The HfP chat thread – Thursday 29th October

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

• Sam says:

  29 Oct29 October 09:48

  Is the current 80000 Melia points for 320EUR on amazon es the (adjusted for inflation) equivalent of previous year’s Black Friday buy points sale?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    29 Oct29 October 09:57

    camelcamelcamel is your friend for amazon price history

    but i think they were 308 EUR last black friday for 80k looking at the HfP article.

  • Sam says:

    29 Oct29 October 10:34

    Either way turns out it’s cheaper to buy 57000 odd points direct from Melia for 285 EUR and get 40% bonus to make the 80000.

    • Erico1875 says:

      29 Oct29 October 18:56

      With the 40% bonus it works out at approx £3.30 per 1000 so I make it £264.
      What is amazing is the points deals compared to paying cash. Up to half price in many instances

• Heather says:

  29 Oct29 October 10:21

  any ideas which countries will go on or off the UK naughty list today?

  • Rhys says:

    29 Oct29 October 10:22

    Nope!

    • Andrew says:

      29 Oct29 October 10:30

      I think the UK’s list will become increasingly meaningless as more and more countries close their borders to entry, particularly from the UK.

  • Colin MacKinnon says:

    29 Oct29 October 11:06

    Can the UK put itself on its own naughty list!
    Looks like my bit of central Scotland might.

  • JP says:

    29 Oct29 October 11:11

    Cyprus and Germany not looking promising to stay on

    Jamaica and UAE to join?

• stevenhp1987 says:

  29 Oct29 October 10:23

  Booked a BA holiday (flight + hotel) on Tuesday to Sweden (departing on Sat 7th Nov).

  If they get added to the naughty list tonight will BA automatically cancel the trip? What if the flights are running, can I still go on the trip if I want to (or will they cancel due to FCO guidance and it being a package holiday)?

  I assume if they get added to the naughty list next week I’m fine as I depart on Saturday and they’ll get added to the list on Sunday… or will they also try and cancel the holiday in that situation?

  • Rob says:

    29 Oct29 October 11:01

    As long as both countries are physically allowing you in, the flights will probably go. You may get some consolidation if their is a raft of voucher requests.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    29 Oct29 October 11:23

    As its a package holiday if FCO advice changes it should really be cancelled.

  • Matthew says:

    29 Oct29 October 11:59

    If it goes on naughty list then you can get a full refund within 7 days of it going on list of requested. If booked > 3 weeks out and it’s on naughty list at time balance due, then full refund allowed too as long as BA Hol package.

• Mark says:

  29 Oct29 October 10:41

  Hi. I received an email from Curve today advising that they have done a ‘periodical check’ on my account and asking for evidence of my business to keep the ‘business’ card, otherwise they will change me to a ‘personal’ card. I have the metal card and although I do have a business, I don’t use the card for business expenses. If I was changed to a personal card, would my limits be cut (I currently have an annual limit of £500k)? What are the differences between ‘business’ and ‘personal’? Thanks.

  • G-bit says:

    29 Oct29 October 10:51

    I’ve had the same email today. I remember a few weeks ago there was some talk on this site that it might become difficult to make payments to HMRC if using the business debit card and that it might therefore be advantageous to change to the personal card. Curve are also asking for a lot of business ID in order to keep the business card. I’m minded to swap to the personal card, but, like you, I’m concerned that there might be some unforeseen downsides of doing so.

    • G-bit says:

      29 Oct29 October 10:52

      https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2020/07/02/hmrc-changes-its-rules-for-payment-by-business-debit-card/

      • Mark says:

        29 Oct29 October 10:56

        Thanks G-Bit. Any views on this, Rob?

  • Rob says:

    29 Oct29 October 10:58

    Curve earns FAR bigger fees on the business card, as interchange is not capped, BUT they will lose their right to issue Mastercards if they are not checking enough on the genuine eligibility of business cardholders.

    • Mark says:

      29 Oct29 October 11:04

      Great – so I should just evidence my business and keep the business card? I’m assuming they therefore won’t analyse the information too much and just do brief checks? Are the limits different between the two cards? Thanks Rob.

      • Rob says:

        29 Oct29 October 11:20

        They will want evidence for individual transactions. The fact you have a business is less of an issue. MasterCard want to know why your company is spending at John Lewis.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          29 Oct29 October 11:25

          Or more likely just £50k of AMEX transactions and £100k of HMRC ones etc!

      • The Savage Squirrel says:

        29 Oct29 October 11:29

        Depends if you’re paying HMRC through Curve or not.
        I’ve just proactively asked to change to personal for this reason. Curve are being very slow/useless in handling the request. Their CS replied once asking for more information then all quiet for nearly a week despite a follow-on message from me.

  • Chas says:

    29 Oct29 October 11:51

    When I had my limits increased last year (from £30k monthly and £100k annual to £50k/£300k), my daily limit strangely decreased from £5k to £4.5k. When I queried this with them I was told that £4.5k was the highest daily limit they could give on a personal card. I had previously had a corporate card and changed to personal and my limits hadn’t been adjusted at the time, but having a formal change in my limits meant that I was then subject to the maximum limits of the card I held at the time. Hope that helps.

    • Cam says:

      29 Oct29 October 14:03

      My Curve card currently says “Commercial” on the back. Does this mean it is technically a Business card?

      • the_real_a says:

        29 Oct29 October 14:36

        Yes

      • Lady London says:

        29 Oct29 October 16:39

        For some accidental reason a number of posters reported on here a while back that after using it for a while they discovered Curve had apparently automatically issued business cards instead of personal cards when they applied.

        It kinda looks like Mastercard may have noticed and could be helping Curve to rectify the accidental block issuings of business cards that looks to have taken place.

        • Tonyb says:

          29 Oct29 October 16:54

          I have this as well would I be better off with a Personal curve for paying HMRC etc?

• Ron says:

  29 Oct29 October 10:49

  Children with economy basic tickets, do they still get free check in items like pushchair and car seat? Thanks.

  • pauldb says:

    29 Oct29 October 11:31

    Yes you can take two items per child.

  • ChrisC says:

    29 Oct29 October 11:40

    Depends on the airline. Would be helpful if you stated that piece of rather essential information.

    Best check their website.

    • Ron says:

      29 Oct29 October 12:18

      Sorry, it’s BA. Their website seems to imply it doesn’t matter what the ticket type is, children get two free check in items for pushchair, car seat, travel cot etc, but not checked all the T&Cs, so just want to double check here.

• James says:

  29 Oct29 October 10:56

  Avoid Capital on Tap. Their customer service is terrible. In September I switched the settings to ensure the full balance of my card was automatically paid.

  For some reason, which they cannot explain, they did not take the full balance as I wanted. They charged me £80 interest for September. They provided me with a £13.07 “good will gesture”.

  This customer service is very poor and I have spent hours going round in circles here…

  Next stop the ombudsman.

  • Peter K says:

    29 Oct29 October 12:52

    I’ve had the opposite when dealing with their customer service. They sorted out (minor admittedly) things quickly and efficiently.

  • Chas says:

    29 Oct29 October 13:55

    With CoT I think that this happens when you have made a partial payment mid-month (for example to free up some credit limit) which exceeds the minimum payment. Then they won’t take the DD at all. I recall seeing some notification to that effect after I once made a mid-month payment, and would have been caught out myself had I not spotted it. If that situation applies to you, then it’s possible that you didn’t see that warning, although admittedly it really wasn’t very clear. I’m surprised their CS staff wouldn’t know that though.

• LewisB says:

  29 Oct29 October 10:58

  Unrelated to travel, but has anyone had trouble depositing on Trading 212 using Curve Metal? It’s suddenly rejecting any deposits.

• rams1981 says:

  29 Oct29 October 11:53

  Looks like Santander have made more cuts to the earnings on their current accounts. Have one Lite account which is worth it as have a Santander mortgage. But seems like they are slowly moving out fo the current account business?

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