencies which you can choose from when adding a new Payment Balance Currency Currency. If you currently have Contracts on Curve with a Currency which is not currently covered by the list of available Payment Balance Currencies on Curve, then we recommend changing the Contract Currency to one that is covered (though please note that we advise against changing the Currency of an existing Contract with existing balances and statements).

Topping Up & Viewing Balances

Now that you’ve added Currencies to your account, you can view your current balance for each one. When Currencies are first added, their balances will show as 0. The next step is to top up these balances with funds, which can then be used to make Payments. You will need to top up your Payment Balances so you have adequate funds for each Contract Currency in which you are about to make Payments.

How much should you top up your Payment Balance with?

To know how much to top up your Payment Balances with, you can review the total value of the Payments in your Payments Group. Please make sure that you have adequate funds in each of the Contract Currencies. And please consider enough headroom in these balances, to cater for transaction fees and conversions.

To understand which Payment Balance Curve will fund a Payment from:

• It will try to take the amount from the Payment Balance in the currency that matches the preferred Payment Currency provided in the Payment Details on the Payee.
• If there is no sufficient balance in this Payment Currency, then Curve will take the balance from the Payment Balance in the Contract Currency. If a conversion from the Contract Currency to the preferred Payment Currency is necessary (in other words, when the Payment Currency is different to the Contract Currency and there was no sufficient Payments Balance in the Payment Currency), then a 2% conversion fee will apply.
• If there is no sufficient Payment Balance in this Contract Currency, then the payment will fail, and you will need to top up your Payment Balance before you can try again.

How to top up your Payment Balance

With each currency, you'll find a "Deposit Funds" button. As you click this button, you will be provided with the details of the bank account to which you can transfer your funds. You can make this payment with your preferred payment method. We recommend using the copy function to copy the account details for guaranteed accuracy.

When you send a payment of funds to your account, how soon this balance is visible on your Curve Payment Balances may depend on your bank. It generally settles within a couple of minutes once it reaches our payment partner's account. If it takes longer than 24 hours to settle then please contact [email protected] as it may have been flagged for manual review, especially for new accounts.

It is possible to share these details with your distributor or DSPs, if you wish for them to pay your earnings directly in this account. Any payments made into this account would appear on your Payments Balance on Curve, ready for you to make Payments with. When sharing an account with your distributor or DSP, to avoid any exchange fees, please make sure to share the account in the currency that they tend to pay you your earnings in.

No fees are applied when adding funds to your balances.

Convert Currencies

If you have multiple Currencies on Curve in which you create Statements, it is still entirely possible for you to top up your funds in just one Currency, and then use the Conversions option on Curve to convert balances into the other Currencies. This can be useful to consolidate balances, or ensuring you have sufficient funds in the required payout currency.

To convert a balance, please go to Payments > Conversions.

On this page, you will be able to decide from which Currency into which Currency you'd wish to convert, and how much you wish to convert. Our payments partner will convert balances at live market rates during the markets opening hours. The FX market opens Sunday at17:02 ET and closes Friday at 17:00 ET. Only a minimum amount of 1 GBP or equivalent can be converted.

Please note that a 2% conversion fee will be applied to each conversion.