Payment Explorer

Card Overlay

How does €100 travel when using a card overlay (e.g. Curve)?

A €100 third party card overlay (e.g. Curve, Privacy.com): the merchant sees a primary card PAN (e.g. Mastercard). The overlay provider then authorizes the payer’s real underlying card — two schemes, one checkout.

Scheme Card Overlay (Curve, Privacy.com)

Read the numbered story first. The switches change the situation. When a step is clear, open a technical trace to see the messages banks send.

Payer country

Where the payer’s account is. Cut-off times and the usual network can change.

How it ends

The money arrives, the other bank refuses, nobody answers in time, or a bank later asks to reverse a credit (recall).

Actor labels

Plain names (Payer / Beneficiary), ops shorthand (Orig / Bene), or ISO account sides (Dbtr / Cdtr). On SDD the creditor is Orig.

Compare with

Same €100, other scheme — see which hops differ.

What this country changes for the payer’s bank.

Cut-off

SCT batch cut-offs follow your bank’s STEP2 submission window (often late afternoon on TARGET days). Instant is 24/7.

Reachability

Euro SCT / SCT Inst reachability is near-universal in SEPA. French ASPSPs are widely on TIPS and/or RT1.

Local notes

STET PSD2 API is common for PISP initiation in France; clearing remains EPC ISO 20022.

  1. 01

    Payer→Merchant

    €100t+0

    The payer pays with a card overlay (e.g. Curve card) — a Mastercard in front of real cards.

    Card present / e-com with overlay PAN (e.g. Curve Mastercard BIN)

  2. 02

    Merchant→Acquirer

    The merchant’s acquirer forwards authorization — seeing the overlay card, not underlying bank card.

    Acquirer auth on overlay PAN

  3. 03

    Acquirer→Scheme

    Card scheme routes to the overlay provider (e.g. Curve) as issuer of that PAN.

    Scheme switch to overlay BIN / issuer (e.g. Curve)

  4. 04

    Scheme→Payer’s bank

    Curve asks the selected underlying card’s issuer to hold €100.

    Second authorization: Curve on the funding card (card-on-card)

  5. 05

    Payer’s bank→Scheme

    The underlying issuer approves. Curve then approves the merchant authorization.

    Dual-auth complete: funding-card hold + Curve issuer approve

  6. 06

    Acquirer→Scheme

    D or D+1

    Later, two clearings move: merchant vs Curve, and Curve vs the underlying card.

    Two card clearing files (not ISO 20022 pacs)

  7. 07

    Scheme→Beneficiary’s bank

    Settlement credits the merchant. Curve settles separately with the payer’s bank.

    Scheme settlement to acquirer; Curve vs issuer is a second settlement

Try in live showcase