Creation cancelling credit cards which have been used with a Curve Card

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Creation Financial Services, issuers of the IHG Rewards and (closed to new customers) Marriott Visa credit cards, made a very aggressive move on Friday in its dispute with Curve Card.

It appears that the majority of credit cards which had been used with a Curve Card are being closed.

One call centre agent said that 1,800 cardholders were impacted. We cannot confirm this number.

Creation closing IHG and Marriott credit cards used by Curve Card holders

The closure letter states that cards are being closed on 3rd December.

Based on reader discussions with the call centre, but not confirmed in writing by Creation:

annual free night vouchers on the IHG Rewards Premium credit card will still be desposited if the cardholder spends £10,000 before their card is closed

there will NOT be a pro-rata refund of the £99 annual fee on the IHG Rewards Premium credit card – although you would be free to dispute this with the Ombudsman

If you cannot trigger your free night voucher by 3rd December but would otherwise, you arguably have a case for a full refund of your IHG Rewards Premium £99 fee for the current year.

Why is Creation banning Curve Card holders?

It isn’t entirely clear what is driving this, although I was told by an independent industry consultant that it was being pushed by National Savings.

Curve Card, for those who don’t have one, is a debit card which allows you to recharge transactions to a linked credit card. You can learn more about Curve Card in this article.

This meant – most specifically – you could deposit money into National Savings and have it charged to a miles or points earning credit card as a purchase. Most Curve Card holders had a £9,000 daily limit albeit capped at £1.8 million per year.

Whilst Curve Card had always had blocks in place for payments to banks, there were certain grey areas such as National Savings, HMRC and various investment firms such as Hargreaves Lansdown.

Creation had initially sent out text message to cardholders a few weeks ago saying that its cards could no longer be used with Curve Card. I was told at that time that mass account closures would follow, and here we are.

One problem is that the ban is catching many people who used Curve Card purely for Apple Pay functionality. It was the only way to add your Creation card to Apple Pay.

For clarity …. the free IHG Rewards credit card is still open to new applicants. Creation is not pulling out of the UK and is only closing these 1,800 (TBC) accounts.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2021 update

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Category

IHG Rewards

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Paul says:

1 Oct1 October 19:02

I’m ok with the end of this card, I’m even ok to an extent as to the lack of a pro-rata refund if they are going down that path, but with an anniversary date in February I want my Free Night (having spent £10k+) before they close this!
Richard G says:

1 Oct1 October 19:40

Wife had literally just got hers, only had a single statement and only used the card twice…

…letter arrived earlier today. Comical.
- SteveJ says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 20:08
  
  Even more proof, if it were needed, that they ‘this is if you’ve transacted with Curve’ is a distraction. Creation are done in the UK and they’re pulling the plug. Nothing to do with Curve IMHO.
- CarpalTravel says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 20:38
  
  Did her card touch Curve at all, and/or were the two transactions absolutely standard fare?
Dave says:

1 Oct1 October 19:42

Oh well. This credit card company are so behind the times in terms of Apple Pay, mobile apps etc they won’t be bothered.
Fazzy Bear says:

1 Oct1 October 19:52

re IHG card – What was the mass appeal for HfP readers? One free night at a hotel for £10k spend?

Can understand the part about Curve helping get to that goal.
- BP says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 19:54
  
  Free night was good value. The real value was in manufactured spend where using methods like curve and NS&I it was easy to rack up huge amounts of points with no real spend.
  - BP says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 19:55
    
    Also you could pay off this card with another credit card which was unusual and enabled “double dipping” of points.
    - Char Char says:
      
      2 Oct2 October 01:48
      
      yes but seems many missed this point
- Harrier25 says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 19:56
  
  Card will be missed for its easy points earning opportunities. The IHG hotel brands won’t!
- John says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 19:56
  
  If you were cash recycling then you were literally getting a free night plus 20000 points for spending a few minutes every month/week/day.
  
  After cycling £75000 (£55k this year) minus any points earned from actual stays, you get Spire status and 25000 extra points.
  - Joints&Piles says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 20:32
    
    That reminds me – I reached Spire but haven’t had the 25k points, though I did get 25k seemingly as part of the status extension they did. Anyone else get 2 lots of 25k?
    - Mark says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 22:21
      
      I’d be interested in the answer to that too. Not quite there on requalifying which is going to be a little harder now… the main attraction in doing so is the 25K points gift.
- Roy says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 20:37
  
  My take (from the non-MS corner of the room):
  
  Hotel points can be attractive to people who (think) they’ll never earn enough airline miles to get a reward flight to the destination they want in the class they want (or maybe just don’t fly much at all). Plus, not being an Amex, you can put all of your spend on it. The free night voucher and the status were the icing on the cake.
  - Mark says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 22:15
    
    And at 2 points per pound it’s one of the better returns out there for a non-Amex card, albeit some way short of the fee paid Virgin Mastercard. And that’s the real issue for Creation… a product which, with any significant level of use, is always going to lose them money unless you’re paying interest or fees. Clearly the writing was on the wall when they closed it to new applicants last year. What’s not obvious is why they haven’t withdrawn it completely. Maybe something in their contract with IHG prevents them from doing so?
  - Kate Last says:
    
    2 Oct2 October 17:10
    
    Hotel points are also a good diversification for those who have too much air miles.
Jimbob says:

1 Oct1 October 20:29

Automatic increase in credit limit in September, then closed the account in October :p

Just glad I made the most of the card, and now sitting on 7 digit number of IHG points. Should be good for two nights at the local Holiday Inn, once the points devaluation kicks in. No regrets
Simon says:

1 Oct1 October 20:29

I just wish I was on the zoom call with Bendy, the boys from Solihull, Ernie and Beardy having a ding dong about who’s in the hole for all these points they having to payout for no return. Waiting in the lobby is Che!
- Jimbob says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 20:36
  
  Indeed, there must be easier solutions than closing down acounts, unless Creation are getting out of the market completely
- Kate Last says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 17:12
  
  What are you talking about? Can you please also provide translation to plain English? 😂
- rob(staaaar) says:
  
  3 Oct3 October 00:19
  
  Wait, what?
Joints&Piles says:

1 Oct1 October 20:37

I just used 2 free night certs at the Intercontinental Ljubljana. Though not a brilliant hotel, I did get upgraded to the Presidential Suite, which was nice.

Last time round I used 2 free nights at the IC Thalasso Bora Bora, which also was nice. To say the least.

A big loss here is that the rooms with the free night certs came from a different availability pool than standard reward nights, so in high-value, high-demand places like Bora Bora they were more readily available whereas reward nights took some persistence, early alarm calls, and fast fingers.
- Joints&Piles says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 20:42
  
  Correction – the free nights and reward nights are from the same availability pool, but at some properties the free nights allow you to book much earlier than reward nights which only become bookable 3 months out.
  
  With US cardholders getting free night certs thrown at them, they win the booking race.
  - Char Char says:
    
    2 Oct2 October 01:50
    
    Literally shows no reward availability but if you use the free night it can show.
    - Joints&Piles says:
      
      2 Oct2 October 10:06
      
      For the French Polynesia ICs, reward nights only appear at 120 days out, but the free nights can be booked at any time, so by the time 120 days comes around there’s often nothing left. Similar at other properties – if you see free nights available but not reward nights, it’s because reward nights are only bookable nearer to the booking dates but free nights can be booked any time.
- Keely says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 20:42
  
  Oooh how was Ljubljana? I’m planning to do a week in Slovenia next summer ..Lake Bled , Triglav etc ….any tips appreciated !
  - Joints&Piles says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 20:58
    
    It’s lovely. I’ve been through Slovenia many times by motorcycle but this was my first time in Ljubljana. The old town area is a very walkable delight of quirky architecture and pavement cafes. Lovely place to be, despite all the cigarette smoke and the constant risk of being hit by cyclists and e-scooters. No end of places to sit and people watch while you eat and drink, and it’s alive well into the night but always feels safe and friendly. Go to the Ziva Wellness sauna in Lake Bled where bathing suits are NOT allowed and you can enjoy walking about in the nude including the outdoor hot-tub and sauna overlooking the lake. Terme Krka in Dolenjske Toplice is another good sauna/pool type place. Driving in Slovenia is easy but away from the motorways and cities the roads are very narrow and winding. Awesome roads around Predjama Castle, which is well worth a visit if you like to drive, maybe not so much if you don’t.
    - Keely says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 22:16
      
      Nude sauna 😱. The castle sounds great , thanks for the tips !
  - Char Char says:
    
    2 Oct2 October 08:28
    
    Nice hotel but 6pm house keeping was annoying off sites up at all., various other flaws so I’d not pay a premium as certainly not up to standard of an IC for customer service.
    
    Bright side no extra charges for room service at all
    - Joints&Piles says:
      
      2 Oct2 October 10:01
      
      Yes, it has plenty of flaws, but some good points, one of which is that any F&B credit can be used against room service.
Surprised Soul says:

1 Oct1 October 20:46

Had letter today, but despite using curve regularly with the card it doesn’t mention curve at all, just that the account is closing on 3rd December. Figure that one out 🤷🏻‍♂️