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.

  • Boi says:
    2 Oct2 October 16:42

    Guilty as charged re:MS. 🤣
    But for me without MS all my U.K. cards are useless .

    No letter yet but I guess it will come? 🤷‍♀️

  • Paul says:
    2 Oct2 October 16:47

    Noticed a few reviews have been left on trust-pilot for the way this issue has been handled have began to appear – its a shame more people can’t add a review as this may help Creation see how badly they have handled the situation.

    • Harrier25 says:
      2 Oct2 October 17:45

      As if they gave a ****!

      • CarpalTravel says:
        2 Oct2 October 20:36

        +1

        No serious business gives a flying wotsit about Trust-pilot and whatever moaning is happening on it. It’s a whingefest site with no verification about the reviews (positive or negative) that appear on it. Furthermore it, ironically, cannot be trusted:

        Years ago I left a detailed and comprehensive review of Carpet Right after they provided utterly abysmal service and left me with bare floors in my house over Christmas. After about a year or so later it had mysteriously been removed….

        • Spurs drive me mad says:
          2 Oct2 October 21:06

          Carpet Right haven’t improved, my daughter in law has had a nightmare with them trying to sort out her Mums order last few weeks.

        • jimc says:
          2 Oct2 October 21:57

          Nonsense. Serious businesses certainly do give a flying whatsit about review sites, in recent surveys 91-93% of online buyers said that review scores & online review sites impacted their purchasing decisions.

          • CarpalTravel says:
            2 Oct2 October 22:36

            Go and re-read what I wrote, I didn’t say all review sites. 🙄

            Feefo for example is taken far more seriously, which is why businesses use it and CST’s regularly respond to any negative feedback.

        • J says:
          2 Oct2 October 22:47

          @CarpalTravel – Absolutely right. eBay have 1.3/5, Amazon 2/5. Trustpilot is a joke that isn’t worth giving any time or thought to.

        • Char Char says:
          2 Oct2 October 23:42

          Trust pilot do verify things and feedback for businesses is usually taken seriously unless you are course the only player ie amazon or eBay

          • Lady London says:
            3 Oct3 October 16:52

            Trustpilot have deals purchaseable by merchants that effectively let the merchants delete negative reviews apparently.

            I have not found Trustpilot to be reliable

      • Char Char says:
        2 Oct2 October 23:43

        True but nothing to lose

  • Steve says:
    2 Oct2 October 17:23

    Got my letter today for the free IHG card. I do use Curve but only for genuine retail transactions to point earning credit cards, and occasionally for cash withdrawals abroad but only against an underlying current account debit card – never credit card cash advance.

    Genuine question: if a customer only ever uses Curve for genuine retail transactions – no recycling, HMRC or NS&I whatsoever – why would the credit card issuer care? They’ll still earn a share of merchant fees and any annual fees for premium cards. I never hold a balance to pay interest so regardless of using via Curve or by direct card use they ain’t never making money on interest or fees from me. Will credit card issuers close all cards if the customer never pays interest, cash advance or FX fees?

    • Sean says:
      2 Oct2 October 17:26

      Basic economics of card don’t work if they have to give out points and don’t even earn the full fees (which are probably breakeven at best if getting the full fee).

      • NFH says:
        2 Oct2 October 17:56

        That’s why cards that attract full balance payers often have annual fees to cover the costs of operating the card account. Amex cards are a case in point.

    • Memesweeper says:
      2 Oct2 October 20:10

      They may care simply as they now know you are a Curve user, and represent an unmanageable risk (given their IT and their T&Cs, neither of which can be fixed as fast as just closing your account).

      Risk averse business practice now meets regulatory requirement for fair treatment of customers… be interested to see how well Creation fair when the latter takes an interest.

      • Memesweeper says:
        2 Oct2 October 20:12

        Actually, scratch that, they’ve blocked Curve, you are no risk at all. So I have no idea why they’ve lashed out at you like this — IMO you should consider complaining, and if you judge the answer they provide to your complaint unreasonable or unfair, escalate to the regulator.

      • JDB says:
        2 Oct2 October 21:45

        The regulator has of course been fully involved in this!

        • David says:
          2 Oct2 October 23:27

          Absolutely, the lack of insight from commentators here is quite astounding.

          • Patrick Cold says:
            3 Oct3 October 09:25

            Is it though? In the days of social media, little astounds.

        • Genghis says:
          3 Oct3 October 11:28

          I doubt it. IME financial services co’s don’t voluntarily involve regulators when they don’t have to.

          • Phil W says:
            3 Oct3 October 12:03

            Completely agree with Genghis. I would be very surprised if Creation have raised this with the regulator. Insufficient account volumes and would invite further scrutiny.

  • Drolma-la says:
    2 Oct2 October 17:55

    Dissatisfied with IHG in general and their handling of customer service in the face of the pandemic, we seriously considered cancelling the IHG card when it came up for renewal in July. On balance, though, we felt that the £99 annual fee was worth it for the unrestricted free night voucher. When I learned of Creation’s policy towards the use of Curve, I would have cancelled it if I thought I could recover that £99 annual. I now feel that if our IHG card is cancelled by Creation, they MUST refund our annual fee pro-rata. Without any factual basis at all, I imagine that this is a convenient way for Creation to get rid of the legacy holders of this card.

  • NickS says:
    2 Oct2 October 18:08

    I’ve only ever used the Creation IHG premium card via Curve to get Spire Elite status and it has provided that for a few years (though never felt I was ever treated as special by IHG) plus accumulated gazillions of IHG points over the past few years. Never done any of the slightly dubious type TX. Guess I’ll just drop down to Platinum on the IHG scale due to having interConti Ambassador. Anyway as everyone points out the IHG rewards scheme is pretty useless. Hilton much better so I’ll just move over to spending more with Hilton! Glad I used up my three free IHG credit card nights the other week! Will no doubt work through my IHG points in due course. Have to say that it was an incredibly abrupt letter after an even more abrupt text advising Curve no longer supported and cannot see why they shouldn’t refund the £99 sub pro rata and certainly won’t ever go near anything else operated by Creation or BNP. Irritating but as they say onwards and upwards….

  • Chris says:
    2 Oct2 October 19:32

    Some of the dramatic despondency on this subject is unbelievable. The golden goose is dying. Enjoy the spoils of your plundering and look for the next one.
    That’s how I’m taking it – 0.5m IHG points to the good. Ok haven’t yet received the dreaded letter, but it’s hardly a surprise.

  • Nick Burch says:
    2 Oct2 October 20:24

    Anyone fancy risking putting a large refundable purchase on their Creation Card in mid November, banking the points, waiting for the axe to fall on the 3rd of December, refunding it back to the cancelled card in mid December, then asking Creation for a cheque for the refund?

    Worked pretty well when the MBNA BMI card stopped paying points….

  • Matthew says:
    2 Oct2 October 20:34

    Thought I had escaped the cull but just found the letter at the bottom of the letterbox! Not that bothered to be honest as never did any MS or Ernie with it. Time to get a new visa/mastercard points earning card…

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!