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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.

  • Andy says:
    4 Oct4 October 11:24

    Letters have all come through for me this morning closing my premium (have done MS) and my white one (haven’t done MS). Also closing my wife’s cards (No MS).

    I have spent £10k since renewal but as my card year ends in July I guess i’ll never see that free night voucher. My wife has earned the voucher which should post this month along with a new card fee. Although not sure if they’ll charge the new fee if they are cancelling it a month later?!

  • Richard HURLEY says:
    4 Oct4 October 14:44

    Would be interested to know how many people are going to take the hit and apply for the standard IHG card.

    • SteveJ says:
      4 Oct4 October 16:05

      No one can right now. The application page is conveniently down for “maintenance” and I doubt it’ll ever return.

    • David says:
      5 Oct5 October 12:08

      I’ve seen this asked a number of times. Do people really think Creation is going to allow this?!

  • Niel Thakrar says:
    4 Oct4 October 19:41

    I think if they are closing the white one as well no one will be able to apply for the card. I think the maintance BS is just until they remove the card. Creation are only offering the IHG card. I get the feeling they are pulling out of the UK market. Hopefully IHG partner with Barclaycard (again) or maybe chase UK.

    • Richard HURLEY says:
      5 Oct5 October 07:00

      I think you are right. Far too convenient for maintenance being done at this stage. As you say we can only hope IHG will partner with another provider.

  • Richard HURLEY says:
    5 Oct5 October 07:01

    I think you are right. Far too convenient for maintenance being done at this stage. As you say we can only hope IHG will partner with another provider.

  • BillersJ says:
    5 Oct5 October 11:53

    So I received my cancellation letter yesterday. Can I ask, has anyone got a creation card that hasn’t been cancelled?

    • Paul says:
      5 Oct5 October 14:09

      I have 4 creation cards and they’ve cancelled 3 of them which I find odd, so I can for now still use my Marriott one

    • RobH says:
      5 Oct5 October 15:07

      Got 3 IHG in the household, none cancelled as yet. Letters of death probably on my doormat at home as we speak.

  • John says:
    5 Oct5 October 14:45

    I just called Creation and after a lengthy period on hold i managed to speak to someone.
    They could not confirm when/how or even if any annual fees will be refunded. The advice was the same for any annual free night vouchers that have been or might be reached. The line was “we have not been advised from the team handling this as to how / whether this will happen.” They promised to call me back in 3-5 days…. I won’t be holding my breath

    • Mark says:
      5 Oct5 October 17:27

      I called them this morning and was told I would not receive a pro rata refund on my annual fee, nor would I receive my free night voucher which I have already earned. So I logged a formal complaint. They also told me it was a business decision to close the IHG black card, and that they were closing all black cards (I know Rob says this is untrue)!

      • john says:
        5 Oct5 October 18:52

        seems like they are telling me nothing so that I cannot make a complaint…. Will be a lot harder for me to do anything when the card is cancelled and I am no longer a customer

  • John says:
    5 Oct5 October 15:59

    What is MS, pray tell?

  • Paul says:
    5 Oct5 October 19:37

    I contacted IHG to see if they were aware of what Creation were doing and if the Relationship had ended and they replied with:

    “I’m sorry if you were notified about closing your credit card account with Creation. I’ve got an update from our contacts and was advised that the partnership between IHG® and Creation is still active”

    So god only knows what’s going on.

    • Rob says:
      5 Oct5 October 19:53

      I’ve seen the letter given to the call centre staff. It doesn’t tell the staff why it has been done, just that it has (and how to see in their IT system that it is happening).

      • David says:
        5 Oct5 October 20:21

        Creation call centre staff, or IHG?

        • David says:
          5 Oct5 October 20:31

          Assume the latter. Said a couple of days ago this could also result in action from IHG with regard to Reward Club points/accounts and was scoffed at.
          If IHG feel the need to brief call centre staff on this, quite likely considering other options themselves, or am I overly thinking this?

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