Curve card - accidental cash withdrawal on credit card

Stuart_W

Anyone with a curve card have any experience of accidentally withdrawing cash when linked to a credit card and then going "back in time" to switch the withdrawal to a debit card? I would expect my credit card to apply cash withdrawal fees but would these be refunded when the transaction is refunded? Or do some cards still treat all curve transactions as purchases?

I will find out in due course, as this is exactly what I did this morning.

Aqua credit card if it makes any difference.

Terry_Towelling

I don't have a Curve Card and I don't know anything about the technical processing that goes on behind the scenes of a 'back in time' transaction. BUT

I suspect much will depend on the way that Curve handles its processing of credits within the 'back in time' function. Without going into too much detail about Transaction Codes and Merchant Category Codes, I believe Aqua would need to see the incoming credit processed as a Cash Reversal in order for its systems to understand that the cash fee element also needs to be given back to you.

If Curve tries to process it as a Refund rather than a Cash Reversal the process will either fail completely, or it may work but you won't get your cash fee credited back.

[Deleted User]

I don’t think you can reverse cash transactions, only purchases

Terry_Towelling

!!! wrote: »

I don’t think you can reverse cash transactions, only purchases

So, Stuart, you say you actually managed to use the 'back in time' function earlier today? In light of !!!'s above comment are you sure it actually worked?

[Deleted User]

The T’s and C’s state purchase transactions, but regardless also mentions “Curve is not responsible for any charges levied by your Payment Card issuer resulting from your use of the “Go Back in Time” feature.”

Stuart_W

I was just really after any experience from other Curve users.

I can confirm that I have successfully used 'back in time' to shift a cash withdrawal from a credit card to a debit card.

I have done this before - but that was back in the early days of curve when merchant codes weren't passed on by curve and everything done with a curve card was considered a "purchase" - even cash withdrawals - so it meant free cash advances (fee free and interest free) on a credit card.


If the curve transaction is recognised as a cash withdrawal, then I can't imagine the system is designed with a capacity to reverse a cash withdrawal as a cash withdrawal reversal doesn't make any real sense. You can't "give money back" you've decided to withdraw. And even if you can, that wouldn't necessarily cancel any associated charges because they were essentially consented to at the time of the original withdrawal.


I don't know how this will work now, but will soon find out. I think it could vary by card issuer - curve have said they are not responsible for fees levied by card companies. We'll see what happens...

gt94sss2

Stuart_W wrote: »

Or do some cards still treat all curve transactions as purchases?

This - it depends on the card obviously.

Stuart_W

gt94sss2 wrote: »

This - it depends on the card obviously.

That's what I was thinking would probably be the case.

A curve cash withdrawal on my debit card is seen as a purchase and qualifies for 5p debit card purchase cashback as part of co-op bank's everyday rewards scheme.


It's just just pot luck then on how my credit card chooses to recognise the transaction.

Terry_Towelling

An underlying card will treat a transaction as Cash if it is processed by Curve with the appropriate Cash transaction data elements or if said underlying card has a specific policy of treating certain Sale Transactions as cash despite them being profiled as Sales - e.g. gift vouchers, gambling, lottery, etc. This latter way of treating Sales as Cash (or cash-like) should be covered in detail in the underlying issuer's T&Cs. It seems the only element of 'pot-luck' is the way that Curve chooses to profile its transactions rather than the way the underlying card receives them.

A Cash Reversal transaction does exist as a valid type of transaction within Visa and MasterCard systems. There is no such thing as a Cash Refund transaction.

Processing banks need to have the capability to process such Reversal transactions in the event their organisation, say, duplicates a batch of transactions which might include cash. In turn card issuers must have the capability to recognise these as Reversals (not Refunds) so that things like cash fees can be reversed off too.

If Curve were to ever make a mistake with its processing and, say, process a cash transaction to an underlying card twice in error, they should be able to correct that error with a Cash Reversal.

I imagine Curve will say it doesn't make errors like that but we'll see...

studentsaver_889

I use curve to withdraw cash from my aqua and no charges.

bengalknights

Ive used curve and revolut to withdraw on MBNA without charges so definitely comes down to how its reported to your card issuer.