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A quick update on this subject, which has been discussed at length on HfP this week.

Whilst Curve announced last weekend that they were changing the coding on transactions, which would make ATM withdrawals visible to your card issuer, it turns out that they did not actually go through with this change until Thursday.  We were told it was happening last Monday.

If you made a cash withdrawal during Monday to Thursday and it was treated as a purchase – which it will have been – this does not necessarily mean that your card issuer will not pass on these new charges.  You need to have a transaction done from Friday onwards before you can be sure.

I did test Creation (IHG, Marriott credit cards) and MBNA (Horizon) transactions yesterday so let’s see how these end up.  You might want to wait before doing any further withdrawals.

Curve will pay you £10 for trying it out if you use our link.

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Comments (199)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Alan says:
    23 Sep23 September 13:53

    I find they rarely post, even when card in profile and used to charge items to it – ended up having to complain to Barclaycard and get them added manually.

  • Donnie says:
    24 Sep24 September 09:11

    I withdrew £200 on my curve card at a UK ATM on Thursday and was charged £7.98 cash advance fee by Tesco Bank. So is this the end of the free cash withdrawals with curve?

    • Rob says:
      24 Sep24 September 09:45

      With Tesco Bank, yes. However, I know that Virgin Money is not charging, HSBC is not charging and Creation is not charging.

      • RTS says:
        24 Sep24 September 10:24

        How sure are you that Virgin Money isn’t charging? I thought they normally charge on statement?

        • Rob says:
          24 Sep24 September 10:46

          Just going by what a reader said. Whilst the interest charge will be on the statement, the cash advance fee should be shown immediately as a line item.

        • RTS says:
          24 Sep24 September 10:59

          Hmm I see. Guess I will give it a test later today.

      • JS says:
        24 Sep24 September 11:15

        Hi Rob, thanks for the info! By the way do you know if Barclays treats it as cash advance? Thanks.

      • Andrew L says:
        24 Sep24 September 11:20

        As long as Creation (IHG) and Barclays (Hilton) are not charging a cash advance fee at the cashpoint then it’s happy days for me. ☺

      • WTL says:
        24 Sep24 September 11:34

        If interest is charged at the end of month – does that mean it has to be paid off same day as transaction to avoid this?

        Can we assume, if no cash transaction fees are charged for these cards that any HMRC/Amex bill payments wont be charged either?

      • Michele Sin says:
        24 Sep24 September 12:56

        Do you know if MBNA / Horizon card I is charging? Thanks.

    • pablo says:
      24 Sep24 September 11:48

      Go back in time and move the withdrawal to a debit card.

    • Harry hatter says:
      24 Sep24 September 18:57

      Yes. I got done by Tesco too. Oh well I’ll try Amex payment tonight.

  • tm84 says:
    24 Sep24 September 11:19

    Curve cash withdrawal has shown up as POI FUNDING TRANSACTIONS (EXCLUDING MONEYSEND) on my Horizon MBNA statement. What does that mean?

    • Rob says:
      24 Sep24 September 11:57

      Mine said that. Of course, Horizon doesn’t charge ATM fees anyway 🙂

      You won’t know until month end whether they are charging you interest on the withdrawal and actually treating it as cash.

      • pablo says:
        24 Sep24 September 12:18

        Is the MCC for ATM cash withdrawals determined by Curve or by each individual ATM, i.e. could the code be 6540 POI FUNDING TRANSACTIONS at one cash machine but 6011 AUTOMATIC CASH DISBURSEMENT at another down the road?

  • James Owen says:
    24 Sep24 September 11:34

    Hi Rob,

    How did your test on Friday work out with Creation?

    • Rob says:
      24 Sep24 September 11:56

      Cleared this morning and looks like a purchase – no cash advance fee attached to it.

      • Andrew L says:
        24 Sep24 September 11:58

        Good news. Thanks Rob.

        • PM says:
          24 Sep24 September 12:27

          Creation does charge interest on some of these types of transactions though i.e. transferwise.

          Let us know once you get your statement if you were charged anything in terms of interest.
          Even if that is the case, creation might still be an ok option as you can just repay the next day (keeps interest charge minimal)

          • Rob says:
            24 Sep24 September 14:57

            But if they are charging interest then it isn’t a purchase and so won’t earn points.

        • Patrick says:
          24 Sep24 September 17:58

          Actually. it is quite bizarre.
          They qualify Transferwise transactions as purchase, give points, but charge an interest fee at month end (had one this month by mistake).
          I am not sure that makes any sense with T&C’s though, as the charge was c. £1 (I paid it off almost straight away) I wasn’t planning on investigating further. Would be interest in learning however if you experience something similar with curve withdrawals now. (Hopefully not)

  • ScienceTeacher says:
    24 Sep24 September 20:16

    Just paid a Brighton Based company through Curve linked to my Lloyds Avios for over £3k. Here is hoping it does not go through as a cash transaction!!

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