curve card and creation cashback card

older_wiser

Just had a strange text message from creation saying

with immediate effect we will be unable to process any transactions using your curve card where the transaction is allocated to your creation issued credit card.


i know American Express won't let you use it with Curve i wonder if this is the start of other CC doing the same

PaulW922

I had that too. If more card issuers pull out then I doubt Curve will survive. It’s a shame 

older_wiser

I didn't even use it on my creation card that often what i tend to do is put all my spending on my curve card with my halifax 0%  card then switch afew items over to the other cards to make sure no card goes dormant they all have uses.

The beauty of the curve card was that i just had to take that one out and i was able to choose whichever card i liked

sidepipe

Yep... I called them ( Creation ) and they said it was a "business decision." Translation - "We don't make any money when you use Curve." You can understand it I suppose, but receiving a text "with immediate effect" is pretty poor customer relations if you ask me.

It's really annoying for me - the main reason I used Curve is that Creation also don't support the likes of Samsung/Google/Apple Pay, probably for the same reason if you look at the interest rates they like to charge on loans. Curve made this possible. Now I'm stuck with the choice of not having the convenience to be able to pay with my watch, which I used all the time, or using another card. The trouble is, no other card really comes close to the IHG Premium card in terms of rewards, so in some ways I'd be "cutting my own nose off" if I used another card, though Creation really are behind the curve ( pun intended ) with support of these new payment systems and as I say this is really poor in terms of customer service - it would be normal to give some sort of notice in these situations!

Creation won't care of course - they probably made no money out of me in any case, but I still feel I need to send a message no matter how ( IHG reward ) pointless. The current 60k Amex Rewards + referral bonus for the Amex Platinum sure looks tempting at this point......

older_wiser

thanks for the post at least i now know its not just me

very poor CS as you said its a shame and i just hope its not a domino effect and others join in. The simplicity of the curve card is what appeals to me but if curve are taking a cut of the transaction fee i can see creation have a point especially since they pay us between 1 and 2% for cashback on each purchase. 

Grumpy_chap

older_wiser said:

if curve are taking a cut of the transaction fee

The business model for CCs and associated services like Curve must be pretty cut-throat.

The consumer buys something and the retailer pays for the Visa / Mastercard transaction fee.  That transaction fee is small and standard for the retailer - no difference to the retailer how efficient the CC is.

Visa / Mastercard take their processing charge from the transaction fee and then pass the remainder to the CC.  If the CC uses some of the amount they receive as cash-back / rewards, that is effectively using the cash back money as marketing.  Many of the cash back percentages have been trimmed in recent years.

Whatever fee Curve receive must come from either the Visa / Mastercard processing charge (unlikely) or the CC.  So, if the CC is left with the choice to reduce the cash-back percentage (affecting all customers) or ceasing Curve (affecting some customers) then the latter is probably seen as the lesser of two evils.

There simply is no other place where Curve can derive an income, unless I've missed something in the Curve business model.

That said, I would be very disappointed if Curve failed as I value the fact it gives me a contactless card and pay-by-watch functionality which I don't get from my CC.  In addition, sometimes, Curve run cash-back incentives that are an added bonus (I assume funded by the retailers promoting the reward).  I am currently benefitting from 1% Curve reward having made a successful referral code share.  So is the person who opened the account on my code.  These rewards must be funded by Curve as they don't have a specific retailer to pass the costs on to.

My Creation card went some time back when they changed the reward scheme rates and I now use Newday Aqua as the incentive is higher.

blue.peter

Grumpy_chap said:

That said, I would be very disappointed if Curve failed as I value the fact it gives me a contactless card and pay-by-watch functionality which I don't get from my CC.  In addition, sometimes, Curve run cash-back incentives that are an added bonus (I assume funded by the retailers promoting the reward).  I am currently benefitting from 1% Curve reward having made a successful referral code share.  So is the person who opened the account on my code.  These rewards must be funded by Curve as they don't have a specific retailer to pass the costs on to.

That's the point, really, isn't it? Curve is of value to its users, but those users on the "Blue" basic tier (the majority?) don't pay anything directly for the benefit that they gain. Perhaps the business model will change, so that this tier is eliminated and Curve gets all its income directly from users. Even then, though, I wonder if there might still be a cost, in the form of processing expenses, to CC issuers?

(I'm not saying that this is something that I'd want to see, just speculating that it might be the only way for Curve to stay afloat.)

Grumpy_chap

I'd imagine most of those on the free tier would simply let the Curve card go rather than pay a fee?...

There must also be another cost somewhere as the Curve does not go direct to the watch, but via Garmin Pay (in my case) or one of the services such as Samsung / Google / Apple pay.

I just got the Curve because my CC is not contactless and does not work directly with Garmin Pay - Curve gives me both of these.

[Deleted User]

Using Curve will likely lose them forex and cash advance fees plus likely the Curve cohort repay in full too.

Curve will pay the standard credit interchange fee to creation - probably at loss as they only receive the (lower) debit card interchange fee in most instances from the actual transaction. 

blue.peter

Grumpy_chap said:

I'd imagine most of those on the free tier would simply let the Curve card go rather than pay a fee?...

That wouldn't surprise me.

Grumpy_chap

Deleted User said:

Curve will pay the standard credit interchange fee to creation - probably at loss as they only receive the (lower) debit card interchange fee in most instances from the actual transaction. 

So, if I understand that correctly:

• The customer does not pay a fee (in most cases)
• The customer benefits from "incentives"
• Every transaction makes a loss
• The sponsored links can't possibly be enough to make up for both the incentives plus the loss per transaction (given most transactions are not linked to sponsored links)

Who would set up a business like that?

There must be more to the process than is immediately obvious.