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

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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.

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Comments (860)

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

  • CB says:
    2 Oct2 October 10:59

    Curve are also putting a £10k annual limit on Curve Fronted transactions for the metal card from the 1st December.

  • SC says:
    2 Oct2 October 11:00

    I called creation customer services this morning and was advised that they are ending the relationship with IHG and all cards are being cancelled, it was t anything I have done with the card. I’ve only used it for purchases and take out some cash via curve occasionally with the £200 they allow.

    • Rob says:
      2 Oct2 October 11:08

      That’s not true.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        2 Oct2 October 11:13

        Perhaps not from 3rd December. Doesn’t mean others won’t receive letters in due time.

        • meta says:
          2 Oct2 October 11:31

          People have reported here that they never used it with Curve or used it for that matter and still got cancellation letter. They’re probably doing it in batches.

          However, I think someone else will take over their portfolio and Creation is actually exiting the UK market.

          • Chrisasaurus says:
            2 Oct2 October 11:34

            When mbna exited the market they sold their book to Lloyds – is creations too small or too niche to have had any saleable value?

      • SteveJ says:
        2 Oct2 October 12:28

        Hi Rob, what makes you so adamant on this? Numerous posts from people with no Curve activity having their cards closed.

        • Jay says:
          2 Oct2 October 13:03

          Look at the history of Creation and their ability to run credit card programmes. In the olden days they ran Wolves, West Bromwich Albion, Sheffield Wednesday, myWorld and other affinity card / store card programmes. All these programmes closed after what could conceivably be the end of the contract term, assuming industry standard of 5 years. The market has changed a lot over the years and only those with deep pockets remain. Based on historic customer base Creation (from their store card days), low customer numbers (by industry standards) and small UK operation, it is highly likely they are either repositioning away from affinity or exiting the UK. Creation in the grand scheme of BNP is tiny. MBNA may have sold their book to Lloyds but by size it is polar opposite to Creation. MBNA were once the largest affinity provider in the UK, Europe and across the US. Creation have a disparate array of cards, with low volume cardholder base and the value will be nominal, even if sold on. It is highly feasible the book is being wind down.

          • BuildBackBetter says:
            2 Oct2 October 13:49

            Market changed due to the interchange fee cap. Look at US – plenty of unknown brands running cards successfully.

        • Rob says:
          2 Oct2 October 15:03

          Because there are plenty of people who have not had their cards closed …

          • Roy says:
            2 Oct2 October 16:51

            But there also seem to be plenty of people who do use Curve who have not (yet) been informed that their card is being closed. I think we need to wait a few days for all the letters to wend their way through the postal system before we will have a clear picture.

  • Anna says:
    2 Oct2 October 11:02

    What’s excluded from qualifying for the Virgin card sign up bonus £3k spend? Would car finance payments count? Ovo energy top up? Gift cards/amazon top up? I’ve also got an Amex sign up bonus to chase so don’t want to divert too much spend away from that.

    • BuildBackBetter says:
      2 Oct2 October 11:07

      In same situation. I guess start with payments that don’t accept Amex and split the rest between the cards.

    • Reney says:
      2 Oct2 October 13:10

      I would be really surprise if giftcards and amazon top ups don’t count!

      • CarpalTravel says:
        2 Oct2 October 20:24

        Just buy the Amazon (or other) gift cards from a supermarket. They definitely will count.

  • Graham Walsh says:
    2 Oct2 October 11:03

    Couldn’t they have written a nicely worded letter. Or did they give the job to someone on unpaid work experience?

    • BuildBackBetter says:
      2 Oct2 October 11:54

      A nice letter would require some effort…

      • Fur Fox Ache says:
        2 Oct2 October 13:20

        Just got mine today. It is rude isn’t it. Understand some of the previous comments now!

    • Sussex bantam says:
      2 Oct2 October 13:57

      Yes to this ! I actually don’t mind them closing my account (swings and roundabouts and all that) but I am quite annoyed that they turned off curve with a text message and closes the account with such a terse letter !

    • johnny_c-l says:
      2 Oct2 October 14:02

      I thought it was a perfectly written letter, concise, clear and to the point on what is happening.

      I’d much rather this than a waffely letter full of marketing speak.

  • jjh4yb says:
    2 Oct2 October 11:05

    I’ve never had a card issued by Creation, but I recently received an email from Curve with the subject line “Suspected breach of our card terms” warning me about my activities with NS&I. I queried this, as I’d been using the Curve card to buy Premium bonds and my use didn’t seem relevant to the detail in the email.

    I got a very strong response from Curve and now they want proof of income, savings, bank statements and credit card statements. Failure to provide all this detail will result in my Curve account being closed. OK, perhaps I should have just accepted the warning, but I was trying to do the right thing.

    I have found that over the few years I have held a Curve card, the main uses have gradually been blocked. As a result I am thinking just to let my Curve account close.

    • simonbr says:
      2 Oct2 October 11:29

      Exactly the same happened to me. Does anyone know if Curve will do a pro-rata refund on the annual metal card fee, if they close the account?

      • Blenz101 says:
        2 Oct2 October 12:15

        Nothing in their terms to suggest they will. If you comply with the request and haven’t breached their terms you have nothing to worry about.

    • John says:
      2 Oct2 October 11:38

      If you had read one day out of the last 10 days’ chat threads you would have known to do nothing.

    • BuildBackBetter says:
      2 Oct2 October 21:42

      First rule of fight club is…

  • Craig says:
    2 Oct2 October 12:00

    No letter yesterday or today for myself or player 2, both have black IHG cards. Dare we believe?

  • Roger S says:
    2 Oct2 October 12:02

    I’m abroad at the moment but expect I’m one of those that will receive the letter cancelling my Marriott card that previously I had directed all expenditure (except direct on Marriott ) to via Curve (no MS).
    Does anyone know what Chase are planning in the UK? They have excellent sign up bonuses for both Bonvoy and Avios in the USA!!

  • John says:
    2 Oct2 October 12:09

    No letter today either, post has been reliable, been receiving ebay purchases (via RM) next day

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