Curve and Virgin Reward / Reward+

[truthbetold]

I have it in my head that there are some issues with Virgin charging fees for curve or curve fronted. Am I making this up?? Currently use MBNA Horizon with Curve but Rewards+ would be a better option if there are no known issues. Anyone?

[Harrier25]

For day to day spending Virgin is fine. For cash withdrawals etc, not so.

[NorthernLass]

Unless you really don’t want to carry the card around, the only reason to use Virgin with Curve is for non-euro FX transactions. You now get hammered with fees and interest for any cash withdrawals (including abroad, as I found out earlier this year!) or fronted transactions, as @Harrier says.

[truthbetold]

Thanks. So cash advances are no good. Fronted also no good?? Was thinking for HMRC payments.

[NorthernLass]

I think the usual advice is try a small amount and see what happens!

There are longer Curve threads with more reader examples if you have time to read them, which might answer this.

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

“the only reason to use Virgin with Curve is for non-euro FX transactions”

Not quite accurate. If you want to spend at Curve cashback retailers, that’s also a reason

[aq.1988]

Apologies if a frowned upon question here, but couldn’t find a recent topic.

I haven’t got a Virgin CC, but potentially interested in the 30k SUB. Does it work with curve fronted with BC as the underlying card?

A simple smiley or sad face would do, please! 🙂

[truthbetold]

Don’t think that question makes sense. You have to choose which card is underlying (BC or Virgin). You use Curve as the card in the actual Transaction

[NorthernLass]

It doesn’t make sense to me either!

@BWS, why do you need Virgin for Curve cashback opportunities?

[AndrewT]

To earn cashback via Curve in addition to the points on the underlying card.

[NorthernLass]

But surely that works with whichever card is underlying, not just Virgin?

[AndrewT]

You don’t ‘need’ Virgin for Curve cashback, BWS’s original message was about why you might choose to use Virgin with Curve (in addition to non-Euro FX), i.e. if you want Curve cashback and Virgin points.

[NorthernLass]

My original point was that virgin is pretty useless with Curve, not that Curve is useless. Most people are using other cards than Virgin with it, hence you don’t need Virgin to get the benefits. The various Barclaycards are much more rewarding!

[aq.1988]

truthbetold wrote:

Don’t think that question makes sense. You have to choose which card is underlying (BC or Virgin). You use Curve as the card in the actual Transaction

Apologies, I was trying not to outright ask! What I mean is, can I use curve fronted with my BC as the underlying card to pay the VACC bill?

My BC renewal is coming up very soon, and if not possible, I won’t be able to hit the SUB on the VACC and earn the upgrade voucher on the BC.

[NorthernLass]

Paying VACC bill is tricky now. You can’t use a debit card to pay online and (I think) you are limited to something like £750 per transaction by phone. It’s discussed in one of the Curve threads, IIRC. I’ve given up on it anyway, and just pay by bank transfer. There are easier ways to spend on Barclays.

[aq.1988]

NorthernLass wrote:

Paying VACC bill is tricky now. You can’t use a debit card to pay online and (I think) you are limited to something like £750 per transaction by phone. It’s discussed in one of the Curve threads, IIRC. I’ve given up on it anyway, and just pay by bank transfer. There are easier ways to spend on Barclays.

Thanks for confirming. Sounds like a bit of a hassle then. Actually, I could probably still take the card and wait until th 2nd month to start using it over Amex, (therefore still earning the BC upgrade voucher using fronted), and hit the £3k by taking it to the wire.

[tomtom135]

NorthernLass wrote:

Paying VACC bill is tricky now. You can’t use a debit card to pay online and (I think) you are limited to something like £750 per transaction by phone. It’s discussed in one of the Curve threads, IIRC. I’ve given up on it anyway, and just pay by bank transfer. There are easier ways to spend on Barclays.

I took out a new card to bag the 30k points, had it about a year ago. Just gone to pay the first statement and noticed this too. It says I can use a debit card to pay a max of £750 via automated phone system but couldn’t find it anywhere on the menu and not wasting time on hold to customer services for such a small amount.

Anyone found another way to pay by debit card?

It looks like their aggressive campaign against people using Curve has no limits lol

[NorthernLass]

If you have time to trawl through the other Virgin cc threads on here, there has been some discussion by people doing this. I haven’t tried it as I have other uses for my fronted allowance.

[Swiss Jim]

I do it when I’ve got a need. It’s not obvious which options to press that’s for sure. Next time I do it if I remember I’ll post on here. Unless someone beats me to it.

[lordy]

Has anyone tried doing it in reverse, IE. Paying Virgin with BC.
Looking the option to pay by card in the app is gone and you have to call up.
Anyone had any experience of it?

[NorthernLass]

As mentioned above, you can pay by *debit* card on the phone, up to £750 per transaction, so may be possible with Curve if that’s what you mean.

You can’t use a BC directly for anything like that, IME.

[Rui N.]

@lordy, nothing better than trying it out. And DON’T let us know how it went, the more these things are not discussed in public, the better.

[Disneydad]

I signed up to Curve to make a Credit Card payment in the US with my virgin CC. Should get the airmails and avoid the fees but otherwise I don’t think there would be much use for it for me.

Maybe an option to use my CC while on holiday in the us too. I did actually get £7.50 or so cash back with a £780 payment.