Creation adding 3% fee for cash transactions

[trader363]

I got the dreaded email today that it’s as of immediate effect (3% or minimum £5).

Anyone else got it?

[Billybob]

Yep got the same.

[elguiri]

Yep, that’ll put an end to the car finance pay off…

[Lady London]

So does this mean Curve could charge you 3% and then the underlying credit card also charges you 3% ? Eek!

[Rui N.]

Creation doesn’t work with Curve. The fee on Curve is also 1.5%, not 3%.

[_aDifferentSimon_]

I’ve not had that email – I’ve just done a £167 transaction to test…

[Guernsey Globetrotter]

Received but only on my Marriott card and not the two IHG ones … let’s see what the implementation means in practice because you never know with Creation IT !

• This reply was modified 54 years, 8 months ago by .

[Harrier25]

Well I suppose they need to find additional funds from somewhere to pay for the FOS case review fees that must be starting to arrive on their Solihull doormat! 😂

[Guernsey Globetrotter]

Guernsey Globetrotter wrote:

Received but only on my Marriott card and not the two IHG ones … let’s see what the implementation means in practice because you never know with Creation IT !

To answer my own post – my Marriott card statement was received yesterday for the period ending 07 March so they may be rolling this change out at the end of a client’s monthly billing period…

[NorthernLass]

Harrier25 wrote:

Well I suppose they need to find additional funds from somewhere to pay for the FOS case review fees that must be starting to arrive on their Solihull doormat! 😂

I was just thinking that!

My last act with my IHG card was to pay off a the outstanding £5k of a Creation loan, with no charges, mwah ha ha!

[EwanG]

I don’t have a Creation-issued card any more (IHG black closed in Curve debacle) but are they allowed to introduce this new fee with no notice?

If a change to terms, requires a ‘notice of variation’ which will be 60+2 days.

They’ve already shown what an unprofessional outfit they are with the IHG closures. Is this another example?

[SRTravels]

@EwanG its not a variation of terms by the look of things, as terms referred to are July 2021. Just looks like they are actually enforcing them.

I’ve made a payment in Brighton this morning. Depending on how it goes, I may or may not be visiting Solihull again.

[Guernsey Globetrotter]

Guernsey Globetrotter wrote:

Guernsey Globetrotter wrote:

Received but only on my Marriott card and not the two IHG ones … let’s see what the implementation means in practice because you never know with Creation IT !

To answer my own post – my Marriott card statement was received yesterday for the period ending 07 March so they may be rolling this change out at the end of a client’s monthly billing period…

Well today I received two more notifications covering the IHG cards so I guess the change is coming in immediately across the board.
The question is what it will and won’t apply to so do post your findings here!

[RussellH]

Received e-mails about both Marriott and IHG cards, but thought so what? Do not all credit cards charge for cash transactions? They always used to! Marriott card charged me £5 IIRC many years ago for putting £10 on a horse in the Grand National, so I thought that they always charged for cash withdrawals or buying foreign currency anyway.

[Guernsey Globetrotter]

I think you missed the party Russell 🎉🤦‍♂️

[chrism20]

They have rather kindly emailed me this morning to let me know about this.

I haven’t had an account with them for at least two years.

Nice to see they still have their finger on the pulse.

[_aDifferentSimon_]

I wonder when the fee gets creat

Guernsey Globetrotter wrote:

Received but only on my Marriott card and not the two IHG ones … let’s see what the implementation means in practice because you never know with Creation IT !

I’ve now had the email so have done another 167 transaction!

[Guernsey Globetrotter]

_aDifferentSimon_ wrote:

I wonder when the fee gets creat

Guernsey Globetrotter wrote:

Received but only on my Marriott card and not the two IHG ones … let’s see what the implementation means in practice because you never know with Creation IT !

I’ve now had the email so have done another 167 transaction!

Good stuff – pls do update here – I will take one for the team and bing through my usual Che over the weekend so fingers crossed !

[Rui N.]

Was that one £167 transaction, or 167 transactions? If the later, you are a brave person!

[_aDifferentSimon_]

2 £167. One the day before I received the email and 1 today.
I guess any charges might only arrive on statement day. It did seemingly earn points though…

[Guernsey Globetrotter]

_aDifferentSimon_ wrote:

2 £167. One the day before I received the email and 1 today.
I guess any charges might only arrive on statement day. It did seemingly earn points though…

Yes – I just re-read the notification email and it says “You’ll see this charge on your statement, if applicable”. You’d hope that would mean it should appear on the transactions list in your account online but in reality, knowing Creation, it may only materialise at the month end… the suspense !!!

[John]

Here’s the email, so those who don’t have an account any more can see what we’re talking about:

Our terms state that when our customers make a ‘cash transaction’ we will charge a fee. However, we have noticed that this charge hasn’t been happening.

‘Cash transactions’ can be transactions for foreign currency, sending money abroad or payments to financial institutions by pre-paid cards or pre-loading debit accounts*.

This is notice that moving forward we’ll start to charge a fee of 3% or £5, whichever is greater, on each cash transaction as per our terms and conditions (clause 16). Click here to view your terms and conditions.

You’ll see this charge on your statement, if applicable.

Cash transactions incur a higher rate of interest, meaning it may cost you more and take you longer to pay off your card balance.

Yours sincerely

The Creation Team

*Please note, the above list is not exhaustive but shown as an example of the types of transactions that may be considered ‘cash’. In our terms and conditions Creation defines a “Cash Advance” as an advance of monies made to you or on your behalf, including but not limited to cash, foreign currency, travellers’ cheques or cash related transactions.

[aseftel]

EwanG wrote:

I don’t have a Creation-issued card any more (IHG black closed in Curve debacle) but are they allowed to introduce this new fee with no notice?

Now that I’ve had a chance to read the text of the email, my view would be:

FCA supervisory team would probably not be entirely happy with the introduction of the change without notice. The fact that the product has been working like this (despite what the terms say) for some time now would fall under ‘products should perform as customers have been led to expect’. They would argue that customers would not expect the charge despite what the terms say and that any change should be clearly signposted in advance to ensure customers are aware.

FOS would probably not uphold a complaint about lack of notice. In my experience they have limited appetite to intervene when terms are enforced and the terms are fair. What they may be persuaded by is that the email is noncompliant because it is not clear (cf CONC 3.3) about when the change takes effect. ‘Moving forward’ is vague and nonspecific. If they do charge fees for transactions that were close to the email’s delivery then I think they might have appetite to uphold a complaint on this basis.

[_aDifferentSimon_]

anyone had a statement yet having done a test transaction? – mines not until the 24th

[Lady London]

aseftel wrote:

EwanG wrote:

I don’t have a Creation-issued card any more (IHG black closed in Curve debacle) but are they allowed to introduce this new fee with no notice?

Now that I’ve had a chance to read the text of the email, my view would be:

FCA supervisory team would probably not be entirely happy with the introduction of the change without notice. The fact that the product has been working like this (despite what the terms say) for some time now would fall under ‘products should perform as customers have been led to expect’. They would argue that customers would not expect the charge despite what the terms say and that any change should be clearly signposted in advance to ensure customers are aware.

FOS would probably not uphold a complaint about lack of notice. In my experience they have limited appetite to intervene when terms are enforced and the terms are fair. What they may be persuaded by is that the email is noncompliant because it is not clear (cf CONC 3.3) about when the change takes effect. ‘Moving forward’ is vague and nonspecific. If they do charge fees for transactions that were close to the email’s delivery then I think they might have appetite to uphold a complaint on this basis.

Sounds like that’s exactly why Curve weasel-worded it “going forward”.

They knew there was long-established custom and practice that the fee had not been charged so this could require decent notice to suddenly start doing. So they worded it “going forward” to leave it vague. So harder to accuse just how soon they would change away from custom and practice, so harder to pin a complaint on.

• This reply was modified 54 years, 8 months ago by .