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.

Gavin says:

2 Oct2 October 13:49

Fundamental problem with Curve’s business model is it’s built on merchant relationships/interchange fees (which the CCI *can* switch off) not PSD2/open banking (which the CCIs can’t).
ThePenguin says:

2 Oct2 October 14:00

But i thought creation new about curve and manaffacture spending? We had some many complaints and how it was discrimination to use code words?
Olly says:

2 Oct2 October 14:46

So upon checking my Creation card, rather than relying on my memory, it would appear I did not use the IHG card with Curve for the 2 NS&I transactions, only household purchases or bills that credit card charges would be incurred so am at a loss as to why my IHG Black is being termnated. Other than I pay it off in full each month and get Creation no interest. I use it as my dominant card for all household spend to the tune of £12k+ yearly, or when Amex is not accepted generally so to build up my IHG rewards account pot. As such I don’t know what category I come under for the old heave-ho. I did wonder if Curve had contacted Creation that I have a Curve account and Creation want to be seen to be “cleaning house” but then I see people with Creation IHG cards have no connection with Curve have received the “letter of dismissal” so maybe they just pay off the balance in full each month and are not making them money so not wanted. I read Creation used to be big into store cards and remember store cards used to make their big money from interest so maybe they are only going to keep people without a clear balance sheet.
- Harrier25 says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 15:05
  
  In January, when the dust settles and if its still available then, I’m going to re-apply for the free IHG card and just see what happens…..you never know.
  - Keef says:
    
    2 Oct2 October 15:13
    
    I will probably do that myself but as someone who qualifies for Spire largely through credit card spend I don’t have sufficient annual spend to reach it with the free card so bye bye Spire in 2023 probably for me.
    - Harrier25 says:
      
      2 Oct2 October 15:32
      
      Me neither, but doesn’t bother me too much. It’s Hilton Gold that’s important to me.
      - Harrier25 says:
        
        2 Oct2 October 15:40
        
        Mind you with the kind assistance from the Argentine Marxist, you may be surprised where that takes you. Much harder I admit at just 1 point per £.
    - Dave says:
      
      2 Oct2 October 16:12
      
      I suspect most of us get Spire by card spend (genuine or otherwise). I doubt many stay 75 nights per year at an IHG. Their loyalty program is very poor compared to Hilton/Marriott, especially for someone doing that amount of nights.
      I think we’ll soon see a new IHG credit card provider.
    - Vasco says:
      
      2 Oct2 October 20:18
      
      Buy ambassador and it gets renewed automatically if you’re already spire.
  - SteveJ says:
    
    2 Oct2 October 15:42
    
    I don’t think they’ll make it available again. My guess is the ‘technical issue’ on their site is just the hatchet job temporary fix until they take down all the pages referencing the card.
ankomonkey says:

2 Oct2 October 14:52

I was invited to attend a market research focus group attended by Creation employees several years ago on the subject of their hotel credit cards. I participated and HfP was mentioned. The session was also recorded. They should have no excuse that certain behaviours are/were a complete surprise to them.
Mark Lyon says:

2 Oct2 October 16:01

I have the Marriott and IHG cards, and have used both under curve, but always for genuine transactions only, no recycling or money withdrawals (if we were talking Hilton and Virgin cards, that’s another matter). Anyway, I haven’t had a letter yet, is this the only communication that creation have sent to those impacted, or have text, emails and/or messages online also been made? Just trying to judge if I’ve escaped the cull.
- Nigerian Prince says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 16:26
  
  only letter
Rahaney says:

2 Oct2 October 16:02

Perhaps my maths is wrong coming off night shifts, but if Curve Fronted is now limited to 10k a month and the yearly fee (paying up front is £150… aren’t metal users simply now buying points at 1.5p?
- Genghis says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 16:09
  
  Maths a bit off
- Sean says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 16:31
  
  120k points p.a/£150
- Rahaney says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 16:40
  
  So 1.25p then. Seems borderline? Am I missing something? Thanks both.
  - BP says:
    
    2 Oct2 October 16:47
    
    0.125p a point if 1 point per £ spent
- Roy says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 16:44
  
  Your maths would be right if the Curve Metal fee was £150 per month!
- Rahaney says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 17:01
  
  Ahh yes. My bad. Blame working when should be sleeping! Thanks all
Boi says:

2 Oct2 October 16:42

Guilty as charged re:MS. 🤣
But for me without MS all my U.K. cards are useless .

No letter yet but I guess it will come? 🤷‍♀️
Paul says:

2 Oct2 October 16:47

Noticed a few reviews have been left on trust-pilot for the way this issue has been handled have began to appear – its a shame more people can’t add a review as this may help Creation see how badly they have handled the situation.
- Harrier25 says:
  
  2 Oct2 October 17:45
  
  As if they gave a ****!
  - CarpalTravel says:
    
    2 Oct2 October 20:36
    
    +1
    
    No serious business gives a flying wotsit about Trust-pilot and whatever moaning is happening on it. It’s a whingefest site with no verification about the reviews (positive or negative) that appear on it. Furthermore it, ironically, cannot be trusted:
    
    Years ago I left a detailed and comprehensive review of Carpet Right after they provided utterly abysmal service and left me with bare floors in my house over Christmas. After about a year or so later it had mysteriously been removed….
    - Spurs drive me mad says:
      
      2 Oct2 October 21:06
      
      Carpet Right haven’t improved, my daughter in law has had a nightmare with them trying to sort out her Mums order last few weeks.
    - jimc says:
      
      2 Oct2 October 21:57
      
      Nonsense. Serious businesses certainly do give a flying whatsit about review sites, in recent surveys 91-93% of online buyers said that review scores & online review sites impacted their purchasing decisions.
      - CarpalTravel says:
        
        2 Oct2 October 22:36
        
        Go and re-read what I wrote, I didn’t say all review sites. 🙄
        
        Feefo for example is taken far more seriously, which is why businesses use it and CST’s regularly respond to any negative feedback.
    - J says:
      
      2 Oct2 October 22:47
      
      @CarpalTravel – Absolutely right. eBay have 1.3/5, Amazon 2/5. Trustpilot is a joke that isn’t worth giving any time or thought to.
      - CarpalTravel says:
        
        2 Oct2 October 22:50
        
        People who never buy anything from anyone if they did!
      - CarpalTravel says:
        
        2 Oct2 October 22:50
        
        *would , damn autoccrect!
    - Char Char says:
      
      2 Oct2 October 23:42
      
      Trust pilot do verify things and feedback for businesses is usually taken seriously unless you are course the only player ie amazon or eBay
      - Lady London says:
        
        3 Oct3 October 16:52
        
        Trustpilot have deals purchaseable by merchants that effectively let the merchants delete negative reviews apparently.
        
        I have not found Trustpilot to be reliable
  - Char Char says:
    
    2 Oct2 October 23:43
    
    True but nothing to lose