The new HFP chat thread – Monday 8th June

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• Secret Squirrel says:

  8 Jun8 June 09:28

  Availability returned next Feb at Conrad Maldives for Water Villas @ 95k a night.😎

• Jac says:

  8 Jun8 June 09:40

  Just got email from Qatar airways. My TK elite plus has been matched to Platinum status.
  Anybody knows what the 5 complimentary guest lounge passes are? (Is this for any qatar lounge, OW lounge, …?
  Would it be possible to get my wife lounge access based on my BA status and my child based on my QP status?

• NvT1115 says:

  8 Jun8 June 09:42

  Morning All – regarding Amex Platinum is the current double points promotion available to all cardholders or is it targeted? Think I read running until 20th July somewhere but not sure… Cheers

  • Rob says:

    8 Jun8 June 09:47

    20th July is the deadline, yes. It isn’t targetted – whether new cardholders get it or not is perhaps a different question.

    • NvT1115 says:

      8 Jun8 June 10:01

      Thanks Rob – it might be worth taking a chance as I need to make some significant purchases imminently.

      • G says:

        9 Jun9 June 19:47

        I upgraded green amex after the offer started and got 2 MR per £, the £100 waitrose offer and 20K MR for spending £4k. Just waiting until the offer ends to cancel, lets see if they offer a chunk of MR to stay!

    • Crafty says:

      10 Jun10 June 13:57

      New cardholders do get it.

• jamie says:

  8 Jun8 June 09:52

  New emergency quarantine regulations implemented in Scotland from today, so that loophole is closed. Obvs The Clown has applied pressure.

  • Andrew says:

    8 Jun8 June 10:46

    The Scot’s legal system doesn’t permit the same level of fines as in England, so it probably just took a few days longer to react to the English changes.

    The Procurator Fiscal deals with anything over £500, so the Police fines are set at £480 compared to £1,000 in England.

    Goodness knows what happens when you are registered and quarantined in Gretna but nip to Sazbo’s in Carlisle for some shopping.

    • Anna says:

      8 Jun8 June 11:24

      The police in Cumbria won’t have the first clue who is in quarantine in Scotland. However, on a theoretical level it would be interesting to know if this would constitute a breach of quarantine in both Scotland and England. Though if you are nipping to Sazbo’s for food (I don’t know what it sells!), presumably you’ll be ok? Depending on whether it’s lawful to then re-enter Scotland from England (I’m not sure about this at the moment).

      • @mkcol says:

        8 Jun8 June 18:02

        I’ll find out this weekend when I go to visit my mum in Lockerbie for her 75th birthday!

        • Anna says:

          8 Jun8 June 19:14

          I thought you could only go as far as County Durham for birthday trips?!

      • Josh says:

        8 Jun8 June 18:05

        I assume Sazbo’s is the guy’s name for Sainsbury’s…

      • Josh says:

        8 Jun8 June 18:06

        I assume “Sazbo’s” is the guy’s name for Sainsbury’s 😵

    • jamie says:

      8 Jun8 June 11:45

      Absolute nonsense, fixed penalty notices are limited by the legislation. For original coronavirus regulations the upper limit for FPNs is £960

      (5) If the person to whom a fixed penalty notice is given has already received a fixed penalty notice under these Regulations—

      (a)paragraph (4) does not apply, and
      (b)the penalty payable in the case of—
      (i)the second fixed penalty notice received is £120,
      (ii)the third and subsequent fixed penalty notice received is double the amount specified in the last fixed penalty notice received by that person, to a maximum of £960.

• Exile says:

  8 Jun8 June 10:07

  Morning, Does anyone have a suggestion for an offshore Bank Account for a current UK Tax registered citizen?

  • BS says:

    8 Jun8 June 10:39

    There are the obvious questions: why do you want an offshore bank account if you are UK resident – there is no benefit, with the added issue of not having branches…

    Most people want offshore accounts to avoid being subject to UK tax when resident overseas. The location of the overseas location you would be in would affect my advice.
    Anywhere HSBC is present, I would do HSBC Expat (you need to qualify for premier), as you can take your credit history with you, and there are no fees in transferring money in the HSBC group.
    Many places in Africa I would recommend Barclays as they have good links with correspondent banks out there, and transfer fees are lower.
    Specialist banks like Standard Chartered are useful if they are present in your new resident locaiton.
    Citi if you are in the US.

    • RussellH says:

      8 Jun8 June 12:19

      Not sure what Exile means by an “offshore a/c” as opposed to an a/c that is not in the UK, though I might be tempted to have suspicions.
      There was an interesting Business editorial in yesterdays Sunday Times about why you might well want to close your HSBC a/c…

      If Exile simply wants an account in another currency, then they need to state what currency.
      Even if just looking at EUR, there are still very different banking rules, regulations and customs in the various Eurozone countries.
      eg. if you travel a lot in Germany and want to be able to make card payments, you probably need to have a German a/c, as a significant no. of businesses only accept German issued cards.
      On the other hand, if you travel widely throughout the Eurozone, and want to be able to withdraw cash in any Eurozone country, you do not want to only have a German bank card, as you will get a hefty bill for withdrawing cash outwith Germany.
      There is no one simple answer.

      • Exile says:

        8 Jun8 June 12:43

        A little explanation:

        I was previously offshore non Resident and have funds that will be maturing. I do not want to bring these back to the UK as will be retiring overseas so would prefer to keep the funds offshore.

        • RussellH says:

          8 Jun8 June 13:50

          Presumably you know, or at least have a pretty good idea of, where you will be retiring to. If it were me I would want the funds to be in the currency of that country, unless you plan to retire to somewhere with high inflation.
          Agreed, what I would not want to do either is convert to GBP.

        • Rob says:

          8 Jun8 June 15:05

          Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey usually the easiest options.

        • Niall says:

          8 Jun8 June 16:56

          If the earnings were from a period when you were not U.K. tax resident, then you can bring them to the U.K. without tax charge (you don’t need an overseas account). If they are overseas earnings from a period when you were U.K. tax resident but not U.K. domiciled and taxed under the remittance basis, then they should remain overseas.

          I agree with others you need to consider FX rates and what currency you want to keep the money in. If you do decide you want it in GBP and the funds should be kept offshore, then as Rob says Jersey etc good options as they’re within the U.K. banking system but considered offshore for tax.

          You should probably seek tax advice though if you’re unsure about what I said in the first paragraph.

  • Dubs says:

    8 Jun8 June 17:40

    Lloyd’s international, is where I have had “offshore” ac for many years now in Isle of man, but you can choose if based there or Malta if I recall. They can set you up with current accounts in £,€ and US$ accounts. Great for work if you get paid in the different currencies from international companies and don’t want to get stung with conversion fees, low fx rate etc. Brilliant customer services. When you ring into the bank you get a physical person to deal with in a matter of seconds( longest I’ve had to wait is 2.5 minutes), used to be 24/7, but now 6am and midnight. Physical debit cards for all accounts. You get a dedicated account manager if you need one. Based off my experience with them that’s whom I have recommended in the past. If you google Lloyd’s international there info will come up.

    • Nomad26 says:

      8 Jun8 June 18:12

      I would also recommend Lloyds International. Their offshore accounts are based in Isle of Man and I’ve had one for 3 years now, no complaints. Superb customer service and free international money transfers. Account fee is £7.50 monthly though.

      • Dubs says:

        8 Jun8 June 20:43

        Isn’t that only if you have less than £3000 in you nominated main account? Which you can switch around.

        • Dubs says:

          8 Jun8 June 21:55

          @Nomad26, ah ok. That’s changed from when I opened my accounts. No fee unless account balance went below a certain amount. They have two versions of the accounts now, fee paying and premier with different criteria.

• Ali M says:

  8 Jun8 June 10:34

  Hi All 🙂
  Would anyone know when the Walford Astoria at Maldives has 120k point rooms. Its quite sporadic – I can see July-August dates for 120k redemption but anything next year is 500k + points per night. Any ideas?

  • Rob says:

    8 Jun8 June 10:38

    They are very, very hard to find and get snapped up quickly unfortunately. I would expect a lot of cancellations however (one problem with high demand is that it forces people to book before they’ve even tried to get flights etc) so it pays to keep checking.

  • Nick_C says:

    8 Jun8 June 13:05

    I read that as Watford Astoria until I realised you meant Waldorf!

    • Genghis says:

      8 Jun8 June 13:12

      It’s the hotel in EastEnders.

      • Gormlesstraveller says:

        8 Jun8 June 17:07

        and the Watford Hilton was used in Partridge

        • Andrew M says:

          8 Jun8 June 18:31

          “It’s not a motel, it’s a travel tavern.”

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    8 Jun8 June 18:33

    Definetly will not be Jan – Apr, not seen any 120k per night at the WA in these months since they started to taking bookings.

• MattB says:

  8 Jun8 June 11:30

  I have a £50 back on £250 spend at Selfridges on my amex, has anyone had any experience of it triggering on cumulative spend as some other offers have in the past? Ideally I would prefer to make separate transactions.

  • Anna says:

    8 Jun8 June 11:47

    I would guess yes, only because I spent £250 but it was charged in 3 separate transactions by Selfridges and I got the statement credit, pretty quick as well.

  • Sukes says:

    8 Jun8 June 16:35

    6 avios per £ currently at Selfridges via BA e-avios store exc Audio & Visual, Tech and Fine Jewellery & Watches.

    • RK says:

      8 Jun8 June 20:06

      Does this apply to Selfridges GF as well?

• Oh! Matron! says:

  8 Jun8 June 11:52

  Regarding BA refunds for cancelled flights: Once I’d learnt which numbers to press (Don’t go anywhere near the word REFUND), I had a 5 minute hold, then spoke to someone who processed both my avios flight, and also my paid flight swiftly with a 7-10 day turnaround

  Despite all the negativity around BA right now, it’s the only airline out of 4 (BA, SAA, Aeroflot and VS) that have processed the refund quickly. Virgin have processed it, but the refund remains elusive. Aeroflot and SAA were S75 processes

  • ChrisC says:

    8 Jun8 June 13:16

    The problem I’m having with BA is being able to book with the voucher,

    Have given up after being in the queue for 30 mins more than once. That’s if you can even get in the queue.

    Sooner they sort themselves out and allow on line booking the better and it would save the call centre lots of work!

    BTW waited 5 and 11 weeks for refunds from AA and Finnair respectively.

    • AJA says:

      8 Jun8 June 14:25

      That issue of not being able to book other than phoning up was one of the reasons why I did not want a voucher. They really should make it that you can just apply the voucher online.

      • Rob says:

        8 Jun8 June 14:57

        It’s NOT a voucher. The clue is that the ‘voucher’ number is the same as your ticket number. All BA has done is frozen your ticket in its IT system.

        • AJA says:

          8 Jun8 June 17:36

          I realise that Rob, but BA calls it a voucher and it still requires you to phone up to book again. You can’t book a new flight online and apply the value of the held booking against it.

        • Rob says:

          8 Jun8 June 17:37

          Correct, but that would be virtually impossible from an IT point of view I think.

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