What are the best credit card sign-up deals for January 2019?

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• Thywillbedone says:

  10 Jan10 January 07:17

  Re IHG, I had heard that Creation (who operate it) were a mess but I wasn’t prepared for just how bad they are. I applied for the premium card on 30 Nov and despite several long follow-up calls, it took until yesterday for them to tell me that somehow my application fell during a period where they were changing the rules and thus my application had not been considered at all (despite telling me in late December that a decision had been physically posted out to me). It is now in the hands of the Head of Underwriting (I am told) to remove the application from my credit file and over to me to submit a new application. They wouldn’t tell me what criteria had changed. They aren’t ever able to give you a decision over the phone and are never able to contact other departments to discuss an ongoing application. Complete mess.

  I have asked them to log a complaint – anyone know what my chances of getting compensation are even though I am not an on-boarded customer (treating customers fairly etc)? (note: I spent a cumulative 2.5-3 hours pursuing the application which has failed due to their fault entirely)

  • Nigel the pensioner says:

    10 Jan10 January 07:42

    Zero! Creation are a shambles as I have previously reported. I gave up my Flybe card when the replacement card came through after the first expired and the lad on the phone who was activating it asked for my complete password!!! So clearly it was on his screen along with my 16 digit card number!
    I think you would need to be pretty desperate for points to get anything run by creation. They certainly seem to create havoc.

    • Thywillbedone says:

      10 Jan10 January 07:52

      Interesting, thanks Nigel. The only reason I went for this card is I plan to stay in some IHG properties at the Rugby World Cup later this year as all hotels have very expensive cash rates…so I bought some IHG points in the recent sale and wanted some extra through the card. Seems like I might be wasting my time!

    • Mark2 says:

      10 Jan10 January 07:56

      We are extremely happy with Creation and have had excellent service from them.
      We am looking forward to getting a Marriott card each when available.

      • Scallder says:

        10 Jan10 January 14:49

        +1

    • RussellH says:

      10 Jan10 January 09:53

      Clearly you have been poorly treated, but any business can make the occasional severe cock-up.
      I have kept the Marriott Card since it first came out. It has to be one of the best free cards around.
      The only problem I have ever had with it was entirely down to me not having read the Ts+Cs carefully enough (they use the weird Amex scheme of calculating points per transaction, rather than on the monthly billed amount as everyone used to do at the time).
      I also have an IHG white card.
      When I have phoned them I am clearly dealing with someone in the UK.
      Their on-line log-in procedure is clearly far more secure than Amex.
      In my experience, for really poor CS, try Barclaycard. This used to be compensated for by regular goodwill payments into the a/c, but no longer.

  • Roger* says:

    10 Jan10 January 08:24

    I must be doing something wrong.

    I have no issues with my three Creation cards (two in regular use).

    • Matt says:

      10 Jan10 January 09:41

      I’ve only had to call them twice after having the card for two years. No issues from my perspective.

      • Alan says:

        10 Jan10 January 10:18

        Ditto – charged interest on a couple of transactions for no clear reason. Although their back end data wasn’t as clear as I would have expected they refunded the fees no problem. Points post to IHG pretty reliably every month by the time statement is generated, albeit with the odd slight blip of a few days. Happy with the earnings rate and voucher. Website not the prettiest but fast to login to and shows pending transactions clearly and immediately.

  • guesswho2000 says:

    10 Jan10 January 08:28

    I second Nigel’s comments on the whole, Creation are a right shower, their customer service is awful and their management of the cards is terrible.

    The opening of the Black IHG card was a proper PITA though, it was approved, sent out and used, then immediately blocked for further transactions, at which time they decided I needed to prove my ID and address (this is despite being an existing cardholder of many years). Fine, all good, though I had to keep calling daily to eventually get the card reinstated, if I hadn’t called I suspect it would never have happened off their own back.

    Then there was the IHG Platinum status and posting of points. Naturally that didn’t work properly, and I spend ages on the phone trying to sort it, only for their CS to point blank refuse to believe their card offered any such benefit. No idea how they sorted it, but after around three months it did magically rectify itself. At one point they even changed my IHG rewards club number (which you can see in your online account, and which had originally been correct) to something completely random, which took weeks to fix too.

    However, I keep the IHG cards, because they are good products, if you can get them to work as intended, and despite Creation’s best efforts. Creation cards do have their place in this hobby.

• TripRep says:

  10 Jan10 January 07:22

  Time for a wee update?

  “Virgin Atlantic Reward and Reward+ Mastercard

  The two new Virgin Flying Club credit cards are the most generous Mastercard or Visa cards for day to day spending. The free Reward card (with a 5,000 miles sign-up bonus) earns 0.75 miles per £1 whilst the annual fee Reward+ card (with a 15,000 mile sign-up bonus until Friday 14th December) earns 1.5 miles per £1.”

  I’m guessing the decent 30k+ bonus will also come back at some point. Be interested to hear if it’s being offered in VS Clubhouses.

  • Rob says:

    10 Jan10 January 08:29

    Fixed thanks.

• Nigel the pensioner says:

  10 Jan10 January 07:37

  The curve metal card is going to be the big winner if it lives up to its promises – buying BA ex EU tickets on it and charging to BAPP card without Fx fees and at the MC exchange rate……But…..it depends what its monthly charge is. There is no point in paying a significant monthly charge as it will likely exceed the Fx charge anually using BAPP directly! I expect unfortunately this probably turn out to be the case 😐.
  Have you any advance news on monthly fees Rob as you can’t evaluate it without knowing its ongoing charges?

  • Genghis says:

    10 Jan10 January 07:44

    Despite Curve’s earlier MCC changes, under the current Amex top up model none of the specific earning benefits would be passed through (eg 3 avios/£ on BA on BAPP, 6 MRs / £ at Marriott on SPG, till YE) so might need to be factored in.

    • MDA says:

      10 Jan10 January 07:49

      Good point. Earning double MR points with airlines directly on Amex gold preferred may be better than using Curve and earning half the number of points with no real added benefit (most airlines already accept Amex)

    • Alan says:

      10 Jan10 January 10:21

      It’s pretty definite, Nigel – it works by topping up a ‘pot’ in Curve from your Amex, whatever you then spend comes from the pot, Amex don’t see what the spend is on. Even if it went through directly as a transaction (as per other Curve purchases) you wouldn’t receive increased points as it has gone through Curve so the charge comes from them (just like using any other intermediary such as PayPal).

    • Alan says:

      10 Jan10 January 10:25

      Although even if they moved to non-pot model it’d still be ineligible for underlying benefits as not charged direct to Amex but via Curve.

      • Alan says:

        10 Jan10 January 10:59

        I thought that was only for cards that offer spending category bonuses – e.g. supermarket, etc. Seems to be more common outwith the UK. Can’t see it activating retailer-specific ones such as BA, SPG/Marriott, IHG, Amex Offers, etc?

      • Alex W says:

        10 Jan10 January 17:13

        Since Curve changed the MCC pass-through I’ve definitely been earning double IHG points on IHG stays paid with IHG creation card via Curve.
        It will be a shame if these category bonuses are not possible on Amexes due to the top-up system. I was hoping to double-dip with 3% Curve rewards and double points from SPG card for Marriott bookings.

        • Alan says:

          10 Jan10 January 19:17

          Wow interesting – didn’t expect them to do that. Wonder if it’s a combo of MCC and looking for some key words in the text that come across? I thought they’d only do it if they had a precise retailer match – unless of course the MCC provides that but I thought it was only the category (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_18245). Wonder if something more than MCC is being passed across?

    • Simon says:

      10 Jan10 January 10:59

      Surely the best approach is to pay with the AMEX card and pay off with another card via Curve? Or does the new model mean this won’t work?

      • Simon says:

        10 Jan10 January 11:00

        Couldn’t you fund the AMEX via another card through Curve and then the AMEX spend would be legitimate?

      • Bazza says:

        10 Jan10 January 13:05

        No, this is about using Amex where Amex is not acceptable. This is the big benifit or curve….

      • Crafty says:

        10 Jan10 January 14:30

        This is not the real big benefit of Curve.

      • Mr Dee says:

        10 Jan10 January 21:13

        No that will get you blocked and waste of time

  • MDA says:

    10 Jan10 January 07:47

    Speculating the curve card will cost between 9.99-14.99 per month with mobile phone insurance etc as extra benefits

    and that it only makes sense if you’re going to spend 20k (no less) on the card for the year. That is 20k spend without section 75 protection and if Curve go bust with you’re money topped up then you will lose it unless they’re registered by the FSCS.

    • Genghis says:

      10 Jan10 January 07:51

      There’ll still be a segregated client money account under CASS

      • Mr(s) Entitled says:

        10 Jan10 January 09:30

        Genuine question, are you sure?

        WDCS is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to conduct electronic money service activities under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011. Glancing over Cass it’s not apparent if this fall under it’s remit or not.

        I’d also go slightly further to highlight that what should be done, and what is done, can be two different things. Not to cast that aspersion at Curve but the FCA have said themselves that with limited resources their focus is on firms with greater than £100bn in assets of £1bn in client funds.

        I think MDA’s assertion that there is credit risk is valid. It might be mitigated, but it is there.

  • Ben says:

    10 Jan10 January 07:47

    Have Curve indicated any timeline for the launch of new products and/or full Amex capability do you know?

    • MDA says:

      10 Jan10 January 07:50

      Poor comms from Curve tbh and they let alot of customers down last year. Unless anyone knows of a confirmee timeline for a public release

    • Alan says:

      10 Jan10 January 10:26

      Still not confirmed. I’d say they need to do more work on the beta first though.

      • Stuart says:

        10 Jan10 January 13:53

        My guess is February, but like everything with Curve – nothing is certain until you physically see it.

      • Dan says:

        10 Jan10 January 14:35

        Still tons of bugs in the beta version that need ironing out. I’d say Summer 2019 feels about right!

        Agree on the comms though. Even though I’m part of the Amex closed Beta – curve definitely implied that Amex functionality was coming back for all customers in December 2018….

• Liz says:

  10 Jan10 January 08:04

  I took out the free Virgin card just before the mid Dec deadline so waiting for my first statement to hit – I remember lots of chat about the sign up bonuses and 1st 3 months spend bonuses but didn’t take notice of when these will post to the Virgin accounts – can someone please remind me when the bonuses will likely hit my Virgin account. I have the offer of 5000k for first transaction and 3x 2000 for £500 in first 3 months.

  • Neil says:

    10 Jan10 January 08:42

    Morning Liz – You you will receive the signup bonus of 5,000 in your first statement. Provided you spend £500 for the first 3 months, these points will then be manually added at the end of month 4. You may have to call them to chase it up from my experience.

    • Liz says:

      10 Jan10 January 08:52

      Ok great thanks Neil – I’ll make a note. Champing at the bit for my first statement to trigger so I can put the next £500 on for month 2 – holding some spend back – getting impatient!

      • Neil says:

        10 Jan10 January 09:50

        I know the feeling. I currently hold the paid version and free version of the card. My 2nd month is due to roll over in 3 days and the spending begins all over again!

      • Liz says:

        10 Jan10 January 10:51

        Not sure when the first statement date will be – I am past the date of when I took the card out ie 9th, I did the first spend on the 14th – so far no statement generated. Patience, patience …..

• Simon says:

  10 Jan10 January 08:16

  Rob, what are the other 2 cards you keep in your wallet?

  • Rob says:

    10 Jan10 January 08:27

    At the moment, my SPG Amex and the card for my club ….

    • LB says:

      10 Jan10 January 08:43

      Stringfellows ;).

      • RTS says:

        10 Jan10 January 10:00

        Are they even still around?! Thought they went bust?

        Griffin – can stick all the loose change in the pint pot instead of starbucks! ha!

      • Genghis says:

        10 Jan10 January 10:04

        🙂 You’d expect them to have moved onto contactless payment by now.

    • MDA says:

      10 Jan10 January 20:49

      Out of curiosity why the SPG card? – I am not using mine enough so I am looking for inspiration.. but then again I haven’t stayed in any SPG/Marriott hotels yet…currently using Hilton as my to go chain

      • Rob says:

        10 Jan10 January 20:58

        1.5p of hotel value per £1, option to convert to obscure airlines if needed, 241 triggered for the year and don’t need any more Avios or Virgin miles at present.

  • Brian P says:

    10 Jan10 January 14:40

    Just to be clear, I’m expecting numerous key fob style barcodes? Mywaitrose / Nectar / Clubcard etc…?

    And for full disclosure are you using Google Pay / Apple Pay?

    God -this sounds like stalking!! But we all want to know 🙂

    • Rob says:

      10 Jan10 January 15:34

      Clubcard is on my phone. Never use my Nectar card. The nanny has the MyWaitrose card so I never see it. Only used Apple Pay once!

• Matt says:

  10 Jan10 January 08:27

  It’s a little optimistic to say Curve metal is coming in 2019 given that we’re still waiting for the Amex support that started in November 2018 according to the announcements

  • Nate1309 says:

    10 Jan10 January 08:40

    Amex support is on beta testing. It needs more testing IMO I am on the beta and managed to stop all transactions from processing and haven’t been able to use my card since early december. It is hopefully sorted today. We will see.

• jc says:

  10 Jan10 January 08:50

  Re Virgin Atlantic “You need to spend £1,000 to get the full bonus on the free card and £1,500 to get the full bonus on the paid card.”

  Is that true? The website says the bonus is triggered on first purchase.

  • Rob says:

    10 Jan10 January 09:01

    My fault, that is a hangover from the December bonus. I will fix.

• Aliks says:

  10 Jan10 January 09:15

  Re the HSBC World Elite card – is this churnable?

  I had the card for a year then cancelled in Nov 2017 – can I get the bonuses again?

  • Genghis says:

    10 Jan10 January 09:28

    Yes and yes
    1. To be eligible for the Introductory Bonus
    Reward Points described below, the following
    requirements must be met:
    a. you must successfully apply for an HSBC
    Premier World Elite MasterCard Credit Card;
    b. you must not have not held an HSBC
    Premier World Elite MasterCard Credit Card
    within the six months prior to you applying; and
    c. You have made eligible purchases of at least
    £2,000 within the first three month period of
    card membership

    1. To be eligible for the First Anniversary
    Bonus Reward Points described below, the
    following requirements must be met:
    a. you must successfully apply for an HSBC
    Premier World Elite MasterCard Credit Card;
    b. you must not have not held an HSBC
    Premier World Elite MasterCard Credit Card
    within the six months prior to you applying; and
    c. You have made eligible purchases of at least
    £12,000 within the first 12-month period of
    card membership;

    • James M says:

      10 Jan10 January 11:43

      So theoretically you wouldn’t need to churn it, for year 1 signup and get the initial bonus, keep for year 2 (with the anniversary bonus), just before the beginning of year 3 downgrade it to the non WE premier card and then 6 months after upgrade and get the initial bonus etc.

      • Genghis says:

        10 Jan10 January 17:46

        Does “upgrading” and “downgrading” exist for these cards though? It looks like they’re discrete products (à la Creation IHG and VM’s Virgin cards).

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