Curve just screwed themselves over

satan666wayne

stevenhp1987 wrote: »

With the new dynamic MCC, it would make sense that paying off a mortgage, or credit card, would more than likely be classed as a cash advance.

Therefore, it is likely it would incur a cash advance fee and not be interest-free.

Thanks. I thick I will just have to do a test of £50 first.

jtgaoler

MCC 6012 is not a cash advance (in my book). It is as it says, the purchase of services or goods from a financial institution.

That shouldn't attract a cash advance handling charge from the underlying CC issuer because they will see it as a purchase and be happy to receive their interchange fee credit from Curve. Remember, your CC issuer will only assess you a cash handling fee if they have had to pay away an interchange fee as part of the transaction process.

At the end of the day, I'm still only making a 'best guess' here because (apart from having an MCC) I don't know exactly how Curve processes its transactions on to the underlying/linked CC issuer - I am assuming (dangerous) that it submits them through Visa/MasterCard.

Unfortunately, the MCC seems to be treated differently from CC issuer to issuer. So, Tesco CC charged a cash handling fee for an identical transaction (Starling settle up), but aqua CC has not...


I think this is the most unacceptable aspect of the change, tbh. How is anyone supposed to know what charges they'll get on their CCs?

jtgaoler

Response from Curve is for a Starling topup via Google Pay onto an underlying CC...
Originally posted by jtgaoler ”
This is where I bow out - I have no idea what that means.

I mean that I used Curve with a linked CC to pay, but had added the Curve card to Google Pay first, then used Google Pay for the Startling topup.


So, CC > Curve > Google Pay > Starling




I'm not 100% sure how Google Pay works, so I'm not sure whether it makes any different using Google Pay with Curve or just Curve directly.

jtgaoler

For the sake of comparison...


Here is how Tesco define cash-like transactions in their terms:

A handling fee of 3.99% (no minimum charge) of the amount for cash
transactions. Cash transactions are gambling transactions, wire or
international money transfers, repaying borrowing (e.g. loans and
mortgages), purchasing non-sterling currency outside of Tesco,
payments to prepaid or virtual cards, investments, share trading and
spread betting

The only reference to cash transactions that I can find in aqua's terms is this:

Cash transactions (including cash withdrawals, gambling, buying lottery tickets and foreign currency)

Terry_Towelling

jtgaoler wrote: »

Unfortunately, the MCC seems to be treated differently from CC issuer to issuer. So, Tesco CC charged a cash handling fee for an identical transaction (Starling settle up), but aqua CC has not...

I think this is the most unacceptable aspect of the change, tbh. How is anyone supposed to know what charges they'll get on their CCs?

Yes, this Tesco treatment of potential 'cash-like' transactions has cropped up in another thread. It is 'fairly' clear from their T&Cs when they will assess a handling charge (so one can't really gripe about it) but Tesco may be accused of acting unfairly if they are stinging their customers with a cash handling fee when they have received an interchange fee credit for the transaction. One can understand a cash handling fee being assessed when the issuer has had to pay away a cash interchange fee but not when they've received an interchange credit.

All that said, the imposition of a handling fee for share dealing is surely wrong in anyone's book. Buying a share is buying part of the company. Yes, you can convert the share into cash but only by selling it, so it isn't really cash-like. It's the same as buying a TV. You're buying ownership of the TV but you can only convert that purchase into cash if you sell it.

I also take issue with being charged a cash fee for lottery tickets (Aqua) because they aren't readily convertible into cash, can't be used to buy anything and you can't cash them in for any value. I have a similar issue for gambling transactions - although buying gaming chips may be different because they can be readily converted into cash (but only at the casino where you bought them, so even that is a debateable one).

Obviously, no one gives a stuff about what I think, so nothing is going to change unless everyone thinks things are unfair and takes the CC companies to task.

satan666wayne

Creation card says.
“Cash Advance” means an advance of monies made to you or on your behalf, or to an Additional Cardholder or on the
Additional Cardholder’s behalf, including but not limited to cash, foreign currency, travellers’ cheques, prepayment of
mobile telephone airtime through an ATM or cash related transactions;

byebyedebt

Warning. Have Used curve this week with an underlying credit card from NatWest and have been charged a cash advance fee, when I haven’t been advanced cash.

Curve had outlived its usefulness.

darren72

byebyedebt wrote: »

Warning. Have Used curve this week with an underlying credit card from NatWest and have been charged a cash advance fee, when I haven’t been advanced cash.

Curve had outlived its usefulness.

What sort of transaction was it ? - eg, Was it a shop purchase, or paying a credit card bill ?

SnowTiger

byebyedebt wrote: »

Warning. Have Used curve this week with an underlying credit card from NatWest and have been charged a cash advance fee, when I haven’t been advanced cash.

Curve had outlived its usefulness.

What was the transaction?

There's a list of things Natwest considers cash at the top of the Credit Card Agreement.

These cash fees are a bit of a grey area, and something FCA should tidy up.

How is an average punter to know whether a transaction will attract a cash fee or not?

Buy a lottery ticket at Tesco - that's not a gambling transaction. No cash fee.

Buy a meal at a casino - that's a gambling transaction. 3% cash fee.

System

SnowTiger wrote: »

What was the transaction?

There's a list of things Natwest considers cash at the top of the Credit Card Agreement.

These cash fees are a bit of a grey area, and something FCA should tidy up.

How is an average punter to know whether a transaction will attract a cash fee or not?

Buy a lottery ticket at Tesco - that's not a gambling transaction. No cash fee.

Buy a meal at a casino - that's a gambling transaction. 3% cash fee.

Hardly rocket science.
The merchant code will define the main business of the merchant.

E.G. you go to Tesco Extra - the supermarket, the cafe and the filling station have distinct merchant codes.

I've dumped Curve too BTW
Random declines, no S75 and no £200 ATM usage.