Paying HMRC (and others) and getting points – beginners explanation please

[Talay]

Had Curve since the beginning but put it in a drawer since Amex went away. Now thinking whether I can use it for HMRC and how ?

I have read about Creation shutting accounts down. I have an old Marriott Mastercard from them so won’t be risking that.

But I have a fistful of other cards with various 5 digit limits what could be used.

I routinely pay PAYE, VAT, Corporation Tax, business rates and loads of direct debits that I’d love to earn something.

Can someone just give me the simple, straightforward options and limits please. Thanks.

[toddy]

If you have Curve Metal, you can pay HMRC £10k per calendar month, without any fees.

Anything above £10k has a 1.5% fee

[Carlos]

Check the curve website. Everything is answered there. Seriously

[Rob]

Carlos wrote:

Check the curve website. Everything is answered there. Seriously

Where is the list of underlying Visa / Mastercards who won’t give points for HMRC transactions? I think that’s the only thing people are bothered about.

We know that HSBC no longer gives points on HMRC transactions via Curve, for example. I would imagine some card providers have also chosen to treat such payments as cash advances.

[RobL]

I suggest people try their card and see what happens rather than publishing a list of cards.

[Talay]

RobL wrote:

I suggest people try their card and see what happens rather than publishing a list of cards.

Yeah, let’s pay HMRC £10k and see if we get hit for a £299 cash advance fee and lunatic interest from day one plus a black mark on your credit file for technically withdrawing cash on your credit card.

Or publish the list.

Do you really think the financial institutions don’t know ?

[SteveJ]

Wow, how very entitled of you.

[can]

Talay wrote:

RobL wrote:

I suggest people try their card and see what happens rather than publishing a list of cards.

Yeah, let’s pay HMRC £10k and see if we get hit for a £299 cash advance fee and lunatic interest from day one plus a black mark on your credit file for technically withdrawing cash on your credit card.

Or publish the list.

Do you really think the financial institutions don’t know ?

Or pay first £100 bit of your tax and see what happens?

[The Urbanite]

The question that is being asked, is which credit card providers award points/rewards on government services transactions.

The answer to that can be found through searching comments on the main site – people have been posting data points for years.

This information is also generally available on the website of all card providers. Some it’s explicit how each merchant category is treated, some it’s more implicit. Somebody could share their personal list of these, but these don’t often appear in the public domain and there’s no guarantee their credit cards handle transactions the same way as yours. Perhaps some kind soul can do that research task and share their findings 🙂

An alternative to extracting this information from card provider websites or researching comments on line or waiting for somebody to share their knowledge has been suggested – try transacting a nominal amount with each merchant category then make a note of whether a cash advance fee, any interest is charged and of course if any rewards are earned. To be honest that’s how I’ve found out over the years.

• This reply was modified 54 years, 3 months ago by .

[CarpalTravel]

Talay wrote:

RobL wrote:

I suggest people try their card and see what happens rather than publishing a list of cards.

Yeah, let’s pay HMRC £10k and see if we get hit for a £299 cash advance fee and lunatic interest from day one plus a black mark on your credit file for technically withdrawing cash on your credit card.

Or publish the list.

Do you really think the financial institutions don’t know ?

Rather than being all dramatic and demanding of others, how about you make a list, then publish it? It’s very easy, make a small payment with each card then monitor the line item for the transaction type within the card account. If it goes to purchase, all good. If cash advance, use the Curve go back in time function and move to a different card. It’s really not difficult.

[The Urbanite]

Talay wrote:

RobL wrote:

I suggest people try their card and see what happens rather than publishing a list of cards.

Yeah, let’s pay HMRC £10k and see if we get hit for a £299 cash advance fee and lunatic interest from day one plus a black mark on your credit file for technically withdrawing cash on your credit card.

Or publish the list.

Do you really think the financial institutions don’t know ?

That really isn’t necessary – you can dip your toe in the water so to speak and pay a nominal amount, then wait to see if it goes through as a purchase or a cash advance.

[nn]

A list would be great, but I understand why others may not be keen on publishing.

In my case, I don’t have many cards, but am willing to take out a card if I know I can earn some points through Curve for sure. I’m not willing to take out new lines of credit so that I can try a £100 transaction to HMRC.

[Rui N.]

Why would you get a black mark on your credit r
file for doing a cash advance?!?

[nn]

Rui N. wrote:

Why would you get a black mark on your credit r
file for doing a cash advance?!?

If this is pointed at me – I wouldn’t. But I’m not up for opening new lines of credit on a ‘maybe’. If I knew that I could extract points from my (seemingly never-ending) payments to HMRC, then I’d be willing to take out a credit card/line of credit to make the payments. I’m not ready to take out a new product just to try.

But I get both sides of the argument for/against publishing a list…!

[Rui N.]

It’s pointed at the person that said that, naturally. 🙂

[CarpalTravel]

Rui N. wrote:

Why would you get a black mark on your credit r
file for doing a cash advance?!?

You don’t. As you can perhaps tell from the rest of the post, it was all rather irrational.

[Talay]

Ok, let’s keep it a secret society where only those in the know are allowed to know and where you scare everyone else off with some pseudo threat of big brother watching while you pat yourselves on the back that only you can work out what the little code you’ve made for yourselves actually means and those multi billion pound organisations and HMRC simply haven’t a clue what you are doing. Jeez, you should feature in Private Eye.

As for cashback, then yet it does hit a non customer facing data point and if you think the public data is all credit institutions actually see then you might as well go put your head back in the sand or put your tin foil hat on because that is just as credible.

I’m all for bending rules, finding backdoors, even jumping over crevasses on occasion but you don’t jump in if you don’t know how deep the water is and with all these things, you create a ripple that you cannot stop, so knowing first both protects as much as it opens the potential for gains.

Its sad that you consider it a closed shop, that no-one can join. Rob was warned not to take this to a forum level and though I see the commercial needs and benefits, what was lost in daily threats is now laid bare for all to see. The illuminati are happy to be seen but they will not share.

[jimchef.]

I’m happy to share my experience.

I’ve used Curve recently to pay business taxes via my Capital On Tap card – works fine, and is fee free to max £10k per month. Also my HSBC WE card to pay my personal taxes -works fine but doesn’t award points so quite literally ‘pointless’.
Neither of those cards have attracted any kind of fee or interest for me when paying HMRC

[Rui N.]

Talay wrote:

Ok, let’s keep it a secret society where only those in the know are allowed to know and where you scare everyone else off with some pseudo threat of big brother watching while you pat yourselves on the back that only you can work out what the little code you’ve made for yourselves actually means and those multi billion pound organisations and HMRC simply haven’t a clue what you are doing. Jeez, you should feature in Private Eye.

As for cashback, then yet it does hit a non customer facing data point and if you think the public data is all credit institutions actually see then you might as well go put your head back in the sand or put your tin foil hat on because that is just as credible.

I’m all for bending rules, finding backdoors, even jumping over crevasses on occasion but you don’t jump in if you don’t know how deep the water is and with all these things, you create a ripple that you cannot stop, so knowing first both protects as much as it opens the potential for gains.

Its sad that you consider it a closed shop, that no-one can join. Rob was warned not to take this to a forum level and though I see the commercial needs and benefits, what was lost in daily threats is now laid bare for all to see. The illuminati are happy to be seen but they will not share.

You are free to try different ways and share your experience.
It would be much more useful to everyone than this diatribe.

[SteveJ]

@Talay why not let us know which 5 cards you have, which you have tried already and which you’d like a pointer on?

As with any forum full of random strangers on the internet, it’s usually a give and take. Share your experiences and others will likely share theirs. Expect a handout and you’ll get ignored or lambasted, likely both.

[Carlos]

Talay wrote:

Had Curve since the beginning but put it in a drawer since Amex went away. Now thinking whether I can use it for HMRC and how ?

I have read about Creation shutting accounts down. I have an old Marriott Mastercard from them so won’t be risking that.

But I have a fistful of other cards with various 5 digit limits what could be used.

I routinely pay PAYE, VAT, Corporation Tax, business rates and loads of direct debits that I’d love to earn something.

Can someone just give me the simple, straightforward options and limits please. Thanks.

You mentioned you had curve since the beginning but you put it in a drawer, shouldnt you have yourself to blame for all the opportunities you missed? You mentioned you don’t want to risk anything but you want others to do so? Rules can change any time, you are well behind, its time to catch up

Talay wrote:

Ok, let’s keep it a secret society where only those in the know are allowed to know and where you scare everyone else off with some pseudo threat of big brother watching while you pat yourselves on the back that only you can work out what the little code you’ve made for yourselves actually means and those multi billion pound organisations and HMRC simply haven’t a clue what you are doing. Jeez, you should feature in Private Eye.

As for cashback, then yet it does hit a non customer facing data point and if you think the public data is all credit institutions actually see then you might as well go put your head back in the sand or put your tin foil hat on because that is just as credible.

I’m all for bending rules, finding backdoors, even jumping over crevasses on occasion but you don’t jump in if you don’t know how deep the water is and with all these things, you create a ripple that you cannot stop, so knowing first both protects as much as it opens the potential for gains.

Its sad that you consider it a closed shop, that no-one can join. Rob was warned not to take this to a forum level and though I see the commercial needs and benefits, what was lost in daily threats is now laid bare for all to see. The illuminati are happy to be seen but they will not share.

Don’t know why you are making such a drama about it? You are the very reason of the warning you speak about.

SteveJ wrote:

@Talay why not let us know which 5 cards you have, which you have tried already and which you’d like a pointer on?

As with any forum full of random strangers on the internet, it’s usually a give and take. Share your experiences and others will likely share theirs. Expect a handout and you’ll get ignored or lambasted, likely both.

+1

• This reply was modified 54 years, 3 months ago by .

[CarpalTravel]

Talay wrote:

Ok, let’s keep it a secret society where only those in the know are allowed to know and where you scare everyone else off with some pseudo threat of big brother watching while you pat yourselves on the back that only you can work out what the little code you’ve made for yourselves actually means and those multi billion pound organisations and HMRC simply haven’t a clue what you are doing. Jeez, you should feature in Private Eye.

As for cashback, then yet it does hit a non customer facing data point and if you think the public data is all credit institutions actually see then you might as well go put your head back in the sand or put your tin foil hat on because that is just as credible.

I’m all for bending rules, finding backdoors, even jumping over crevasses on occasion but you don’t jump in if you don’t know how deep the water is and with all these things, you create a ripple that you cannot stop, so knowing first both protects as much as it opens the potential for gains.

Its sad that you consider it a closed shop, that no-one can join. Rob was warned not to take this to a forum level and though I see the commercial needs and benefits, what was lost in daily threats is now laid bare for all to see. The illuminati are happy to be seen but they will not share.

Wow, that is quite some stream of bitterness there, you honestly sound like you might need to seek some professional support. I know many people who have been suffering badly these last two years, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.

I am not aware of there being any super secret list nor clique within this here site. I simply tried my Virgin card out, it worked, I carry on using it. There’s no big secret, I just took the time and effort (and risk to myself) to do it.

[cinereus]

So is there any card which a small business (i.e. sole trader) or individual can use to pay HMRC and get points?

Curve – nope, because the cost of Metal outweighs the benefit of a £10k tax bill
COT – nope, not open to sole traders
Barclays Rewards Credit – nope, 2.98% fee levied by HMRC

Any other options I haven’t thought of before I pay off my tax bill?

[Rob]

No 🙂

[memesweeper]

cinereus wrote:

Curve – nope, because the cost of Metal outweighs the benefit of a £10k tax bill

Curve Metal has other benefits. It works for me… you might want to do the maths, or just try it for six months…?