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The HfP chat thread – Thursday 12th November

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We have decided to run this daily chat thread on Head for Points during the coronavirus outbreak.

Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the de facto repository for random comments and questions.  With the news flow being lighter, we are running fewer ‘Bits’ articles.

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 at home, we want the HfP community to have a place to chat.

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General

Comments (201)

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

  • DaveL says:
    12 Nov12 November 10:57

    Trying to convert Clubcard vouchers to BAEC (in-app) for the past few days – checkout fails to go through every time. Any else having the same issue?

    • BuildTheWall says:
      12 Nov12 November 11:04

      Is this the first time you are converting to avios?

    • Navara says:
      12 Nov12 November 13:43

      Needs to be done on a desktop, says in Tesco app not available yet. Don’t suppose it ever will now.

      • DaveL says:
        12 Nov12 November 23:06

        Thanks for comments. Always worked fine before – Clubcard app loads it in browser… have transferred many times in the past. Get all the way to checkout, then pressing the final confirm order button just reloads the same page…

  • bill says:
    12 Nov12 November 11:21

    Spain will require a negative PCR test from travelers coming from more than 60 countries
    The measure goes into effect on November 23

    https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-11-12/spain-will-require-negative-pcr-test-from-travelers-coming-from-over-60-countries.html

    • Optimus Prime says:
      12 Nov12 November 12:06

      Christmas cancelled for Spaniards living in UK then.

      • Anna says:
        12 Nov12 November 12:32

        Unless they fly/get the ferry to another European country and travel onwards by road, apparently it’s not going to apply to people crossing land borders!

        • Optimus Prime says:
          12 Nov12 November 13:53

          It does apply if coming from Gibraltar though. Not sure if they mean just for those flying ex-GIB to some spanish airport.

          • Tracey says:
            12 Nov12 November 20:00

            I don’t think there are any GIB-Spain flights.

          • David says:
            12 Nov12 November 22:43

            Optimus Prime – it does NOT apply to cross the Gibraltar border. Clarified by Spain.
            It would apply if you flew to Spain, e.g. Malaga to head to Gibraltar.

            Tracey – no GIB-Spain flights actually operating right now true. There was a helicopter service GIB-Malaga that was about to launch (actually did some flights) but is now suspended due to current events, so was it not for Covid there would be.
            [GIB to MAD and BCN have been attempted a few years ago, but were so badly implemented they didn’t survive. ]

  • John Caribbean says:
    12 Nov12 November 11:37

    Does creation – bendy – Ernie work?

  • Harry T says:
    12 Nov12 November 11:56

    On a related note, is there any way to set up direct debits to savings accounts? Natwest will give me £4 a month with their rewards account if I have two direct debits of £2 or more.

    • Jane says:
      12 Nov12 November 12:06

      Try post office, their online system is a bit rubbish and sometimes and with DD’s sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but yes it can be made to work. if you need 2 x DD’s you might need two accounts.

    • Nick_C says:
      12 Nov12 November 12:37

      Birmingham Midshires also allows you to set up regular deposits by Direct Debit.

      Post Office is good as they keep bringing out new issues of the account, so I currently have four.

    • Mo says:
      12 Nov12 November 13:26

      It’s possible to just do 2 x £2 charity direct debits, given you’d be given £4 for it just consider it free charity 😝

      • James says:
        12 Nov12 November 14:37

        He’s scrabbling round making up direct debits to get £3 a month. I’d wager that charity is not in his field of vision here.

    • Lady London says:
      12 Nov12 November 14:54

      somr people set up an annual charity donation for this

  • S says:
    12 Nov12 November 11:56

    Yep, some of them – https://personal.natwest.com/personal/myrewards/partner-retailers.html

  • Nick_C says:
    12 Nov12 November 11:57

    Does anyone have any recommendations for Open Banking Apps?

    I currently use Yolt, which works well for checking balances and new transactions.

    The Yolt app should allow you to initiate payments between linked accounts with third parties, but this doesn’t work (for me). (For example, I would like to move money from my Halifax Curr a/c to my Lloyds Curr a/c from a third party Open Banking App). (I’ve reported the fault to Yolt but they haven’t responded.)

    In all other respects, Yolt works well, although it doesn’t currently support Metro Bank.

    • 747_Brat says:
      12 Nov12 November 12:05

      Slight OT
      @Nick_C: This is the other Nick here. 🙂
      Did you receive the Metro Bank referral incentive. I signed up using your code.

      • Nick_C says:
        12 Nov12 November 12:26

        Not yet. Neither of us will receive an incentive until you do all the things you need to do, and you haven’t had time to do them yet! ie, deposit £500 in the first two “months” (not sure whether this is an anniversary month or a calendar month), make 10 debit card payments, and complete a full switch. They then have 30 days to pay you.

        I opened my account on 5 October and completed all the criteria for the bonus on 10 November. I should get my own (new customer) bonus no later than 9 December. I will post on HfP when I receive it, because “Lady London” should also get a bonus for referring me.

        • 747_Brat says:
          12 Nov12 November 12:34

          I see. Please do post on HfP when you get the incentive.
          I completed my eligibility criteria last week. So hopefully, I will receive the incentive next month.

          • Nick_C says:
            12 Nov12 November 12:40

            Will do. Have you factored in that they might be working on account months, not calendar months? That’s why I waited until after 6 November to make my second qualifying deposit.

          • 747_Brat says:
            12 Nov12 November 13:19

            Yes, I was thinking of making another £500 transfer soon to qualify as per anniversary month rules. Just to be safe!

        • Lady London says:
          12 Nov12 November 15:01

          I received notice a few days ago that Metro is planning on paying me for my referral, but not clear which referral…. had the impression Peter K had used my code too ?all confused now… tx to you and Peter if you did, so far only 1 note that they’ll be paying out the £50.

          Which of you got the counterpart confirmation whichbpresumably Metro Bank would have sent at the same time to you saying you’re getting the £50 too?

          • Nick_C says:
            12 Nov12 November 15:50

            I think it will be Peter. I did my 10th DC transaction on Tuesday, and it cleared yesterday. Peter was a good few days if not a week before me. I’ve not had confirmation from Metro yet that I’ve met the criteria.

  • 747_Brat says:
    12 Nov12 November 12:02

    Natwest & RBS have the same backend IT. If you sign up for either of the two, you will get the same set of reward offers.

    Just make sure you open the “Rewards” account, and not the regular current account. It has a monthly £2 fee, but it gives £4 a month back for 2 or more Direct Debits (at least £2 each) and £1 a month back for 1 mobile app log in. So, you will still come out on top with £3 profit. Not much but every little counts!

    • Harry T says:
      12 Nov12 November 12:51

      @747 Brat
      Thanks – just need to figure out if it’s worth the hassle of setting up direct debits for £36 extra a year! I was using the nationwide account I’m switching for the 5% interest, which has now expired. No direct debits currently.

      • Nick_C says:
        12 Nov12 November 15:40

        Its certainly worth switching for the £125 bonus, if you qualify.

        Worth it for £36 a year? Your call. But it’s a one time task. The retailer offers may be worthwhile.

  • Doug M says:
    12 Nov12 November 12:19

    @Harry. I have Lloyds bank account and what was previously the good Avios credit card. I don’t use either of them much, and the offers are very poor. I think with Lloyds you need to use accounts to trigger decent offers.

    • Nick_C says:
      12 Nov12 November 12:33

      The Lloyds Avios Credit Card is still a very good deal where Amex is not accepted, paying 0.5 Avios / £. I had 10% of Co-Op “Food” last month and I’ve got a further 5% off this month. Just under £30 cash back on two transactions 🙂

      It also works like a dream with Curve and Revolut.

      • S says:
        12 Nov12 November 15:36

        Thanks Nick, so you’re able to top up R with Lloyds Avios directly with no fees?

        • S says:
          12 Nov12 November 15:42

          Actually, I thought they stopped the AVIOS rewards on this card?

        • Nick_C says:
          12 Nov12 November 15:44

          Yep. Did it cautiously at first and close to statement. No issues.

        • Nick_C says:
          12 Nov12 November 15:47

          If you have a Club Lloyds current account, then the Avios earnings rate on the MC doubled from 0.25/£ to 0.5£ when they closed the Lloyds Amex card. If you don’t bank with Lloyds, I think the reward is 0.4 Avios/£. Rounding is done on the total spend each month.

      • 747_Brat says:
        12 Nov12 November 16:04

        Is Lloyds Avios Credit Card still open to new applicants?

    • Harry T says:
      12 Nov12 November 12:50

      @Doug
      Thanks, appreciate the data point.

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

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