How to link NatWest to Garmin Pay
If you want to link your Natwest bank account to Garmin Pay you can use Curve to enable this.
If you use NatWest 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 very simple solution to make NatWest 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 there are paid options for some other features. They also offer £5 for a sign-up, so the first coffee is free!
There are lots of other valuable features with Curve, such as discounts at retailers, lower foreign transaction fees, and lots more benefits.
How to add Natwest to Garmin pay
It is easy to link your NatWest account to Garmin Pay, all you need to do is:
- Sign up for a free Curve account.
- Link your NatWest 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 NatWest account - even though Garmin Pay doesn't directly support NatWest.
It takes 10 minutes to set up, and now you can use your NatWest 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, Natwest is not on that list, and as of 2024, Natwest says on its website that it has no plans to add Garmin Pay. 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 NatWest 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 out on a run, please enjoy the first coffee purchased on your watch from me!
