Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Creation cancelling credit cards which have been used with a Curve Card

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

Creation Financial Services, issuers of the IHG Rewards and (closed to new customers) Marriott Visa credit cards, made a very aggressive move on Friday in its dispute with Curve Card.

It appears that the majority of credit cards which had been used with a Curve Card are being closed.

One call centre agent said that 1,800 cardholders were impacted. We cannot confirm this number.

Creation closing IHG and Marriott credit cards used by Curve Card holders

The closure letter states that cards are being closed on 3rd December.

Based on reader discussions with the call centre, but not confirmed in writing by Creation:

  • annual free night vouchers on the IHG Rewards Premium credit card will still be desposited if the cardholder spends £10,000 before their card is closed
  • there will NOT be a pro-rata refund of the £99 annual fee on the IHG Rewards Premium credit card – although you would be free to dispute this with the Ombudsman

If you cannot trigger your free night voucher by 3rd December but would otherwise, you arguably have a case for a full refund of your IHG Rewards Premium £99 fee for the current year.

Why is Creation banning Curve Card holders?

It isn’t entirely clear what is driving this, although I was told by an independent industry consultant that it was being pushed by National Savings.

Curve Card, for those who don’t have one, is a debit card which allows you to recharge transactions to a linked credit card. You can learn more about Curve Card in this article.

This meant – most specifically – you could deposit money into National Savings and have it charged to a miles or points earning credit card as a purchase. Most Curve Card holders had a £9,000 daily limit albeit capped at £1.8 million per year.

Whilst Curve Card had always had blocks in place for payments to banks, there were certain grey areas such as National Savings, HMRC and various investment firms such as Hargreaves Lansdown.

Creation had initially sent out text message to cardholders a few weeks ago saying that its cards could no longer be used with Curve Card. I was told at that time that mass account closures would follow, and here we are.

One problem is that the ban is catching many people who used Curve Card purely for Apple Pay functionality. It was the only way to add your Creation card to Apple Pay.

For clarity …. the free IHG Rewards credit card is still open to new applicants. Creation is not pulling out of the UK and is only closing these 1,800 (TBC) accounts.

Time to pick up 30,000 Virgin Points?

If you are now looking for a new Visa or Mastercard, don’t forget the excellent 30,000 Virgin Points bonus currently offered on the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ credit card which has a few days left to run. Our article is here and you can apply here.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

earns points from credit cards

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – May 2025 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 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

Get 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card

30,000 Avios and the famous annual Companion Voucher voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 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:

The American Express Business Platinum Card

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

The American Express Business Gold Card

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

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card

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

Category

IHG One Rewards

Comments (860)

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

  • Anna says:
    1 Oct1 October 13:10

    So I guess we can stop hoping that Amex is going to get back with Curve …

    • KBuffett says:
      1 Oct1 October 13:15

      Oh, but, Curve we going to sue AmEx for breaching the contract. But, wait, nothing happened. Curve just keep coming out with ballocks

      This is far worse for Curve’s reputation than Creations. Potentially, other underlying cards might follow……

      • Anna says:
        1 Oct1 October 13:17

        I can see it being the end for Curve. Nobody is going to want to know them if they think they are going to lose their underlying cards.

        • Optimus Prime says:
          1 Oct1 October 13:27

          Light a candle for those who invested £1k via CrowdCube a couple of years ago…

          • CarpalTravel says:
            1 Oct1 October 13:35

            Didn’t curve recently (May?) run another investment round?!

          • Super Secret Stuff says:
            1 Oct1 October 14:19

            Yeah they did, the wise ones avoided it…

          • CarpalTravel says:
            1 Oct1 October 15:28

            @SSS

            I certainly avoided it. I still absolutely fail to see what their business model is. No Amex, no Creation, if Virgin pull the plug then they are utterly DOA.

          • Alex Sm says:
            2 Oct2 October 08:02

            I invested less but lighting a candle anyway

      • BuildBackBetter says:
        1 Oct1 October 13:44

        Worse for Curve? Any publicity is…

  • meta says:
    1 Oct1 October 13:10

    However, they might have calculated that £1.35 million or thereabouts is acceptable loss to them plus whatever FO rules…

  • Jim says:
    1 Oct1 October 13:12

    I’ve had my IHG black card cancelled and have just been successfully approved for a IHG white card. Credit limit was £10,500 on the black and now £3,000 on the white.

  • Uncreate says:
    1 Oct1 October 13:13

    Exactly. If they want to treat us like crap, then they should expect the same in return.

  • Gareth says:
    1 Oct1 October 13:13

    So my fee due 21st November- surely they can’t not refund a fee in exchange to have the card for the following 12days!!

    • Anna says:
      1 Oct1 October 13:16

      Mine is due at the end of this month – I will definitely be pursuing it it it’s not refunded.

      • Michael Jennings says:
        1 Oct1 October 20:43

        I paid mine about six weeks ago. Again, not thrilled about this.

    • Nick_M says:
      1 Oct1 October 13:19

      Unless you will be able to spend the £10k in that time I probably wouldn’t put any spend through it…

      • EwanG says:
        1 Oct1 October 14:05

        Even if you can put £10k through in 12 days (and I will give it a good shot) they are charging you for another 353 days where you can’t use the service. I will be ensuring there is a pro-rata refund!

  • John says:
    1 Oct1 October 13:14

    I’ve checked my Creation app and everything seems normal for my IHG Card. How are people finding out if their card is being cancelled?

    • FFoxSake says:
      1 Oct1 October 13:16

      You’ll get a letter if affected (maybe).

    • Alan says:
      1 Oct1 October 13:17

      Snail mail letter this time (vs the SMS for Curve being banned last month)

    • Robert Woodward says:
      1 Oct1 October 13:20

      Letter from Creation

    • BlueHorizonUK says:
      1 Oct1 October 13:25

      Also they haven’t closed any accounts yet, closure is in December so your card and app will continue to work.

  • Robert Woodward says:
    1 Oct1 October 13:15

    Are there any other hotel credit cards available ?

  • The Savage Squirrel says:
    1 Oct1 October 13:15

    Smells of a company leaving the market anyway that just don’t care.
    The maximum response with any level of proportion would be to cancel cards of NS&I via Curve users.
    Is their IT too bad to even detect this? Surely not?

    Other than that… was I the only one surprised by the tiny number of accounts involved that had ever linked to Curve? Thought there would be more just off here. Shows just how small Curve’s reach is beyond this site…

    • NC says:
      1 Oct1 October 13:17

      I wonder how many Creation CCs there in general. There can’t be that many?

    • Jonathan says:
      1 Oct1 October 13:40

      The 1,800 is BS. As is the Curve link mentioned as there are reports here from people who have never used it with Curve. They’re well known to be on the exit route from U.K. credit card market so this is probably step 1 of that. I’d imagine the only people who will survive in medium term are those running a balance & therefore making Creation some profit.

    • Bagoly says:
      1 Oct1 October 13:51

      I too was thinking that the if there really are only 1,800 Creation cards linked to Curve then HFP readers must be nearly all of them.
      1,800 doing MS would sound more likely.

      Other than cancelling cards with suspicious activity, could they not have just blocked Curve, or are there anti-discrimination rules which prevent that?

    • JDB says:
      1 Oct1 October 14:49

      Actually, if anything, it looks more like cleaning house before a sale or transfer, or just sensible housekeeping.

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.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

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

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

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? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

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!