How to link any UK bank to Garmin Pay
You can use Curve to link any UK VISA or Mastercard debit / credit card to Garmin Pay, even if it's not supported directly by Garmin Pay.
If you recently bought a new Garmin sport watch, you might have been disappointed to find out that your bank in the UK does not support Garmin Pay. However, there is a straightforward solution to make almost any British bank card work with Garmin Pay: Curve. Curve is a digital wallet that allows you to combine British bank cards behind a virtual card. That virtual card can then be added to Garmin Pay.
Having switched from an Apple Watch, I know that the Garmin is exceptional for exercise tracking - but I've started to miss the convenience of Apple Pay. I don't really want to lug a wallet around with me just in case I fancy a coffee & cake after a run.
Who are Curve
If you've never heard of them, Curve is a digital wallet. The key feature of Curve for this problem is that it's a special card that instantly charges whatever you buy on it to another card.
Curve is free, although some other features require a paid subscription. They also offer £5 sign-up fee, so the first coffee is free!
Curve offers many other valuable features, such as discounts at retailers, lower foreign transaction fees, and other benefits.
How to add your bank card to Garmin pay
It is easy to link any British bank card to Garmin Pay, even if Garmin Pay does not support it. All you need to do is:
- Sign up for a free Curve account.
- Link your bank card to Curve
- Curve will generate a unique card number, expiry date, and CVC
- Add your new virtual Curve card details into Garmin Pay on the Garmin Connect app on your smartphone
- Set a pin on your Garmin to use before authorising contactless transactions
- Enjoy being able to use your bank card on Garmin Pay!
That's all there is to it - now, any charges to your Curve card will pass through to your other bank account - even though Garmin Pay doesn't directly support your bank.
It takes 10 minutes to set up, and now you can use any British bank account via Curve with Garmin Pay without any issues.
Which UK banks work with Garmin Pay?
Garmin's website publishes a list of the banks directly supported by Garmin Pay in the UK. You can check that list directly here.
As of the end of 2024 these are the supported banks:
- Cornèrcard: VISA
- Curve: MASTERCARD
- Danske Bank: MASTERCARD
- FinecoBank: VISA
- Genome: VISA
- Monzo: MASTERCARD
- Prepaid Financial Services: MASTERCARD
- Revolut: MASTERCARD
- Revolut: VISA
- Santander: MASTERCARD
- Santander: VISA
- Starling Bank: MASTERCARD
- Wirecard Card Solutions Limited: MASTERCARD
- Wise: MASTERCARD
- Wise: VISA
Unfortunately, many banks that are on this list don't seem to have a timeline for when they will support Garmin Pay directly. I think this is a bit of a missed trick—running, cycling, swimming, and other endurance sports are only increasing in popularity.
If you want to make an unsupported British bank work with Garmin Pay, your best option is to use Curve. Curve will give you a £5 bonus if you sign up through my link. So - when you are on a run, please enjoy the first coffee purchased on your watch!
How do you use Garmin Pay on the watch?
Once you've set it up - I realised I had no idea how to prompt a contactless payment on my watch. To save you the Google - hold down the light button, then scroll to the Wallet icon. You'll then have to enter the pin you set up, and contactless payments will turn on so you can complete your transaction.
