The HfP chat thread – Sunday 3rd October

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• Philip says:

  3 Oct3 October 04:58

  Why would anyone still use the curve card?

  • Si says:

    3 Oct3 October 05:41

    It’s coming up to frozen car windscreen season and would work well as a scrapper

    • Andrew says:

      3 Oct3 October 08:18

      Doesn’t everyone just go into their app and instruct their car to preheat nowadays? Or at least set the preheat timer for weekdays.

      • Peter Taysum says:

        3 Oct3 October 09:15

        But the heated seats and steering wheel can’t be turned on by the app. Why not?

  • John says:

    3 Oct3 October 05:47

    Removes forex fee and has some merchant offers

    • Andrew says:

      3 Oct3 October 09:36

      5% – Bit shabby. It’s 10% on Barclaycard and MBNA.

      • Rob says:

        3 Oct3 October 09:44

        Not on my MBNA sadly!

      • Andrew says:

        3 Oct3 October 09:59

        And spend £250, get £50 back on BAPP and supps.

        • Rob says:

          3 Oct3 October 11:52

          Online only

    • BP says:

      3 Oct3 October 10:21

      I don’t think they ever applied the £200 limit. It’s just finding the right underlying card that doesn’t charge a fee for ATM use.

    • Reney says:

      3 Oct3 October 11:20

      Rob are you still using Curve to pay your HMRC bill?

      • Rob says:

        3 Oct3 October 11:37

        I never did. I put it all through my Lufthansa credit card which HMRC treated as a debit card.

      • Reney says:

        3 Oct3 October 11:53

        I never had that card, but that has been closed now right? What option will you use in the future?

        • Rob says:

          3 Oct3 October 12:13

          Paid last one 3 months early with my Lufty card to beat the closing date. Will wait to see if Lufty comes back before 31 Jan.

          Last VAT payment was cash.

      • Reney says:

        3 Oct3 October 12:26

        Make sense. Any views on whether there is any risk that other card issuers will follow Creation’s footsteps and mass close cards? Trying to decide how to pay my tax bill before 31 Jan.

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    3 Oct3 October 06:15

    It’s much quicker if you’re looking to cancel the underlying card than finding the postal address, writing up a letter, finding a stamp and posting it off…

    • John says:

      3 Oct3 October 07:00

      Who cancels cards by post?

      • BJ says:

        3 Oct3 October 07:11

        Dinosaurs apparently.

    • JDB says:

      3 Oct3 October 09:12

      Also, when on holiday my wife and I take the Curve card out and about, but leave the underlying card in the hotel safe. If one of us loses the card or it’s stolen, we can block Curve in the app, but we still each have a working points card.

  • Andrew H says:

    3 Oct3 October 07:29

    The overwhelming majority of users will not have been using it to try to kill it off by milking free stuff, so there must be many reasons why people use it.

    • Rui N. says:

      3 Oct3 October 08:00

      Milking it or not is irrelevant, all Creation cards that ever used Curve were cancelled, so the OP question is very relevant.
      And if people didn’t like milking free stuff, Rob wouldn’t have a business.

  • Andrew says:

    3 Oct3 October 07:51

    Shhhh! You mean “Bendy” – people get very upset if you use its actual name!

    • Jeff Greene says:

      3 Oct3 October 07:58

      😂

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:

    3 Oct3 October 07:58

    To pay HMRC or is that avenue closed?

    • Reney says:

      3 Oct3 October 08:03

      Still open. I guess the question is, do you still dare to use it? I’m on the fence. I want to use it, but I don’t want my other cards to close. But if other card holders pull a creation i.e close your card if it has ever touched curve then I’m screwed anyway.

      • Natasha says:

        3 Oct3 October 08:07

        Why are you on the fence. If anyone should be shut down it would be curve for advertising fronted as a feature and listing examples

        • Reney says:

          3 Oct3 October 08:56

          Yet creation is shutting down customers that have used their product with curve. Not just blocking it.

    • Mr(s) Entitled says:

      3 Oct3 October 08:54

      Presumably the most the best avenue left is Curve Metal (£99) to Virgin+ (£160) to pick up the bonus if applicable and 1.5miles per £ noting that Virgin Points are limited to the monthly credit limit?

      For business users can anyone confirm if Capitol on Tap works as an underlying card? That would get me 1% cash back on my company tax bill.

  • Rui N. says:

    3 Oct3 October 08:01

    HMRC, forex, ATM withdrawals, tax free child care. That and all the other wonderful benefits Curve Metal brings, of course.

    • Tom says:

      3 Oct3 October 08:40

      I’m a non-curve user, but will soon be due to make a large payment to a car dealership. They’ll only accept £2,000 via credit card (and nothing whatsoever on Amex).
      Genuine question, is it worth me opening a curve account to pay the balance using Curve linked to my (legacy) HIlton Honors Visa card?
      I don’t believe this would be against the rules, but I’m not certain. Most grateful for any advice.

      • Froggee says:

        3 Oct3 October 08:50

        Probably not. Curve and credit cards can be a bit funny at first before you’ve built up a usage history so there is no guarantee you could use it to make payment. And there is a decent chance you’d get a £2k limit and garages don’t like multiple payments. I’d keep your life simple for this one. If you’ve never used Curve, I wouldn’t start now given that most existing users are pretty wary about it in case it burns their entire card portfolio.

        • Tom says:

          3 Oct3 October 08:55

          Really useful guidance, I appreciate it.

        • Lady London says:

          3 Oct3 October 15:23

          And you won’t get the hil card again as it’s not being offered any more. So why poop your nest.

      • Reney says:

        3 Oct3 October 08:57

        When I brought my car, they only accepted debit cards but wouldn’t take curve at all.

      • Memesweeper says:

        3 Oct3 October 09:24

        You balancing payment would need to be within your daily limit (or make multiple payments) and within the new 10k fronted limit.

        I did this recently for a relative when she purchased a car. It’s a good use of the card.

  • The Savage Squirrel says:

    3 Oct3 October 09:51

    Creation have closed a load of accounts, quite a number of which were not even associated with Curve (all of their CCs?; all that never carried over an interest-bearing balance? All that didn’t show a profit for Creeation over their lifetime?). Curve is a red herring – looks like they’ve just done a general cull to pivot business strategy, or are even exiting the CC market to focus on financing at Currys or whatever – they had one card available and aren’t even accepting new applicants for that now. They were always a joke CC company anyway. Not sure I’d read too much into other cards and what they’ll do in future, from Creation.

    • Rob says:

      3 Oct3 October 11:55

      What’s bizarre is that – since Day 1 – it has been possible to pay Creation statements with another credit card. At no time did they ever bother to stop that.

    • JDB says:

      3 Oct3 October 12:43

      It’s clearly more than just Curve – anything that is a type of cash advance that isn’t official or via balance transfer – Revolut, paying other credit cards etc. is another thing they have decided they don’t like. Others are unfortunately bound to follow.

  • Mike Curtis says:

    3 Oct3 October 10:41

    So I can go ‘back in time’ for my cruise payment as I’ve only just applied for the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ card – means I can back out that payment to the Virgin card once it arrives….

    • Ambient says:

      3 Oct3 October 17:16

      Go back in time is a useful feature for delaying a payment if you want/need to. You just need to pay attention to card statement dates. Use case is:
      – Want to pay on Card A but statement date is approaching.
      – Pay using Card B as long as its statement date is after Card A’s.
      – Wait for Card A’s statement. Then Go back on time. Charge is moved from Card B to Card A.
      – A whole further months billing cycle is gained before the payment to Card A is due.

• QwertyKnowsBest says:

  3 Oct3 October 07:26

  Any thoughts on bothering with the VeriFly app? Flying BA long haul, BA seem to recommend, but the app reviews are wholeheartedly poor.

  • The Original Nick says:

    3 Oct3 October 07:34

    I’ve used it and it’s well worth using. You can upload all you need to it and it’ll save you a lot of time at the airport. Ignore the reviews as I had no problem with it. I’ll be using it again next week.

  • Paul says:

    3 Oct3 October 07:44

    I used it to Dubai recently. Was asked to show it (if it was complete) and sailed through checkin. People using just paper to prove their tests seemed to take ages checking in.

    • The Original Nick. says:

      3 Oct3 October 10:56

      Me too.

  • Andrew says:

    3 Oct3 October 07:53

    I didn’t bother – just uploaded docs into MMB. Couldn’t see the point of putting all my details into another app.

  • Craig says:

    3 Oct3 October 08:12

    First impressions are that it’s awful, trying to upload vaccine QR keeps failing.

  • Distichon says:

    3 Oct3 October 08:16

    I used it a few weeks ago. It had some quirks. What stood out most is that it insisted you needed a printed copy of your passenger locator form, which is not true; and since it insisted, it wanted to scan the QR code from the form, so there was no simple way to do it on a single device. I ended up scanning the code from my laptop screen.
    Other than that, it seemed to work OK, and it felt like it sped up the checking process both ways. I had to check in luggage, so went to the counter, and offered it both times when they asked for documents. Both times, the person at the counter seemed happy to use it, and commented how it made things so much quicker for them. Indeed I was done within seconds each time.

    I think it’s mostly a convenience thing: you pre-load the time it would take at the airport to when you’re sitting on the sofa at home. I found it convenient (with some reservations) and useful to know all the checks were already done and I was good to go. Main downside (apart from if you’re unlucky enough that something doesn’t work for you) is probably that you share quite private data with yet another company on top of your airline.

  • Ali M says:

    3 Oct3 October 08:36

    I had to do for Etihad – was so smooth at airport – the staff at check in didnt ask for anything as could see everything on their screens.
    likely makes it smoother for BA as well but one always must carry digital copies of all negative tests

  • Paul says:

    3 Oct3 October 09:00

    I’ve flown twice in which I’ve been encouraged to use it (and did so). In neither case would airport staff accept it; they had no interest in VeriFly but wanted to see the underlying stuff (e.g. proof of vaccination, test result, etc) directly. Disappointing that I’d wasted my time jumping through VeriFly’s hoops tbh.

  • Craig says:

    3 Oct3 October 09:10

    Just about to give up with it, however hard I try it won’t accept proof of vaccination and there’s no way to bypass the fit to fly test which we don’t need.

  • James says:

    3 Oct3 October 11:02

    The app works but no one’s been interested in seeing it so far!

• AS says:

  3 Oct3 October 07:28

  Has anyone got any experience of the quality of BA wifi on a flight to the Tenerife? I read somewhere that short haul wifi isn’t that great when not travelling over mainland Europe

  • Nick says:

    3 Oct3 October 10:37

    It depends which way your flight is routed – there are two main airways between London and Tenerife. On the one that heads over Southampton, over Brittany and Galicia the wifi will be fine as you’re essentially hugging the European coast (or passing over islands) almost all the way. The other heads out off the edge of Cork, turning south and going quite far out into the Atlantic, which is where it gets much less reliable.

    Trouble is, there’s no rule to determine which way you’ll go on the day (depends on many factors, including weather, fuel and the French), so you can’t plan ahead.

• Andy says:

  3 Oct3 October 07:42

  Looks like red list going to be slashed to nine countries according the Torygraph. Does seem now Ireland has got rid of red list/quarantine hotels we should just do the same though.

  • Andrew says:

    3 Oct3 October 07:55

    And then maybe some of the IHG hotels at LHR can open to guests!

    • The Original Nick says:

      3 Oct3 October 08:02

      I agree.

• SwissJim says:

  3 Oct3 October 07:48

  Still toying up whether to go to Sorrento for October half term with 2x children. All booked, fully cancellable (points). Hilton Sorrento – stayed before, main attraction is the outdoor pools (and the Exec Lounge). Been c.10 years ago. Has anyone been recently? Are the outdoor pools open, and are there are restrictions in place (need to book, mask wearing poolside, etc?). I think Sorrento restaurants etc. are operating relatively normally?

  • Princess says:

    3 Oct3 October 14:09

    Hi SwissJim, can’t comment on Hilton hotel but I can tell you that mask are now only needed indoor, booking is not always essential in Italy, but of course depends where you want to go. To eat inside you need to show a vaccine certificate (NHS is fine). Restaurants and bar are now operating as before (not sure about nightclub)
    Weather should still be good and you will enjoy the ccstiera amalfitana at its best as in summer is too overcrowded!!!!

• Ant says:

  3 Oct3 October 07:56

  Need to rebook our S Africa garden route/cape town trip. Is Easter a good time to go?

  • JDB says:

    3 Oct3 October 08:13

    Some say it’s too late weather wise, but family there say it is still nice, even if a bit cooler, so we are going in late April/May. Worth looking at West Coast as well as garden route – much less developed, and cheaper.

  • JDB says:

    3 Oct3 October 08:22

    By the way @Ant if you do decide to go to SA, you want to get on with booking! Hotels have amazing deals at the moment with no UK visitors and car hire cheap for now.

    • meta says:

      3 Oct3 October 09:11

      Not for long if reports are to be believed that SA is coming off red list.

• Andrew says:

  3 Oct3 October 07:58

  Has the monitoring of your Credit Card provider or bank started to get a bit creepy?

  “Happy Pay Day!”, Was a novelty. “Your Direct Debit is £50 higher this month”, useful. “How have you spent this month?” Is starting to get uncomfortable.

  With LBG now actively monitoring “Fine” data being processed through their credit cards, is this kind of meta data potentially going to be used to judge people’s credit worthiness – either directly or sharing statements via open banking to a mortgage lender?

  Time to keep a “Dirty” card that’s settled by cheque?

  (My “Fine” was a miscoded MCC to pay for 2 hours regular parking.)

  • Yuff says:

    3 Oct3 October 08:09

    Does anyone actually pay attention to this info, I can’t keep up with my spending, or more to the point my son’s spending, so what chance does some remote bot somewhere have……….as long as I can do £100k to ns&i every week who cares 🤣🤣🤣🤣
    However on a more serious note if it actually prevents fraud and scams then I don’t have a problem with it……

  • Paul Pogba says:

    3 Oct3 October 08:21

    They probably tabulate our spending by mcc and send it to Experian anyway, a “dirty” card just means they’ll just get the information from somewhere else. If you’re worried about privacy don’t look at what’s coming with CBDCs; between that and Alexa or Orwellian nightmare is coming along nicely.

    • John says:

      3 Oct3 October 10:22

      There may be an anonymous option with CDBCs, at least Sweden’s central bank thinks there could be an anonymous option for smaller amounts and then a central bank-run account for larger amounts

  • AJA says:

    3 Oct3 October 08:57

    I don’t see the point of all of this. I don’t allow sharing of my data between banks and card companies. In fact I do not have a credit card with my bank. I refuse to since someone stole an eventual £14k on the one that was with my bank and the bank initially refused to believe me when I reported that it was not me spending the money. (I did get it wiped but it took far too long and was unnecessarily difficult to resolve and the bank’s loss would “only” have been £9k if they’d listened and trusted me)

    Nor do I pay my credit card bills by DD. I am perfectly able to set up a bank transfer once a month on receipt of my statement. I monitor all of my spending quite well.enough without the “happy pay day” nonsense. I would be annoyed if I got that particular message given that I don’t have a single “pay day”, which the bank should know if it is compliant with the KYC regulations, as my income is derived from various sources and timing depends on what individual contracts state. This all smacks of banks trying to gather data and sell it on. Banks never do anything for free.

    My latest bugbear is having to enter a “security code” to access my account. Particularly dubious benefit when I’m accessing the account on the same device I also receive the texted code. What’s the point of that?

    End of rant!

• Natasha says:

  3 Oct3 October 08:06

  Has anyone used curve metal gadget insurance?

  • stevenhp1987 says:

    3 Oct3 October 09:11

    I dropped my phone in Malta earlier this year. Cracked the screen.

    Rang up the insurance. Got claim number etc. I had to get myself a quote then pay for it etc. Didn’t have to forward the quote for approval before going ahead.

    Once paid I had to submit the quote and receipt to them for reimbursement minus the £50 excess. Paid very quickly.

  • Jonathan says:

    3 Oct3 October 19:30

    Yes, quite good, my iPhone Face ID broke after getting wet. Apple’s out of warranty paid for “repair” service is to send you a replacement phone but their invoice clearly says repair. The gadget insurance needed a lot of chasing and initially tried to reimburse me the initial phone cost less 2 years depreciation (c40% I believe) less £50 excess. I challenged them saying the Apple repair invoice was greater then their initial offer and said the invoice clearly states repair so they upped their offer to cover it less £50 still.

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