Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

More on Curve Card and cash withdrawals and earning points

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

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.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Category

General

Comments (201)

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!!

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? EARN POINTS WORTH 10,500 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!