The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 2nd November

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Alex says:

2 Nov2 November 13:50

Question for those using the ITA status match: did you submit a screenshot of your card on the BA App or did you get the pdf from the BA website?
- Ikaz says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 14:18
  
  Screenshot from the app worked for me
Lev441 says:

2 Nov2 November 14:31

A bit out the loop with the virgin Atlantic card.

Signed up for the card during the sub offer a few weeks back.

Does it play nicely with our friends at Solihull and che without fees? I know in the past it did..
- Katie says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 14:53
  
  Yes do you have metal?
  - Lev441 says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 14:56
    
    Yep I have metal. Thought you didn’t need metal to pay off Solihull?
    - stevenhp1987 says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 15:11
      
      You don’t.
      - stevenhp1987 says:
        
        2 Nov2 November 15:11
        
        *Correction, you don’t need Bendy.
- Chas says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 17:12
  
  A word of warning – since 5 Aug Virgin changed the T&Cs so that these transactions would be treated as cash advance fees. Just because the IT may not yet have caught up, doesn’t mean that it won’t suddenly change overnight….
  - Lev441 says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 19:40
    
    Thanks… will gamble and hope for the best seeing as not reported yet!
Paul says:

2 Nov2 November 14:36

Another annoying ‘bendy’ query! To confirm if I want to send to Ernie from Beardy, I now need to upgrade to Metal, albeit once upgraded Bendy may take issue, and likewise Beardy May one day take issue also. I’m sure I’m probably missing something.
- Aston100 says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 15:05
  
  Paul the Destroyer, getting ready to destroy it all again.
  - Harrier25 says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 15:07
    
    I know, you just can’t believe some people, can you!
  - Paul says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 15:27
    
    I am not Paul the Destroyer, I am much better behaved and modest in my behaviours, I’d like to think. Although maybe worrying this isn’t the first time I’ve been mistaken for that Paul.
- His Holyness says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 15:10
  
  Yes you’ve got it all right. I’d hit it very hard until its blocked.
  - Paul says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 15:27
    
    Perfect! I don’t have Metal yet and so I’m assuming it’s a £180 gamble?
    - Harrier25 says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 15:35
      
      Paul, at least you’re not calling Solihull to have a discussion about your Che bad habits.🙄
      - Paul says:
        
        2 Nov2 November 18:30
        
        Never would!
      - WearyTraveller says:
        
        2 Nov2 November 20:42
        
        Could someone link me to a post where all these codewords were explained? 😅
      - Pete1968 says:
        
        2 Nov2 November 20:47
        
        No – because you might be a card issuer and cotton on to our cunning plan.
elguiri says:

2 Nov2 November 14:36

Made 2 payments to Che via Solihull yesterday. First one went through, and straight after paid off builders invoice with Che. Second payment declined, and said I needed to ring CS. This morning in the app none are showing any more. Upon calling CS was told they don’t allow payments to Che any more, but confirmed the first payment did go through okay (despite disappearing from app).
Question – are Che topups no longer possible (in which case why would they let the first transaction go through?) and is it normal to have transactions disappear completely from account login (checked on web as well as app)?
- Lev441 says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 14:57
  
  They still work, but frequently get rejected.
  
  Ignore what you see on the account, it will show up again in a day or two!
  - elguiri says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 16:01
    
    just wanting to pay off before it accrues too much interest, but doubt I can do that on something that doesn’t appear there yet.
    - SteveJ says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 16:44
      
      If you have a payment link saved from previously you can pay it now to avoid any interest at all.
- Aston100 says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 15:07
  
  Solihull to Mr Guevara still works.
  There are limits in place which seem to be inconsistent between different players.
  - Anna says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 15:52
    
    Indeed, so crazy is the Creation universe that I am getting purchases blocked but still playing nicely with Che. I’ve not been asked to contact them, but don’t actually see any point in doing so at this stage!
    - r* says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 16:27
      
      A couple of days ago che and solihull were friends. Yesterday solihull wouldnt join the revolution so I tried it contactless at morrisons today, didnt work. So tried it using chip and it did work. Still isnt getting along with che tho.
      - Anna says:
        
        2 Nov2 November 17:00
        
        Try ordering a supplementary card for your partner …
  - Guernsey Globetrotter says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 17:24
    
    I have 3 cards on which it has consistently been a max one-off top-up to Che of £1,800 every 4 days for quite a while now. One of them also allows £250 a day on the days between the £1.8 (without 2FA triggering) and the other cards don’t (on these the 2FA triggers then the top-up fails). Bottom-line is our friends in Solihull are still getting spanked for c. £40k a month from me… Given all their nonsense recently I will just keep it coming – they deserve a good spanking!
    - Harrier25 says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 17:48
      
      A good spanking.Oooh, matron!
- SteveJ says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 16:04
  
  Also there is the question of whether you :
  
  1) put your account into credit as they seem reluctant to section 12 and early close those accounts (as probably hassle for them to return funds?)
  
  OR
  
  2) put a decent balance on the card in the hope they will wipe it out as they section 12 close you down
  
  Decisions decisions.
  - Ming the Merciless says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 16:11
    
    I had a 8k credit for a while, then hit it hard and carried a £1400 balance. As soon as the card went negative they put a S12 closure on me.
    - SteveJ says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 16:21
      
      And wrote off your 1400 balance if I recall Ming? If so that’s a great return!
His Holyness says:

2 Nov2 November 14:44

Despite 4829 if I pay off a Revolut top-up to Barclaycard right away will I be charged a fee?
- Anna says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 14:55
  
  I’ve never been charged for this, where do you see the code?
  - Katie says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 14:58
    
    I think it comes up in the pdf under interests and charges
    - Anna says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 15:52
      
      Yes, and shows as £0.00 consistently.
    - Anna says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 15:55
      
      Thanks, never thought to look there!
  - His Holyness says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 15:05
    
    Are you paying off right away, or with your statement?
    - Anna says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 15:54
      
      I pay off the balance 2/3 times per month so I don’t go over my credit limit so it might be that that element gets cleared first, but it might be a few days between the transaction and me paying BC.
      - His Holyness says:
        
        2 Nov2 November 15:57
        
        I remember year or so ago when Rev switched from 6012 to 4829 and I started to get charged. I didn’t touch it since then. Interesting you don’t pay off right away and you have no fees.
      - Anna says:
        
        2 Nov2 November 17:03
        
        It’s totally the water fowl with the shiny elliptical deposits, that card 🤣
      - His Holyness says:
        
        2 Nov2 November 17:13
        
        HH BC?
      - Anna says:
        
        2 Nov2 November 18:43
        
        Indeed.
Yuff says:

2 Nov2 November 15:19

If I need to trigger a spend bonus what is the best way, these days, in order to access a refund?
Seeing as several companies like to keep hold of the cash as long as possible?
- Rui N. says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 15:21
  
  People in here have mentioned hotels.com (but I haven’t tried lately). Maybe try with a cheap hotel first?
Paul says:

2 Nov2 November 15:30

An another annoying question re. Creation! For those of you in the “0 points transferred” situation, and with mixed answers only so far, what is your tactic going forward for the remaining period? I’m wondering if it’s dead spend putting anything else on it, as much as I’d like to. For all the intentions to raise issue with them, myself included, if they don’t provide us with X, Y & Z come December – I’m unsure if legally they have to give us anything?
- stevenhp1987 says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 15:42
  
  If my card wasn’t stopped early, I would spend as much as possible on it. Cannot claim for points you didn’t earn! If you pay it off with another points earning card you don’t miss anything than if you swapped to said card now.
  
  Terms & Conditions make it clear the points can only be withheld if we default or are in arrears. They are in breach of contract by not issuing the points.
- Andy says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 15:44
  
  I’m doing what I’ve done since I got the letter. Putting legitimate spend through the card (no MS). I hope I’ll get the points back but if I don’t they’ll form part of my claim…
  - Anna says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 15:58
    
    I would be really, really interested to hear their justification for denying your points, Andy! This makes me think that maybe it is a glitch because surely they’re not going to go through every single transaction all of us ever made then just award points for non-MS spend?
- Joints&Piles says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 15:47
  
  I’m assuming no points will come, but since Creation allows paying the balance with another CC there is something to gain.
- Joints&Piles says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 15:56
  
  By the way, if you’ve had the closure notice but had already earned the free night, the spend tracker now shows a negative number, eg “Spend -£xxx to earn the free night” instead of “you have earned the free night”.
  
  This most likely indicates that they have altered the database records for those accounts, changing the “free night earned” flag from true to false.
  
  (Any coders will understand why that results in the negative spend tracker.)
  
  We know some people have been told by Creation that the free night won’t be honoured but maybe some people were hoping it might come through anyway.
  
  The negative spend tracker shows that creation have already changed the data to delete the earned free nights.
  
  (I think Creation suddenly realised what Curve was doing, think Curve is something dodgy only used by people who are up to no good, decided to smack those people and have angrily gone about cutting off free nights and points earning. In a hasty fashion they’ve run database scripts and the effect is permanent. No free nights, no points. But what do I know, I’m just an internet rando.)
  - Anna says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 16:04
    
    My OH earned his free night in July but his account is just showing the completed tracker with no figures apart from £0 and £10k at the start and end of the orange bar.
    - Joints&Piles says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 16:09
      
      Knowing Creation’s IT, they probably messed up the DB script. Somewhere, an account holder who never used curve is wondering where their free night is… Make good use of your OH’s winnings!
  - elguiri says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 16:18
    
    As soon as I went over the 10k spend (months ago) I got a negative value showing, so am thinking it might just be a poorly written update to some code…
  - Lady London says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 17:23
    
    If you’re right then everyone should screenshot their Creative account now, as they go along, and keep all records.
    
    I am really surprised any financial provider would think they can act like this . Whatever the mistake they have made they still need to fulfil the conditions (including providing benefits) of their contract with each cardholder and if they don’t they will be made to.
    - Anna says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 18:45
      
      Already on it, LL!
  - Dilbert says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 18:55
    
    I’ve had no closure letter, and I began to think I’d slipped the net. Yet I’ve noticed no points transferred and negative spend tracker this week, so not sure what’s going on. Card fee and free night voucher both due on the 22nd Nov… mightl be an interesting month.
- Phil W says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 17:59
  
  A friend who previosuly worked for me while we were working for a retail bank, now works for the FCA and is part of the teams that provide oversight for financial services firms. Creation isn’t one of his, so I had a chat to him about what is going on. He was fairly clear that the FCA will take a fairly dim view of their actions, irrespective of whether some of the customer cohort have been indulging in manufactured spend. He actively encouraged the use of FOS. I’m hoping he’ll give his colleague who provides oversight for Creation a nudge but as a lender, there will be fairly light touch oversight.
  - Aston100 says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 18:05
    
    Ohhh that is interesting Phil.
    - Pete1968 says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 19:02
      
      Creation are in for a beating.
      
      I held back from the case vs BA re: GDPR failings, maybe I was too soft – but happy enough with my decision.
      
      Creation, though, deserve a beating.
    - Phil W says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 19:08
      
      I would like to think so, however if you aren’t a deposit taking organisation the FCA’s oversight and interest can be somewhat… lacking.
      - Degsy says:
        
        2 Nov2 November 22:54
        
        You make a very good point Phil W. The FCA has nowhere near the same level of interest in companies who just lend as it does in deposit-taking companies.
  - SteveJ says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 19:26
    
    JDB begs to differ. Interesting that two such people in the know would have such disparate views.
    - Phil W says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 22:55
      
      That’s actually not surprising when you know how effed up UK banking regulation is.
Joints&Piles says:

2 Nov2 November 16:20

I see Curve are offering £15 to attract new users. They’re running out of ideas.
- SteveJ says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 16:34
  
  Jokers
- Rui N. says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 16:38
  
  How is that “running out of ideas”? When Amex offers ref and sign up bonus, are they “running out of ideas” as well?
  - Katie says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 16:57
    
    Churning through that seedfunding
    - Rui N. says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 17:15
      
      They are screwed now on the metric of “spending per user”. I’m sure it has declined significantly without unlimited Ernie. It will be fun to see if they try to justify that decline in another funding round.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 17:01
    
    they’ve always offered a cash sign up bonus.
    
    looks like you’re just finding ways to throw stones…
    - Rui N. says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 19:46
      
      Indeed. Financial institutions giving out money to new customers is so unheard of, that we have to go as far as the next page to find a discussion about another company doing exactly that. 🤣
  - Rui N. says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 17:13
    
    Features are quite a different thing on this conversation… but they’ve introduced offers and flex in the last couple of months as well. Which is more than Amex introduced (just different offers and variations thereof). But no one seems to be saying here that Amex is running out of ideas – likely because we all can still milk Amex, and I guess most people here cannot milk Curve any longer (happy to hear how to do it, if you anyone knows how to!)
    - Joints&Piles says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 17:16
      
      Um, I started this conversation. I know what I meant even if you don’t! Blimey.
    - Char Char says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 18:20
      
      I didn’t think Curve support worked this late, can you respond to my email from 6 weeks ago?
  - HH says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 17:26
    
    The key difference is Amex run a profitable, sustainable business model once they have got new customers in through the door with an incentive. Curve do not and, it seems, cannot.
    - mark2 says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 18:06
      
      except my cards!
    - Char Char says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 18:22
      
      1 of them is a credit card issuer the other is a er…..
    - Track says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 21:43
      
      That proverbial “profitable business model” is profitable at your expense, particularly if you pay FX fees. If you don’t know who the patsy is and praise a sustainable business model of your bank…
      
      Of course AMEX earns a lion share from merchant fees, and UK shopkeepers like to complain about those extra two weeks or so it takes for AMEX to release funds. But where is a will and desire to grow — it is not acceptable for a London-based merchant to pinch pennies and not accept AMEX because of that. They do lose custom.
      
      And by the way, and over the years AMEX had to spend significant money on customer acquisition and plenty of campaigns were run based on bonus to managers to gain new subscriptions.
  - Harrier25 says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 17:40
    
    How funny, attempting to compare Curve with Amex. 😂
    - Rui N. says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 19:11
      
      Yes, that was exactly that… 🙄
  - Track says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 21:35
    
    Nothing wrong or illegitimate to the system about the Curve debit card proposition.
    
    You can pre-pay / top up a balance on a debit card with a credit card. Typically for FX purchase but not always.
    
    Then present that pre-paid debit card for payment. This is what Curve essentially began with.
- Char Char says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 18:19
  
  That’s not the best big, the funny part is people complaining of never receiving the £15!
  - Char Char says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 18:19
    
    *bit