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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Category

IHG Rewards

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

Jonathan says:

2 Oct2 October 07:22

Back to the main principle of the card, how else can I earn IHG points now when not staying at a hotel?
- DJ says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 07:25
  
  Spend on the Virgin Atlantic Mastercard, and then transfer from Virgin Atlantic to IHG at 1:1.
- Rob says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 08:22
  
  Remember Virgin Points convert 1:1, so the 30k bonus on the VS Reward+ card transfers to 30k IHG.
  - Jonathan says:
    
    2 Oct2 October 12:02
    
    Do they count towards status via virgin?
    - Rob says:
      
      2 Oct2 October 12:15
      
      Used to, no longer.
      - Kate Last says:
        
        2 Oct2 October 17:30
        
        Rob, are there any other conversion routes that do count for status?
      - Rob says:
        
        2 Oct2 October 19:34
        
        https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2021/06/20/what-ihg-rewards-points-count-for-status/
Erik says:

2 Oct2 October 07:22

Very disappointed with my Curve Card Experience. They have the Worst Customer Service I’ve Experienced. Would not use Curve Again.
Matthew says:

2 Oct2 October 07:34

Had anyone had the free IHG card cancelled?
- Matthew says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 07:35
  
  Sorry can’t edit. I meant *Has anyone…
  - Paul says:
    
    2 Oct2 October 07:38
    
    Yea I’ve had my free (white) IHG card cancelled
- Neil Spellings says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 07:54
  
  Yes my free card was cancelled
- SteveJ says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 08:25
  
  Yes
- Matthew says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 12:41
  
  Ok…I await the letter then!
Billy says:

2 Oct2 October 07:49

Well, well, well…
Aaron C says:

2 Oct2 October 07:50

So can I still pay Ernie with Solihull via the Bendy route to Brighton?
- John says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 08:00
  
  No
- Kate Last says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 17:31
  
  Can we have this in plain English please? 😍
  - rob(staaaar) says:
    
    3 Oct3 October 00:38
    
    @Kate Last – I feel your pain; I’ve managed to work out some of this gibberish, but ffs – Earnie and Solihull? :-0
vol says:

2 Oct2 October 07:52

When Amex had beef with Curve, it took it out on Curve, not its customers. If the credit card company didn’t shut down loopholes, or made no effort to inform customers it didn’t like the practice, and cardholders exploited it, it’s not the cardholder’s fault. They’re punishing card members for something that (I assume) they weren’t prohibited from doing.

Amex seemed to get this and just broke off their relationship with Curve.

Amateur hour from Creation, but maybe other credit card issuers are watching with intrigue to see how this all pans out
- Paul pogba says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 08:05
  
  I blame NS&I, they seem to have incited this and they could have banned the curve BIN. Creation could have shut this down by imposing interest on the relevant MCCs. They all had less dramatic options.
  
  It’s hard to see IHG being able to launch a new card if Hilton have struggled. If they’re really interested in the UK market the best we can hope for is are transfer partnerships with Nectar, Tesco CC or Amex MR.
  - J says:
    
    2 Oct2 October 09:15
    
    My guess would be that NS&I are refusing to just take the loss, and Creation are looking to demonstrate they had no knowledge of what was going on and took decisive action as soon as they found out. So any legal culpability potentially shifts to Curve.
    - JPa says:
      
      2 Oct2 October 09:29
      
      Can’t see what the cost is is ns&i. They got the money in full and only paid debit card fees to curve. Curve are the ones that have to pay credit card fees. The main losers are probably creation who I assume have to more than 0.3p for the 2 ihg points.
- Goonface says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 08:30
  
  It actually makes me want Curve to succeed even more and stick it to the bullies of the industry, clearly like Creation if they’re willing to use the customers as the pawn.
Andy says:

2 Oct2 October 07:54

It’s not just people who used curve who have had their cards cancelled. I recommended a friend get the free IHG card earlier this year. He hasn’t got curve or done anything remotely dodgy (unless you call doing his weekly shop dodgy) yet his has been cancelled
- SteveJ says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 08:27
  
  Exactly, the Curve angle is a red herring. Rob should amend the article, enough evidence that is all IHG cards getting the chop.
- Andrew says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 08:40
  
  Did you use Curve?
  
  Perhaps you have been defined as a “dodgy” introducer.
- Tw33ty says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 08:50
  
  I have a friend in a similar position, had his cancelled despite no even know what curve is and only using it for hotel stays for his work.
  - Track says:
    
    3 Oct3 October 07:36
    
    Hotel stays are suspicious… who knows wha he been up to doing 2-3 hotel stays a month!
- Youllnever says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 09:05
  
  Interesting, maybe they _are_ pulling out of the market. Their card application page has been disabled at the moment…
- Roy says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 09:05
  
  Did he ever shop at a merchant that has the letters “CRV” in the name? I really wouldn’t trust Creation IT to tell the difference
BrianS says:

2 Oct2 October 07:56

This is clearly their route out of the Credit Card market. Look at the decline of their options over the years, they don’t want the business.