Curve questions – is it worth it?

[OldFashioned]

Gosia44 wrote:

I have the free, blue Curve and recently used it to top up my pension – obviously just debit cards accepted. Worked fine and Barclaycard applied all avios.

I assume it qualified as FrontEnd spend rather than just general?

[Ash]

Does the basic card have fronted? I thought that was a feature of the metal only.

[rahaney]

Ash wrote:

Does the basic card have fronted? I thought that was a feature of the metal only.

Free card charges 1.5% fee every time to use fronted.

[Chabuddy Geezy]

I need to make payments to my tax free childcare account, I assume this will be fronted as they only take debit card? Separately I have just been rejected from applying for a Tesco Clubcard plus card so cannot use that route.

[Rui N.]

Nope, no fronted fee. And on Virgin card no cash advance fees.

[Chabuddy Geezy]

Thanks Rui!

[ZoeB]

I have been travelling in Vietnam & Australia. Just got a few random non sterling charges on my Virgin credit card. The Curve l’m using is one of the first ones (came with Tumi credit card holder). I have tried asking Virgin but need to wait for a real person (still is Australia)

[NorthernLass]

@ZoeB – IIRC Virgin will just refer you back to Curve and unfortunately their CS is patchy to say the least. I had duplicate charges from IHG last year – fortunately IHG sorted it out as Curve responded once in 3 weeks and weren’t particularly interested. Was your Curve card switched off when the transactions were made?

[Tracy]

anyone tried paying hmrc recently using curve?

[masaccio]

Tracy wrote:

anyone tried paying hmrc recently using curve?

If January counts as recently, yes.

[Tracy]

@masaccio, thanks I was just being stupid. I had locked my curve card and forgot to unlock it and couldn’t figure out why curve wasn’t working lol….

[benish71]

Hi everyone, new here

I’m trying to pay off another credit card with Curve fronted connected to my Barclaycard.

I get points with Barclaycard but also 0% on purchases for a few months. Does making a fronted ‘purchase’ / pay off count as a purchase of will it go down as a cash advance or similar, and incur interest?!

Many thanks

[Rui N.]

Try with a small amount and see what happens. It’s the easiest way to check.

[NorthernLass]

You have to be really careful if you are using any kind of 0% offer and not paying the full balance each month. The policy of some banks is that any payments go towards the interest-free payment first, which means that you then start racking up interest on any other spend you make which doesn’t fall within this category. Banks could decide to change they way they treat Curve at any moment (from earlier comments, Virgin, for example, seems to treat many transactions as cash-like).

[benish71]

Thank you both!

I’ve tried a £10 payment and will wait for the statement at the end of the month to see what happens.

But that’s a very good point NorthernLass. They could decide to change the way curve is treat and whilst it could be 0% initially it could always change. I will keep a close eye on statements!

[Aston100]

benish71 wrote:

Thank you both!

I’ve tried a £10 payment and will wait for the statement at the end of the month to see what happens.

But that’s a very good point NorthernLass. They could decide to change the way curve is treat and whilst it could be 0% initially it could always change. I will keep a close eye on statements!

If you find a route that works for you, probably best to keep it to yourself unless you want to hasten the closure of that route.

[ChasP]

Tried to pay Council tax with Curve – all seemed to go through Ok even got a verification e mail from Curve but then council site claimed card declined

Ah well another door closes

[Harrier25]

That’s not even a door to close because all councils accept Visa/MasterCard debit and credit cards for online payments of council tax.

[BuildBackBetter]

Forget curve. Many councils accept PayPal. Use your Amex.

[ChasP]

Harrier25 wrote:

That’s not even a door to close because all councils accept Visa/MasterCard debit and credit cards for online payments of council tax.

I can assure you mine has not taken credit cards for several years – even specifically says so on its website No Paypal either

[Harrier25]

My council doesn’t accept Amex or PayPal but is more than happy for me to use my Hilton Barclaycard or Virgin Atlantic credit card.

[memesweeper]

NorthernLass wrote:

You have to be really careful if you are using any kind of 0% offer and not paying the full balance each month. The policy of some banks is that any payments go towards the interest-free payment first, which means that you then start racking up interest on any other spend you make which doesn’t fall within this category. Banks could decide to change they way they treat Curve at any moment (from earlier comments, Virgin, for example, seems to treat many transactions as cash-like).

If using 0% balance transfer you need to not spend on the card at all, and start with a zero balance. Then it should be safe to make less than a full balance payoff and enjoy the benefits of 0%.

Same applies to 0% on spending cards – when the offer period ends stop spending until the balance is cleared.

[zxydxdm]

In theory, you could pay card A with B then later on pay B with A?

[Aston100]

zxydxdm wrote:

In theory, you could pay card A with B then later on pay B with A?

Maybe, but pretty soon B will sting you in the A.

[BuildBackBetter]

Aston100 wrote:

zxydxdm wrote:

In theory, you could pay card A with B then later on pay B with A?

Maybe, but pretty soon B will sting you in the A.

Brilliant! 🤩