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Bits: Which? magazine writes about HfP readers, the BA Amex Premium card lives

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News in brief:

Which? covers the end of Royal Mint commemorative coin purchases

In the past I have written about Royal Mint offers where you could buy commemorative coins at face value – using a miles earning credit card – and then pay them into your bank account.

I was always cautious of such deals because it was often tricky to find backs that would accept them.  Eventually the Royal Mint intervened and told banks to stop taking them.

The story was picked up in Which? magazine this month:

Which? magazine commemorative coins

Is Amex still issuing the BA Amex Premium card to new customers?

If you can remember the peak days of Busted, McFly and Natasha Bedingfield, you might also remember the grey-coloured British Airways American Express Premium card. 

It offered 1.25 Avios per £1 (half way between the free and Premium Plus cards) and required £15,000 of spend (half way between etc) for a 2-4-1 companion voucher with an 18 month validity (half way between etc).

It was only half way successful and was quickly withdrawn by American Express.

However, this comment was posted at Flyertalk this week.  A Premium Plus cardholder who wanted to downgrade – presumably after triggering his voucher – was offered this card as an alternative to the free one.

I doubt this was a random agent who had decided off their own back to relaunch a card last seen when they were still at primary school, so it is possible we may see more efforts by Amex to bring it back.  I know that Amex has continued to re-issue new BA Premium Amex cards on expiry to the few people who still have one. 


Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2021 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit or charge card, here are our November 2021 recommendations based on the current sign-up bonus

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the top current deals:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

Nectar American Express

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

American Express Platinum card Amex

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers.

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and free for a year Read our full review

Amex Platinum Business American Express

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and a long list of travel benefits Read our full review

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express card

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending:

Barclaycard Select Cashback Credit Card

1% cashback and no annual fee Read our full review

Comments (66)

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

  • Mrs_fussy says:

    I downgraded last week and was offered the free BA Amex one to keep till I use my voucher so as not to loose the 2-4-1 voucher

    • Barry cutters says:

      You wouldn’t lose it anyway. It stays on your account even if you cancel all together. Don’t listen to Amex

      • Genghis says:

        We were told the same yesterday when cancelled wife’s BAPP. We’ve booked 241 flight but not yet taken flight. I just said “I’m aware of risks but just want to cancel”.

        • stuart says:

          Is there REALLY a risk though? Has anyone actually ever lost a 241 after cancelling?

  • asy949 says:

    Hi a slightly off piste question about the BA PP 2-4-1. I’ve redeemed four one-way tickets using two 2-4-1s recently ( no availability to suit return dates but have solid contingency for return anyway). I’m continuing to check twice daily (!!) for potential returns in the hope of adding this on with change fee. Does anyone know if I can cancel my BA PP card ( to start the 6 month countdown) now, but successfully add the return leg if it opens up during this 6 month card-less period? Scoured FT and the various HfP comments pages and no joy in finding an answer. Thanks in advance!

    • Rob says:

      Won’t be a problem because they don’t cancel the first leg, they simply amend it (booking ref stays same)

      • asy949 says:

        Woot! Thanks Rob.

      • pauldb says:

        I doubt it’s a problem, but they often refund the one way avios then charge the full return. Whether they refund and reapply the voucher seems to unknown??? (Though do we know if a cancelled card creates a problem restoring a voucher when a booking is cancelled anyway?)

  • Jack says:

    Are BAPP existing cardholders being hit by the fee increase to £195? I’m sure I saw some comments from people who’ve had letters saying their fee is going up but I haven’t had one and my anniversary is September.

    • Rob says:

      You will get one ….

      • chris says:

        I have a BAPP card which my wife had a blue free card and referred me for it through the website. Now that her card has been closed for 6 months when I look on the refer a friend page I only have the option to refer her for the BAPP card. Can I no longer refer friends for the free Blue card?
        Also is the pro rata refund still available on the BAPP card?

        • Genghis says:

          You can – it’s just a bit fiddly now. Do a little Google on how to do it now. Though you might be better off your wife getting the BAPP card over the Blue (even with the fee increase – see Raffles’ analysis).
          Yes – pro-rata refund still available on BAPP. We got one yesterday.

    • Genghis says:

      My wife cancelled BAPP yesterday but we received a letter this week saying fee is going up to £195 and that fee increases are applicable from September (I presume this is across the board for existing card holders?)

    • pauldb says:

      I had a letter saying my discounted £30 fee would countinue to be honoured, so YMMV!

    • Gin and Tonic Please says:

      Got mine last week…

    • harry says:

      Annex B p14

    • Alan says:

      Yeah, it appeared about a week ago – consensus here was that it looked a bit rubbish but no harm having, it doesn’t seem to require spend to be on the card.

      • Jon says:

        Just a thought – question for the collective wisdom here 🙂 I believe most insurance policies (at least all the ones I’ve ever had to wade through) have clauses along the lines of “if you’re covered by multiple policies, we may only pay our share of a claim”. So is there a risk that having a bunch of freebie / bundled / not-so-good policies from credit cards etc might actually cause problems if you ever had to make a claim on your ‘proper’ policy? Can you take a credit card (or other product) but refuse the bundled insurance?!

        • Alan says:

          I know of the sort of clause you mean – I don’t see how they could force you to use some of the cover from a free policy like this though.

          • Rob says:

            When asked if I have any other cover I always say no and conveniently forget that I probably have something via my current account or whatever. What happens, for example, if Amex insurance insist you split the claim with Supercard (who gave you insurance you never asked for) but Supercard has a £500 excess?

          • Alan says:

            Quite agree!

  • Harry says:

    The face value commemorative coins can however easily be used in any machine that takes UK coins, as indeed can Gibraltar sterling coins. Not great if you have thousands but very useful for smaller quantities, especially at stores that allow you to convert coins into notes or store vouchers.

    • John says:

      The “face value commemorative coins” can be spent as normal coins. Why on earth would you separate these out just to pay 8% to coinstar?

      Gibraltar / IOM / CI / St Helena / Falklands coins can just be put into a bag with other coins and paid into a bank.

  • Bob says:

    Hi,
    A random amex question.

    I have business amex card, if I also apply for personal amex gold, would I get 20.000 bonus points?

    Cheers.

    • Funtime says:

      I emailed Amex CS some time ago about this and was told no.

      However, sometime ago Amex said that business cards were for solely business use and not for personal use so may be worth a call?

      • Nick says:

        So, does that mean any business Amex charge card or credit card can’t be used to pay for a families holiday so then not be able to use priority Pass?

    • Oliver says:

      Hello I have the green Amex corporate card. I got a gold card no problem

      • Rob says:

        But is that Green card from YOUR business or given by your employer?

        The question relates to self employed business Gold and a personal Gold. You probably would not get a bonus – some do but I know those who didn’t.

  • Alan says:

    OT bits – Revolut now allow top-ups via Visa and MasterCard – http://revolutapp.tumblr.com/post/148205788442/acceptingcreditcards

    1% fee for using credit card to top up, but then £500/mo allowed in ATM withdrawals with no fee. Card is free to get and no additional credit check. You can hold balances in a variety of core currencies and swap between them for free. Exchange rates seem decent and update live.

  • YKW says:

    Not sure if I read this right but is it the case that if you cancel once you have triggered the 2-4-1 voucher the voucher remains in your account to use until it’s natural expiry?

    • Nick Haley says:

      correct! just as long as you have some form of Amex (BA AMEX) card to pay for the tax on your ticket I think you’re good to go.

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.