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Wow @JDB
I’m surprised you got your wife for only £375 albeit £600 all-in. However I got the impression you’d been married for decades. Although I understand there is no time limit on claims under s75 I would have thought that there would be some reasonableness element to it?
Yes, it was a cracking deal, even with the extras. Very attractive P/E ratio too. P.S. I know that’s a terribly unfashionable metric these days. Useful ready reckoner though.
I do value s75 as a form of insurance. As @GuernseyGlobetrotter says with HSBC WE one can earn double points on FX spend as one can on the Amex Gold. Both have promotions to take that to 2.5 Avios per £ which gives that insurance for very little vs FX fee. I find Amex rates generally slight better than MC ones. Amex was several % better than MC in Argentina in Feb/Mar, but that’s a specific situation. Curve has been suspended there since December.
With s75, there is the question of who makes it the easiest to claim and that’s probably Amex as there’s a more automated system but they have got much tighter.
I haven’t made an s75 claim with Barclaycard for almost 20 years but then they paid out £1000 without fuss for a non delivered purchase.
Last year I made a claim to HSBC for my wife. The card charge was about £375 but with other associated costs (charged on another card) came to a total claim of £600. The forms were very cumbersome but ultimately they got the £375 on chargeback after an appeal to MasterCard (following rejection by the merchant) and paid the rest under s75 plus £100 for not having paid within the stated time frame. That pays a few years of card fee and a bit of FX.
Amex was great in Covid for getting refunds from Aeroméxico, Volaris and Aerolíneas Argentinas who basically blocked refunds. You get 3MR for airline purchases plus the 0.5MR so that feels a good deal.
The focus on the last % of ‘fees’ and agonising as to whether the MC rate will be better/worse makes me laugh when I read what people are overpaying for or endlessly paying cancellation fees etc. etc.
This is something I’ve been thinking of for some time. The Amex Gold pays out 2 MR per £1 spend. If you can get value of around 1.5p/MR point (a reasonable valuation from my experience) then it pays for itself with the 3% fee. Plus you get Amex’s protection as well as S75.
The only concern I have is that Amex isn’t as accepted abroad (apart from the US) as it is in the UK. What do you think?
Also, for people that use Curve Black, it doesn’t work with Amex does it. Do you layer it with points cards like the Virgin Atlantic or Barclaycard Avois one? For Fronted and paying HMRC, it only allows you to spend £1k a month right?
Also, for people that use Curve Black, it doesn’t work with Amex does it. Do you layer it with points cards like the Virgin Atlantic or Barclaycard Avois one? For Fronted and paying HMRC, it only allows you to spend £1k a month right?
Correct.
But do any of the suggested routes actually result in money saved? Doesn’t Curve apply a spread on Fx rates? What I read is it’s 1-2% which wipes out any fronted benefits.
I have Revolut because I’m largely paid in USD by my employer, but I *think* at 0.18% and zero other benefits it’s no worse than Curve making 1-2% on Fx and giving me back 1% in Avios.
Did I miss a trick?
Curve uses the mastercard exchange rate which is published on the mastercard site (since 2020 I have always received the rate on the day though sometimes the previous day’s rate), revolut uses an exchange rate determined by them at least when you convert directly, not sure if they use mastercard/visa rate when you let the card network convert
But do any of the suggested routes actually result in money saved? Doesn’t Curve apply a spread on Fx rates? What I read is it’s 1-2% which wipes out any fronted benefits.
I have Revolut because I’m largely paid in USD by my employer, but I *think* at 0.18% and zero other benefits it’s no worse than Curve making 1-2% on Fx and giving me back 1% in Avios.
Did I miss a trick?
Curve Metal has no FX fees on £100k pa, simply charging the Mastercard Wholesale Rate, except at weekends/public holidays when there’s a 1% fee and there’s never any fee for USD or EUR transactions. This is unconnected with the ‘fronted’ benefit of £3k/month.
I’m happy with the Curve Metal fx rates, too.
Most recently in Switzerland, I realised credit card machines offered to charge me either in GBP or CHF, with about 4% mark up for CHF!
No, thanks!@can2 – just flew back from Geneva today and I too noticed this at so many places!
Contactless wouldn’t work in the places that tried to charge extra, I thought it was sneaky af.
I don’t recall seeing this the previous times I was there.
@jbd I use zing at weekends in non euro or usd currencies for this reason on personal spend.
But do any of the suggested routes actually result in money saved? Doesn’t Curve apply a spread on Fx rates? What I read is it’s 1-2% which wipes out any fronted benefits.
I have Revolut because I’m largely paid in USD by my employer, but I *think* at 0.18% and zero other benefits it’s no worse than Curve making 1-2% on Fx and giving me back 1% in Avios.
Did I miss a trick?
Curve Metal has no FX fees on £100k pa, simply charging the Mastercard Wholesale Rate, except at weekends/public holidays when there’s a 1% fee and there’s never any fee for USD or EUR transactions. This is unconnected with the ‘fronted’ benefit of £3k/month.
Cheers. A quick check vs XE.com shows that’s the same as the market rate. I shall switch (back) to Curve Metal then once I stop getting paid in USD. Hopefully Curve are still in business by then!
@can2 – just flew back from Geneva today and I too noticed this at so many places!
Contactless wouldn’t work in the places that tried to charge extra, I thought it was sneaky af.
I don’t recall seeing this the previous times I was there.
In all honesty, they explain it well that there is a mark up, and when that is the case contactless didn’t work either. I didn’t feel it was sneaky, but for the typical tourist, it is such a rip off.
And most locals pay by scanning the barcode, that shows on the credit card machine, by their banking app..Harrier25 wrote:
but personally it would be Curve Black Legacy backed with the Hilton Barclaycard at the moment.2 cards that no one can get then? Really useful *facepalm*
Ah if we are going back to legacy cards, then the MBNA Horizon deserves a mention! 😅 fx free and 0.5% cb
Like others I do still hold Halifax Clarity but *only* as a backup. It sits in my carryon with the backup earphones and ibuprofen, just in case!
I read somewhere that it is good practice to keep hold of your longest running credit line – so I also hold clarity for that reason / showing a long term healthy credit relationship.
@tw@@ty, you mean DCC for selecting GBP? Why would they charge for paying in CHF? Unless you mean merchants can charge markup like Australia does?
@jbd I use zing at weekends in non euro or usd currencies for this reason on personal spend.
But if you use curve at weekend with miles earning cards, you are not worse off. 1% fee offset by gains on points earned. I just find it inconvenient to use another card just for weekends with no net benefit.
I don’t redeem my avios for business flights, I’m Edinburgh based, so much less direct flights from here,so I don’t value avois that highly, I’d rather save the 1% than effectively be buying avios at a higher rate than I redeem them.
@bbb yes, each place that was trying to make me force the option of making me choose to pay either gbp or chf, that’s when contactless didn’t work, the extra charge was only for the “convenience” for paying in gbp.
Obviously I selected chf each time as I’m using curve and also not a tourist who doesn’t know any better.
@can2. I get what your saying, and your right, it does come up on the screen and say it, but I’m going to disagree on the sneakiness of it.
Ive used contactless regularly in numerous cities in Switzerland, and it’s only Geneva this has been coming up at some places, they are forcing you to make a decision, a decision that you have to make quickly while in a queue etc.
We’re all savvy on here and know what to do to avoid the extra charge, but it’s sneaky as it’s almost an idiot tax (maybe wrong words, but can’t think of anything better) or, even if not a idiot tax, a chance for someone who even knows, to just press the wrong option, so get end up being charged more, through either not knowing / understanding this, or through being panicked and flustered.
What about the Santander credit card with no FX fees and 2% cashback? Seems like a good deal to me!
What about the Santander credit card with no FX fees and 2% cashback? Seems like a good deal to me!
The 2% only applies in year one (and is 1% thereafter), is capped at £15/month and there’s a £3/month fee, plus I think you need a Santander account.
2% for 12 months only, then 1%, plus the cashback is limited to £15 per month so only on a pretty limited spend.
Edit: JDB just beat me to it!
IMO a good deal for 12 months, no?
I had a similar thought a few months ago after using Clarity for many years. I liked Clarity as it just worked, especially after trying some of the early fronting options which were a hassle with things like hotel pre authorisation.
I went all in and paid for an annual Curve Metal at £180 to give it a proper go. I’m about 4 months in and have so far earned just over £100 cashback (Marriott is one of their options for 1% cashback, which I find useful) and about 60k in Hilton points (backed by Hilton Barclaycard). So not huge numbers, but will likely end up a few hundred pounds worth up over the year.
The notifications are instant via the curve app, as is the 2FA. I also unusually had to make a chargeback, and the customer service from Curve was actually really responsive and had the money back in a few days.
@tw@@ty, you mean DCC for selecting GBP? Why would they charge for paying in CHF? Unless you mean merchants can charge markup like Australia does?
Not everywhere in Australia charges extra for paying by CC – remember we’re capped at 0.8% swipe fees now, not as devastating as Europe, but it did impact reward card earnings. Hotels are the killers for surcharges, seems to be universal (not just Aussie though, all of the South Pacific do it). Probably a few others too, but in general it’s not too bad.
Harrier25 wrote:
but personally it would be Curve Black Legacy backed with the Hilton Barclaycard at the moment.2 cards that no one can get then? Really useful *facepalm*
Ah if we are going back to legacy cards, then the MBNA Horizon deserves a mention! 😅 fx free and 0.5% cb
Yes, this is by far the best UK card for those who have it. I used them extensively until they closed my accounts, I guess I found the limit to how much cashback they were willing to bear the cost of…
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