How to link HSBC to Garmin Pay
If you are looking to use your HSBC bank account with Garmin Pay, this article explains how you can use an extra free service called Curve to link the two together.
If you use HSBC as your bank account, you might have been disappointed to find out that it is not compatible with Garmin Pay in the UK. There is a straightforward solution to make HSBC 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.
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 Natwest to Garmin pay
It is easy to link your HSBC account to Garmin Pay. All you need to do is:
- Sign up for a free Curve account.
- Link your HSBC 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 NatWest on Garmin Pay!
That's all there is to it - now, any charges to your Curve card will pass through to your other HSBC account - even though Garmin Pay doesn't directly support HSBC.
It takes 10 minutes to set up, and now you can use your HSBC bank account via Curve with Garmin Pay without any issues.
P.S. This approach also works for using Garmin Pay with any other UK bank!
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, HSBC is not on that list, and as of 2024 there do not seem to be any published news about when HSBC might 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 would like to make HSBC 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!
