pazza2000

...it should come! This is a small cash purchase also so the risk and anti money launder check requirement should be light but I’ve had to print app (Revolut etc) and credit card statements to provide a trail for the manufactured spend. They also asked if I am paying tax on the interest earned. They see miles as some kind of interest. Many sore head occasions on this one...

craigthemif

Why is your Revolut / Curve MS cycle "proof of funds"? And if those are your two main providers of banking services - i.e. you don't have a standard bank account into which your salary, direct debits, etc. are handled (providing everything a solicitor could possibly want) - why are you playing around with MS in your main bank accounts?

I tip my hat if you can afford a property based on MS alone, but in that case you're better off coming clean and saying that you effectively are a money launderer... taking money from the dumb VCs who back these new age banking Apps with very little utility for real world users.

pazza2000

Think there is a bit of miscommunication! I have a main bank acc, source of income etc. It’s the large deposits via Revolut and large debits to my CC’s that has lead them to wanting my Curve statements etc. I mean it’s a perfectly linear trail imo and the net on my main acc is roughly the same. Nothing untoward or for me to worry about, it just doesn’t make sense to a small town solicitor who can’t get their head around an airmile, and why I would do this! The source and proof of funds is there, I think my account activity has just really confused them.

TheUrbanite

Huh? How does doing high volumes of MS make you a money launderer?

craigthemif

As a way of explaining to people who just don't understand... you're better off saying that you are laundering money - moving money around as fast as possible for no other reason than to move money around - yes legal according to the law of the land as MS but 100% the point of illegal money laundering as well...

And FWIW it goes against the T&Cs of the financial product you signed up to but that sort of contractual misconduct doesn't seem to bother too many people around here...

dunker

Hi everyone,

Looking to get into this now. After watching countless videos about MS in the US, Is it worth doing it in the UK?

I would really appreciate if anyone can PM me some tips about Curve.

I currently have about £29k in limits, with cards from barclaycard, mbna, lloyds and amex.

Happy new year everyone!

mhrb

Yes it's worth it.

Nobody's going to pm you if you have nothing to offer in return.

You need a lot more than 29k limit.

dunker

Thank you for the quick reply!

Yeah, not much to offer since I’m only starting haha, but appreciate your honesty!

craigthemif

Tips about Curve? It's a lot of trial and error until you find something that works for you and doesn't cost you more in interest charges.

But with "barclaycard, mbna, lloyds" what credit card perks are you actually expecting to earn from some MS?

dunker

That’s what I’m pretty much after, those don’t come with any sort of rewards like the amex gold does. So unless there’s a method of getting that 1% cashback included in the metal subscription, I don’t really know haha. Unfortunately Amex is not accepted by curve nor revolut, so that’s a dead end for now.

craigthemif

Until you decide what you want to earn from an underlying credit card and why, it's premature to discuss Curve / Revolut at all.

Check out the Virgin Atlantic card and I suppose the IHG card. Rewards are poor though, so you need to do massive volumes of MS to make it worthwhile - which means you need to have tens of thousands of pounds in savings to dedicate solely to MS...

Doing MS for cashback is a bad idea IMO. It's like trying to pick up pennies on a busy motorway.

TheUrbanite

Depends on what you want. I collect airline and hotel points. Mostly from Amex - both the Membership Rewards and SPG (Mariott) points can be used for either. The flexibility is great. Every few years I collect enough points to fly long haul in economy and redeem a night or two in a 3* hotel.

Still holding onto the Lloyds Avios card but have no real use for it to be honest. It got sock drawered when the "Business for the Avios price of Premium Economy" voucher was withdrawn. The Barclaycard Hilton card is good for the gold status but the redemption prices are way out of reach if you can only put £1k or so through a month. Both cards are unavailable to new customers though - I don't think either bank or MBNA for that matter are currently offering anything new of interest to MSers.

For points earning opportunities these days it's mostly Amex, Capital on Tap, HSBC Premier, Tesco if anyone is still bothering with the Clubcard scheme and Virgin Money.

Re: MSing for cashback. I really can't get excited about annual statement credits from Amex/MBNA Horizon or monthly statement credits from Santander. Arbing offers a much better return for the time.

WLX

I have never tried it so not sure if anyone is doing MS in the UK using gambling transactions, matched betting etc. Usually these are coded as a cash advance but maybe with some startups there were ways around it.

But the Gambling Commission have announced this morning that credit card usage for gambling transactions is going to be banned from 14 April. This comes as a result of pressure from anti-addiction and mental health charities and campaign groups. I am sure it is basically fair enough and on balance a good policy move, and also I assume that many credit cards already decline gambling transactions as they’d rather not get involved with it?

Despite that I am a bit uneasy anytime I am told what methods of payment I can and can’t use for things I want to buy. When will cash purchases (such as for painkillers in a pharmacy or a set of new kitchen knives) be restricted for security/safety reasons?

There is an exemption for lotteries that benefit good causes as long as they introduce various consumer protections (limits etc.).

mhrb

Have not got close to getting anything to not register as cash advances as the gambling mcc is usually the one dealt with first and one of the most high risk for lenders. I would be very surprised if anything has worked in the last 5-10 years.

WLX

Very true. Although the line from the mental health charities this morning has been “now we need to ensure that we work with providers of loadable wallets and apps”. To me this is the start of following transactions through to identify intent and block/recode.

This would in time have impact beyond gambling.