The HfP chat thread – Thursday 1st October

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• marcw says:

  1 Oct1 October 07:54

  Three months for Brexit. How is everyone preparing?

  • Jonty says:

    1 Oct1 October 07:58

    Apparently the quick way to tell if you were middle class was whether you ate humous, before the previous Brexit date I think it changed to whether you stockpiled tins of cassoulet.

    • Andrew says:

      1 Oct1 October 11:50

      It’s all down to perception.

      Humous sandwiches are a staple in the packed lunches of the lowest income children. It’s the new “jam sandwich” as they’d be confiscated these days.

  • Anna says:

    1 Oct1 October 08:51

    I need to chase up the solicitor about my Spanish passport …

    • Michael C says:

      1 Oct1 October 09:11

      I have the Spanish passport, now we’re processing our Mercosur residence cards: Uruguay looking pretty interesting as option…D? E?!

      • Anna says:

        1 Oct1 October 09:15

        I’d love to visit Uruguay and Argentina at some point but I’ll be happy just to be able to enter the Schengen zone without a visa!

        • RussellH says:

          1 Oct1 October 11:09

          Sorry, Anna, maybe I have misread or misunderstood some of your previous posts, but I had got the impression that you were in favour of leaving the EU in order to increase border controls.

        • Anna says:

          1 Oct1 October 11:36

          RusselH – my views on the EU have no bearing on my dual nationality.

        • RussellH says:

          1 Oct1 October 14:49

          My point is that if someone is in favour of stengthening border controls, they should expect (and, indeed, be happy) to pay any charges levied for passing those border controls and ought not to be avoiding them, even if they are, as a dual national, able to do so.
          It smacks of promoting one rule for the few and another for everyone else.
          (And yes, I do, too, possess a Schengen Nationality as well as my UK one. The difference is I want to live in a UK inside Schengen.)

        • ChrisBCN says:

          1 Oct1 October 15:23

          I’m with you on that one RussellH, smacks of illogical hypocrisy.

        • Anna says:

          1 Oct1 October 19:06

          You obviously don’t really understand hypocrisy – it would only be hypocritical if I were advocating that no-one except me should be able to have more than one passport. You are conflating 2 issues as well – freedom to live and work in the UK and freedom not to be subject to any kind of background checks. It’s the latter I object to – as, I imagine, are the British victims of such individuals as Jamshid Piruz and Arnis Zalkalns who were able to settle in the UK unchallenged despite having convictions for killing people in their home countries.

  • Pete says:

    1 Oct1 October 09:21

    Moved all my savings into Euros and Germany…

    • Rhys says:

      1 Oct1 October 09:45

      Hope you’re enjoying the negative interest rates!

      • Pete says:

        1 Oct1 October 10:00

        You mean like Starling here…? “We’ve updated our Euro Account terms to introduce an interest rate of -0.5% AER on deposits over €50,000. From 4th November, you’ll be charged interest for holding deposits over €50,000. For example, if you’ve got €51,000 in your account, you’ll only be charged interest on that extra €1,000. Interest will be accrued daily, and charged monthly.”

        • Rhys says:

          1 Oct1 October 10:06

          Yep – on their Euro accounts.

        • Pete says:

          1 Oct1 October 10:20

          None of that in Germany (yet, possibly!)

        • Rhys says:

          1 Oct1 October 10:23

          You haven’t done your research! https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-03/german-banks-open-floodgates-to-negative-rates-for-all-savers

      • RussellH says:

        1 Oct1 October 10:51

        I get paid interest on my Belgian a/c

    • Genghis says:

      1 Oct1 October 10:58

      Can I ask what your rationale is for moving savings into Euros? Do you have any up-and-coming (over next few years) EUR liabilities?

      I’m British and London based. I find keeping my cash in GBP and savings (for use over the next few years) in GBP (as that’s what I’ll predominantly be spending) and a globally diversified stock potfolio (in a variety of buckets) subject to global currency movements sufficient for my needs.

      • PolKuZZZ says:

        1 Oct1 October 11:48

        Genuine questions on travel:
        -Do you not see yourself travelling to EU or USA or any other country for that matter? Trips suddenly getting 15% to 20% more expensive as they did the day after the referendum? The GBP buying substantially less abroad…

        -Or are you inclined on pure domestic travel (without getting too political here, we’ve witnessed the disgrace of staycations during summer with overcrowding, rowdy people, and poor value for money)?

        Genuine questions on non-travel spend:
        -Let’s say the GBP doesn’t crash, but everything else goes up in cost. All the imports this Island brings in, the food, the tarriffs, etc. Would it not be better to hold foreign currency which appreciates against the pound?

        I agree with not holding too much cash, but if you’re planning on cashing your stock portfolio for any of the above spend buckets (not saying you are) you’re defeating the long-term view?

        • Genghis says:

          1 Oct1 October 12:31

          Good questions! Once (if) Covid goes away, I’ll be travelling as I normally did. It’s best to match the currency of your assets against the exposure of future liabilities on a ladder. Over the long term, I want to be exposed to global equity and currency movements hence the portfolio. Over the short term, yes I could buy cash now for future transactions but that’s fiddly and ties up cash. To move savings into other currencies means you have the cash now so why not have that working for you in the markets (whilst also getting the currency benefit)? Then spend (in whatever currency) what you earn. When I go into decumulation mode in a few decades’ time, I want to have 3 years of actual cash which I will try to split to match actual expenses, but that’s a long way off!

      • Pete says:

        1 Oct1 October 12:57

        Oh come on, Rhys, that article is from December 2019 and, 10 months later, I don’t see any major retail banks in Germany doing this. Could it happen, sure, but I’ll take my risk and move money around if I need to.

        Re why am I doing this – I can see a situation where the 1 January really brings untold disruption to the UK and it will just be easier to move to Europe (temporarily or longer-term – I also hold a European passport). Euros will obviously be useful for that. Fingers crossed that doesn’t happen, but I don’t think I’ll lose a huge amount of money if I need to move the Euros back into pounds over the next few years. I am not talking particularly huge amounts – useful to have that in cash.

  • Nick_C says:

    1 Oct1 October 10:41

    I’ll be importing a few cases of Portuguese sparkling red. Only discovered it by accident when I was looking for Jacob’s Creek on special offer.

    • Anna says:

      1 Oct1 October 13:00

      I’ve never even been able to bring myself to try sparkling red, it just sounds like an abomination!

      • dezbez says:

        1 Oct1 October 13:18

        The couple of English ones I’ve tried have been exactly that Anna and I’ve not ventured near any since. Maybe it’s time to try some from Portugal instead….

  • BJ says:

    1 Oct1 October 11:08

    How the EU are preparing…
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54370226

    • ChrisC says:

      1 Oct1 October 11:17

      They issue ‘letters of formal notice’ all the time.

      UK has been in receipt of them for a long time just as other EU nations have been as well.

    • Anna says:

      1 Oct1 October 13:01

      I don’t approve of what our government has done in respect of this, but given the length of time EU legal actions historically take, I doubt they’re quaking in their (riding) boots over this.

  • AJA says:

    1 Oct1 October 14:01

    Technically we have already Brexited – we did that on 31 Jan 2020. What you mean is 3 months until the end of the transition period and trading on WTO terms if politicians on both sides of the debate don’t pull their fingers out of their arses and actually negotiate a FTA.

    As for preparing, nothing. I am not travelling anywhere so no need to apply for the EU visa waiver. I’m more concerned about whether London goes into Covid lockdown again. Also more curious whether Biden will be POTUS on 4 November 2020.

    • ChrisBCN says:

      1 Oct1 October 15:26

      I certainly wouldn’t want to be travelling between UK/Schengen in those early days of January, there is a strong chance of absolute chaos for several days or more!

    • Nick says:

      1 Oct1 October 17:34

      Both I and Biden himself can guarantee that he won’t be POTUS in November. He may be PEOTUS (President-Elect), to take office in January.

• Ian M says:

  1 Oct1 October 07:56

  Finally got an email from TAP regarding the status match, I’ve tried to login to my TAP account a few times this morning to make the purchase of 4000 miles, but everytime I do I get the following error “Sorry, but the service is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later.”

  Has anyone else tried logging in today? Wondering if it’s a general problem or something with my account

  • meta says:

    1 Oct1 October 08:34

    I received the email on Sunday and have not been able to log in ever since. I tried a few times a day.

  • AJA says:

    1 Oct1 October 13:46

    Weird. I just successfully logged into my account via the app. As for purchasing 4,000 miles DON’T do that.

    Buy the basic 1 year Basic TAP miles & go plan for €99 instead. It gives you 1,000 miles a month so 12,000 for the year and is cheaper than simply buying 4,000 miles.

    • meta says:

      1 Oct1 October 17:11

      Ah, that worked via app. Thanks. Still can’t log in via desktop or mobile site.

• Pete says:

  1 Oct1 October 08:18

  Morning all! Does anyone know if any of the car hire excess insurers cover trips/countries where the FCO advises against “all (but essential) travel”?

  I have an annual policy with Questor which specifically excludes it (which makes sense!). I am easily able to get travel insurance to go to all these pariah places (!), but struggling to find anyone who’d cover the car hire excess (which would be good to have in Italy – this assumes they go on the naughty list later, of course). Worst case I suppose I may have to go with the Hertz local insurance option…

  • marcw says:

    1 Oct1 October 08:31

    I think a couple of days ago someone commented on a similar issue. It’s worth going back a couple of days and check comments, but if I’m not wrong, I think insurance4carhire covers that case

    • Pete says:

      1 Oct1 October 09:07

      Thanks, will have a look!

      Sadly Insurance4CarHire also says: “We will not provide cover for claims arising as a direct result of a situation highlighted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office where You have hired a car in a specific country or area where, prior to the car Rental Agreement commencing, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has advised against all or all (but essential) travel. Up to date advice can be found on the FCO’s website: http://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.”

      • Pete says:

        1 Oct1 October 09:21

        No luck finding anything – so if anyone remembers / knows more that’d be much appreciated!

        • marcw says:

          1 Oct1 October 09:53

          Sorry Pete – can’t find it either. It seems the chat threads get removed now.
          But there was definitely a company that covered it.

        • pauldb says:

          1 Oct1 October 09:58

          I’ve used carhireexcess.co.uk before and even making a claim was painless. I can’t see any COVID exception on their policy but you might want to call.

      • GavinK says:

        1 Oct1 October 10:17

        If you get a quote via moneymaxim.co.uk you can filter the results to show policies where any covid related FCO advice status does not affect cover.

        • Pete says:

          1 Oct1 October 10:25

          Amazing all – thank you. Carhireexcess.co.uk seems to tick the box and the comparison on moneymaxim.co.uk is super helpful. Much appreciated!

• Vit says:

  1 Oct1 October 09:04

  Question on using bearded man paying IHG please.

  I have tried paying £1 to see if there is any incurred fees — no fees has incurred. 🙂

  I have £3.5k balance to pay off. Based on people experience here, should I be paying off in sum or small amount over say 10 days (before due date)? not sure if that makes any difference as to gain any unwanted attention from both sides of the credit cards?

  • Ashish says:

    1 Oct1 October 09:10

    You can pay with virgin card. I do 1000 depending on curve limits

    • stevenhp1987 says:

      1 Oct1 October 10:25

      Why would you involve Curve in this. Read what cards Creation accept…

  • Travel Strong says:

    1 Oct1 October 09:46

    Doing the whole lot in one is no issue (and don’t use curve as suggested above, no need)

    • Steve says:

      1 Oct1 October 10:08

      Anyone used Abbey or Midlands Bank cards to pay creation directly, without curve

    • Vit says:

      1 Oct1 October 10:31

      Thanks guys. That’s clear — off to pay the balance now. 🙂

• Damien says:

  1 Oct1 October 09:14

  Maldives 72 hour covid fit-to-fly certs. These have to be taken and negative certified no more than 72 hours before departure. However the current departure times are after 6; outside postal collection, and clinic hours…. realistically, you cant send the test till morning. Losing at least 15 hours. The 48 hours (not guaranteed) turn around is only from when the Lab receives it. So posting just says it’ll be delivered in 24 hours… so it’s not viable. So you’re dependent on how the clinic gets it to the lab. Neither of BAs recommendations sound like they can get these on time….. has anyone else had issues getting the certs????

  • Michael C says:

    1 Oct1 October 10:07

    I asked about this yesterday Damien (for possible Dec. flight), and it seems that there is virtually no 100% guaranteed return: many TrustPilot comments of “they sent a text saying they’d received a lot of demand and couldn’t guarantee return…so I missed my 5k trip” etc. etc.!

    • Damien says:

      1 Oct1 October 10:53

      If the flight had at least been earlier, then the test could have been posted and arrived the next morning for processing. Would make it more likely, but the current departure time just makes this so hard.

      • meta says:

        1 Oct1 October 11:00

        A colleague of mine used these. He paid for 24h service and got results on time.

        https://www.coronatestcentre.com/products/covid-19-pcr-fit-to-fly-test-for-travel#test

• Anna says:

  1 Oct1 October 09:19

  Re the Indigo Bath article yesterday – I’m not sure if their IT wasn’t completely up the spout yesterday. I booked a King Vault room for next May, for 30k points and £136 for 2 nights. 30k points were immediately deducted from my account but there’s no sign of the payment being taken yet (even pending) and the booking currently shows that I’ve paid 60k points. Guess I’ll wait a few weeks to see if they amend this or contact me!

  • Andrew says:

    1 Oct1 October 09:35

    The way it works is that you have effectively bought the other 30k points for £136, so if you cancel you get the 60k points back and no cash refund. So points.com will just be taking a few days to process payment and the transfer of information from the booking site to points.com.

    • Anna says:

      1 Oct1 October 09:40

      That would explain it – I’ve never used the points plus cash option before but expected payment to be instant because otherwise if you cancelled it how would they get the money off you so they could refund all points?

• Makrxx says:

  1 Oct1 October 09:21

  Do I get 3 Avios per £ when shopping through the BA shopping gateway too? Or is that just for flights only? Amex BAPP.

  • Makrxx says:

    1 Oct1 October 09:28

    Ok ignore my question. Guessing not since the checkout is not on BA technically.

  • Andrew says:

    1 Oct1 October 09:35

    Just flights and holidays at ba.com

    • Andi says:

      1 Oct1 October 09:42

      Or on the phone – any transaction that goes through the card as British Airways basically. Buy-on-board food counts too for example (although BA Wifi on board does not as it charges as IAG). Shopping through the e-portal will still take you to the merchant website and the card charge will be attributed to the relevant merchant, not BA.

    • Nick_C says:

      1 Oct1 October 10:43

      And stand alone hotel or car hire bookings. BA is sometimes the cheapest place to book a UK hotel or car.

• Definitas says:

  1 Oct1 October 09:23

  I have a 2-4-1 booking to Chicago at the end of this month so am just waiting to see if the flight gets cancelled before I do it myself (the new winter timetable suggests 12 per week so not hopeful). The Amex card I paid with has now been cancelled. Can I ask BA to refund to another card, Amex or other?

  I have seen the advice not to select any options When I phone BA but, as a lowly Bronze, is that the best number to call? Thanks

  • Sarah says:

    1 Oct1 October 09:30

    This happened to me in the summer. Even though your card is closed, the refund will still go onto the old AMEX card. You can then call AMEX to either transfer to another card or they can refund in cash.

  • Anna says:

    1 Oct1 October 09:42

    Yes – you can contact Amex via chat and they will refund to your bank but you need to upload your bank statement as ID so be prepared for a bit of a faff!

    • Aliks says:

      1 Oct1 October 13:50

      Extra ID only for large amounts. Not sure if the limit is £500 or £1000

      • Anna says:

        1 Oct1 October 19:36

        I’ve had to do it twice now for amounts under £500. They said they need to verify the bank account they are refunding it to.

    • PJJ says:

      1 Oct1 October 21:31

      They will also send a cheque to clear the balance rather than having to verify your account details.

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