The new HFP chat thread – Saturday 16th May

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

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/2020/05/16/the-new-hfp-chat-thread-saturday-16th-may/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

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

roberto says:

16 May16 May 07:42

Phoned Amex Plat yesterday. Said I was thinking of cancelling due to current travel issues, got put through to a retention guy who waited until I said “I am going to cancel” before offering me the 20K points. Points appeared in an hour or so. Very simple.

Other data notes :- My yearly bill is due in August & I am grandfathered a free BA black
- Unsavage gerbil says:
  
  16 May16 May 10:04
  
  Whether you are successful depends on a few things, amongst them; your credit rating and whether they want you as an ongoing customer, though having Platinum usually means you are reasonably creditworthy secondly how close you are to renewal.
  - Andrew says:
    
    16 May16 May 11:31
    
    Data point – I renewed in March and was offered the 20k instantly, no fuss.
- Jack says:
  
  16 May16 May 11:58
  
  I pay my Platinum card fee monthly and wasn’t offered any retention bonus, I wonder if that is a factor?
Michael C says:

16 May16 May 08:59

Sorry for a repeat question, but if we cancel a flight for a BA voucher (2 adults and 1 child, on a family exec. club account), does the voucher just get added to he exec. account or do the exact same people then have to use the voucher? Not, say, just one of them? Or could the amount of the voucher be used up on more than one occasion, and by a combination of the original travellers?
Cheers
- Rob says:
  
  16 May16 May 09:17
  
  You can definitely use it on more than one occasion. Rest is up in the air.
  - Michael C says:
    
    16 May16 May 10:30
    
    Cheers, Rob.
Dan says:

16 May16 May 09:20

Curve question. I have been using Curve with an underlying HSBC WE Primer card top-up an ISA. It has went through Curve no issues and is processed as a transaction on my HSBC. I cannot see any charges though… I thought charges would show up instantly? Do they show up when the statement gets generated?
- MD says:
  
  16 May16 May 09:46
  
  @Dan HSBC (and IHG for that matter) don’t charge a flat cash advance fee, which is the charge that would show up in your online account or app immediately (or when the transaction is no longer pending anyway).
  
  They do however charge interest from the day of the transaction, and that only shows up on your next statement. You can minimise the interest charge by making a corresponding payment to the credit card immediately, although in my experience the scummy way HSBC charge the interest means you need to pay off the entire bill, not just the charge that generates the interest.
  
  This is in contrast to, say, Virgin, who will immediately hit you with a sizeable cash advance fee (flat percentage of the transaction I think) which you’ll be able to see, in addition to the stealthily accumulating interest.
  - Genghis says:
    
    16 May16 May 10:52
    
    Depending on what you’re doing, Creation (IHG) do charge cash advance fees (5% min £5 IIRC). I’ve been charged a few times.
    - Dan says:
      
      16 May16 May 11:13
      
      I used it 6 days ago to top up an HL ISA…
      - Genghis says:
        
        16 May16 May 11:17
        
        For HSBC and Creation, any cash advance fee shows up once the transaction goes through, say at t+2. Any interest would only show at statement date. However, you’re 99% OK doing what you did, all subject to change of course.
      - TGLoyalty says:
        
        16 May16 May 11:32
        
        Never managed to use curve with IHG for my recent HL top ups.
        
        Had to go indirectly via monese and Revolut.
    - Dan says:
      
      16 May16 May 11:31
      
      What do you mean by ‘subject to change’? Excuse my ignorance but what is the difference between the cash advance fee and interest? I would think the transaction would incur the latter?
      - Doug M says:
        
        16 May16 May 12:16
        
        A cash advance fee is a one-off charge, usually around 3% for taking cash, or cash like transaction on a credit card. Interest is a % usually calculated daily on what you owe. So if you took a £100 in cash, you might pay a fee of £3, and for everyday you owed that £100 it might cost you around 6p/day at 20%.
      - Genghis says:
        
        16 May16 May 12:17
        
        To use one of my favourite quotes “the only constant is change” when it comes to this hobby and fintechs in particiular. Don’t expect what happens today to happen tomorrow. Think about how the landscape has changed already in the last year.
      - Daniel says:
        
        16 May16 May 15:05
        
        Could I then assume that if a transaction didn’t incur a cash advance fee that I would not paying any future interest fee either?
      - TGLoyalty says:
        
        16 May16 May 18:56
        
        No as Creation charge interest at the end of the month even with no transaction fees
    - MD says:
      
      16 May16 May 11:49
      
      You must be getting adventurous Genghis, I’ve never been charged a cash advance fee by IHG. That’s mainly just topping up Revolut admittedly. Sizeable amounts though.
JC says:

16 May16 May 09:30

New notice on AMEX website on the Business Gold Card page (not sure if it’s on other pages too) stating that 30 June 2020 is the last date to apply to have 6 months rather than 3 months to achieve the sign-up bonus.

“Important Note on Welcome Bonus Offers
American Express is committed to supporting our Cardmembers and due to the impact of COVID-19, eligible Consumer and Small Business Cards will have their Welcome Bonus earn period extended. Eligible Cardmembers acquired between 29 January, 2020 through 30 June 2020, that have a Welcome Bonus, will have their earn period extended from three (3) months to six (6) months, to allow Cardmembers more time to achieve their spend threshold. “
- Rob says:
  
  16 May16 May 09:38
  
  Looks like it is all the cards looking at that wording. Thanks.
RB says:

16 May16 May 10:02

After the extension of British Airways ‘book with confidence’ scheme I’m considering making a 2-4-1 avios booking for October this year. Can anyone confirm that the usual £35 change fee is now waived?
- Michael C says:
  
  16 May16 May 10:31
  
  RB, I THINK (standing to be corrected!) that’s only the case if BA cancel, not if you decide to change yourself.
- Chris E says:
  
  16 May16 May 11:38
  
  I recently made a change to an avios booking in October and the change fee was waived under the policy.
Secret Squirrel says:

16 May16 May 10:02

Tesco Pet Insurance – after being promised bonus points would be in this Q statement – No.
Called up & advised CC number not in file even though I definitely added it at policy purchase stage.
Referred to rewards dept, asked to proceed to complaint & awaiting call back so hoping for some compo!
- Baji Nahid says:
  
  16 May16 May 19:17
  
  Hi SS same here, my son did not get any points and is going to cancel, will write an email and let you know!
  - Secret Squirrel says:
    
    16 May16 May 19:47
    
    Dont candel until youve got the points!
    - Baji Nahid says:
      
      16 May16 May 22:17
      
      SS oh absolutely, my son will write to them however not sure what to say? thinking he should say that he has not even got any policy documents for his insurance.
Oli says:

16 May16 May 10:04

Just called Amex – they could only give me 15000 MR points for keeping my Platinium card. Couldn’t do 20,000
- Oli says:
  
  16 May16 May 10:09
  
  The lady had a German accent
  - Oli says:
    
    16 May16 May 10:15
    
    She could not see the offer, so I told her about it. She manually added it at 15,000 after asking a colleague and said it would have to go through the approval of her manager. Perhaps I can call later the UK centre and also have the 20,000 offer added
    - Ian M says:
      
      16 May16 May 11:14
      
      Nice work. They refuse to give me anything. I’ve called 3 times in the last week.
      - BuyEMLocalBonds says:
        
        16 May16 May 12:59
        
        How long have you had the card?
      - Ian M says:
        
        16 May16 May 16:52
        
        About 2 and a half years. I’m a heavy spender. Starting to think that’s counting against me
JC says:

16 May16 May 10:09

Do you still get a 3k MR bonus for adding supplementary cards to the Amex Business Gold Card? I can’t find any details anymore anywhere. Thanks.
- memesweeper says:
  
  16 May16 May 15:20
  
  Me either! Would like to know all the differences between Bus. Gold Charge and consumer Gold Credit to be honest…