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The new HFP chat thread – Friday 24th April

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We have decided to run this new daily chat thread on Head for Points.

Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the defacto repository for random comments and questions.  It is unlikely that the news flow will be so big over the next few weeks that we will need many ‘Bits’ articles, however.

The comments under this article are where you should post questions about travel and, indeed, anything else on your mind.  At this tricky time, and given that many of you are stuck at home self-isolating, we want the HFP community to have a place to chat.

Please only comment under the main articles on the site if your comment is directly related to the topic of the article.  This has long-term benefits as its keeps the commentary relevant for people who read those articles in the future.

By default, HFP shows the last page of comments under the article.  If you want to see the first page of comments and read them all from beginning to end in order, click here: https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2020/04/24/the-new-hfp-chat-thread-friday-24th-april/comment-page-1 The page will refresh with this article but the comments will now show the first page and not the last page.

We will continue to monitor how this is working.  Let’s see how it goes.  Take care!

Category

General

Comments (345)

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

  • Andrew says:
    24 Apr24 April 16:29

    If I have a negative Avios balance (of a few thousand) on my BA Amex, can Amex claw back the Avios from BA or will my Amex just sit at a negative balance until I start spending to get up to zero etc?

    • Peter K says:
      24 Apr24 April 22:45

      They will not close back Avios from BA. Your account will just be negative until you claw back to zero. If you are deeply negative then it may be worth considering cancelling. They will not stop you but don’t do it often or take the micky. A few thousand rarely/one off should be okay.

  • Anna says:
    24 Apr24 April 16:53

    Curve (bad) news. How can they charge a fee for doing something which is technically forbidden in their Ts & Cs anyway?

    • Freddy says:
      24 Apr24 April 17:15

      I had thought that – guess it’s forbidden except if you throwing them some bribe money along the way

    • Harry T says:
      24 Apr24 April 18:42

      It’s Curve – they have no concept of sensible or ethical business practice. Literally a bonfire of investor’s money. I do like using them abroad during the week but with VS about to go bust, and the worse rates on the weekend, probably just time to go back to Halifax Clarity.

  • rams1981 says:
    24 Apr24 April 16:58

    Does anyone know how the 1.5% curve charge is levied? is it at time of purchase and you need to approve it or does it just get automatically added?

    • @mkcol says:
      24 Apr24 April 18:19

      Time of purchase & included in the overall transaction value which is clearly explained when you click on their FAQ.

      • rams1981 says:
        24 Apr24 April 18:40

        Thanks. Doesn’t appear to be live yet for me on legacy black to vanguard

  • illuminatus says:
    24 Apr24 April 17:02

    Can you still top up r4volut with HS8C Prem free of charge?

    • Olly says:
      24 Apr24 April 19:32

      Not directly. They charge a cash advance fee. Not sure if this is the case if you were to route through Curve though 🤔

      • TGLoyalty says:
        24 Apr24 April 22:52

        Curve pass through the MCC so can’t see any advantage of curve.

  • Anna says:
    24 Apr24 April 17:03

    On the plus side, The Langley has moved my points stay to August, in the event that domestic travel is back on by then!

    • Peter K says:
      24 Apr24 April 17:09

      That’s at least one positive!

      • Anna says:
        24 Apr24 April 17:11

        And I’ve just discovered Coconut and Lime gin from Aldi is really quite nice. If I close my eyes I could be in the Caribbean instead of my back garden 😂

        • Michael C says:
          24 Apr24 April 17:42

          Result for the late b-day, Anna!
          Will give the gin a bash. “Ver Viola” from Oxford is my latest fave!

    • Freddy says:
      24 Apr24 April 17:13

      If you do get there I bet the socially distant spa treatment will be delightful. The meal in the restaurant – any more wine madam. Yes please, okay it’s just over there, once you done with it please wipe down with a dettol wipe and please put your mask back on as soon as possible

      • Peter K says:
        24 Apr24 April 17:19

        It’ll be served by the bottle only I imagine. When there last December wine seemed to be served only by the bottle from the Churchill bar anyway.

      • Anna says:
        24 Apr24 April 17:48

        We might be eating picnic items from Tesco Express in our room, granted.

    • George K says:
      24 Apr24 April 21:19

      Hi Anna – how did you approach this? Did you call the hotel directly or through Marriott? I’ve got a big points booking for July and if travel is still off by then, I’ll need to move it too..

      • TGLoyalty says:
        24 Apr24 April 22:53

        The hotel will contact you closer to the date of the stay if they are still closed.

        • Anna says:
          25 Apr25 April 08:48

          Yes – they emailed me a couple of days ago asking if I wanted to cancel or postpone. I didn’t want to cancel outright as I would have to pay double the number of points for a new booking.

  • Lynn says:
    24 Apr24 April 17:14

    I have just received an email which shows a full refund for my Jet2 flight they had cancelled. I will be happy when the money is in my account but looks promising.

    • Secret Squirrel says:
      24 Apr24 April 17:35

      Bet Rob is already writing the article on Curve for tomorrow.
      Will it hit 1K comments?

      • Freddy says:
        24 Apr24 April 17:39

        There’s nothing better than a hfp doom and gloom article with outrage and shock from all along with the same question in the comments repeated over and over

      • Rob says:
        24 Apr24 April 17:48

        To be honest, I have no idea who was charging and who wasn’t. We never plugged Curve on the back of using it pay cards anyway, and I never ever got it to work with Amex (but I have one of the old weird legacy cards).

        • Peter K says:
          24 Apr24 April 17:56

          As much as anything, I bet curve has done this now as all the HMRC payments it hoped to get in July from self employed payments will not be forthcoming.

  • Liam says:
    24 Apr24 April 17:55

    I just made a student loan repayment with Curve and no charge was levied, for anyone else who’s interested in whether that type of payment has been caught up in Curve’s latest changes.

    • Secret Squirrel says:
      24 Apr24 April 18:18

      If I read correct, if you attempt to make a payment to merchant on their financial code list you get a message come up advising you of 1.5% fee chargeable.
      I do not understand why some get this msg and you didn’t?

      • Harry T says:
        24 Apr24 April 19:31

        I’ve tried today. Got the Curve Fronted notification for attempting to pay seagulls but not for investing in the government bank.

      • Doug M says:
        24 Apr24 April 22:50

        Just the usual flakey IT?

      • Liam says:
        25 Apr25 April 00:21

        I don’t know. I’m not someone who often uses Curve to pay a CC bill so I don’t even know what the notification would look like if they tried to hit me with the 1.5%, but nothing came up and I checked the final amount in the app against the amount I’d entered to pay and it matched up. Maybe it’s dodgy IT meaning that some of these are still getting through or maybe Curve aren’t charging for absolutely all of these types of payment yet. I guess we’ll find out definitively soon.

    • Bigmaggot says:
      24 Apr24 April 18:36

      Just did premium bonds, no charge!

    • Don says:
      24 Apr24 April 18:39

      Do you have personal or commercial cards?

      I tried Amex with my Commercial and it didn’t work.

      Might it also be relevant if the App has been updated to enable Curve Fronted?

      • Bigmaggot says:
        24 Apr24 April 19:12

        Commercial

      • Crafty says:
        24 Apr24 April 20:04

        I’ve just managed to get a few NS&I payments through over the last 15 minutes, and literally just now the final one has declined as they’ve indicated. At least I managed a bit first…

        • BJ says:
          24 Apr24 April 20:41

          Oh no, in that case I might need to send @Harry T an invoice for 20,000 Honors points.

          • Harry T says:
            24 Apr24 April 21:08

            @BJ I did reply to say that it had worked for me with my bank deposits but not seagull payments.

  • Lumma says:
    24 Apr24 April 18:25

    Curve are now advertising paying your credit cards with a credit card as a benefit, rather than it not really being allowed before.

    I’ve noticed that Curve metal is now just mobile phone insurance and not “gadget insurance”, if my digital camera was insured I might have went back for metal.

    • Secret Squirrel says:
      24 Apr24 April 18:40

      Can anyone confirm Re: Curve.
      Is it only trying to pay seagulls that you get the 1.5% fee message pop up or does this pop up also trying to pay NS I?

      • Don says:
        24 Apr24 April 18:58

        Why don’t you try it and report back?

        Definitely Amex is showing the fee with my Commercial card and updated App.

      • Harry T says:
        24 Apr24 April 19:03

        Decided to see what happened. Paying seagulls = advised to turn on Curve Fronted (has never happened before). Being a good little saver with the national bank = no mention of Curve Fronted, business as usual. Underlying card – IHG white.

      • BJ says:
        24 Apr24 April 20:31

        Harry T commented earlier that the government bank now attracts the 1.5% too.

      • Don says:
        24 Apr24 April 20:32

        For the lovely Gov bank, how long before you can transfer out, and what is considered a reasonable amount not to upset Shachar nor Mr Sunak?

        • BJ says:
          24 Apr24 April 20:43

          7 days.

          • BJ says:
            24 Apr24 April 20:47

            Five figures per month and no problems for me. However, I’ve seen a comment indicating that a reader has been asked about source of funds etc.

          • Harry T says:
            24 Apr24 April 21:36

            @BJ how do you split that up? Do you withdraw all deposits at the same time?

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

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