Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 18th November

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

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.

HFP-Wordmark-Black

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 it 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/2020/11/18/the-hfp-chat-thread-wednesday-18th-november/comment-page-1.  The page will refresh with this article but the comments will now show the first page and not the last page.

Old chat threads are hidden from the HfP home page.  If you want to look for something in an old thread, click here.  This brings up all the articles in our ‘General’ category which includes the chat threads.

Category

General

Comments (324)

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

  • Super Secret Stuff says:
    18 Nov18 November 10:27

    I have a question for the more experienced, expert, reader (of which I am not an expert or that experienced!).

    If I got a Creative Card or a Beardy to feed the Seagulls via Bendy, does making these transactions have a negative affect on your credit score? I am saving for a deposit on a house, so not worth if it does.

    • mr_jetlag says:
      18 Nov18 November 10:37

      I am neither experienced nor an expert, but as long as you’re paying down any high balances on time you should be fine. 30% utilisation is commonly quoted as a guide – but even if you MS 100% of your credit limit as long as you pay it down before the next statement date, you should be fine.

    • Neil Donoghue says:
      18 Nov18 November 10:42

      As mentioned below, your credit utilisation will dramatically increase having a negative impact on your credit rating. Despite being capable of making full repayments each month, any lender will see that you are struggling to survive month to month without the use of credit which is the last thing you want when asking to borrow £300k

      • Super Secret Stuff says:
        18 Nov18 November 10:48

        Thank you Mr Jetlag and Neil. Much appreciated. I had pondered this. So summary is, if you don’t have massive balances all the time your credit score should be stable. But when a lender looks at your reliance on credit you might come undone? Please correct me if I have miss understood.

        • Genghis says:
          18 Nov18 November 11:11

          Remember your “credit score” with such agencies is irrelevant. It’s all about how the credit institution interprets the data provided on your credit reports. There’s the usual credit utilisation aspect etc but there’ll also see total spend on such credit cards if such amounts are reported to credit reference agencies (not all credit cards do). There is a risk – albeit rather small IMO – that they may pull you up on such spending.

          • Super Secret Stuff says:
            18 Nov18 November 11:25

            Thank you Genghis, much appreciated. I think I will steer clear then. My monthly borrowing is already high because of the amount of work expenses I put thru it which is equal to half my salary. So doesn’t sound sensible to me.

          • Super Secret Stuff says:
            18 Nov18 November 11:27

            Sorry meant to say “my borrowing is already high enough”. Credit utilisation around 15%. Never had a late payment charge etc.

      • the_real_a says:
        18 Nov18 November 15:15

        To a point, but its more credit utilisation % as a percentage of income. For example someone on a salary of £100k with a credit line of £500 wont see much impact with high monthly utilisation. Its an important element for recent graduates or those with recent promotions.

    • FloriGuy says:
      18 Nov18 November 11:15

      Anymore hints on Beardy?

      Is Bendy the one that begins with R. I am aware of the Seaguls reference

    • James. says:
      18 Nov18 November 22:17

      Regarding Credit Agencies and MS spend I have a lot of experience here.

      As long as you clear the credit card in time of the lender reporting to the credit agency you will be fine.

      Note, this is the reporting date not your statement. I MS £30-40k a month and each month my credit report shows £0 on my credit cards. It all about timing.

      Creation, VA make sure you clear your balance by the end of the month.

      MBNA ensure balance is £0 at statement as they report on your opening balance.

      Barclaycard, at least for me, is reported 15 of each month so as long as my balance is £0 I am good.

      As long as your report shows £0 your good, you could have £30k on card at the time of application but won’t matter as the lender only rely on credit report. I learnt this the hard way earlier this year. Hence the knowledge 😉

  • Coucou says:
    18 Nov18 November 10:33

    Rob, are you planning to review the new promising (?) Curve competitor?

  • Navara says:
    18 Nov18 November 10:37

    Only if they sponsor a competition 😂

  • Rob says:
    18 Nov18 November 10:42

    IMPORTANT: We’ve just changed something else on desktop (not mobile) which may be causing the odd comment scrolling. Let us know if it still happens – or, if it was happening to you, it has gone away. Thanks.

    • xcalx says:
      18 Nov18 November 11:39

      Still jumping
      firefox desktop

    • BLT says:
      18 Nov18 November 11:51

      Still same jumping problem, even after clearing cache. Firefox desktop Mac

      • Rob says:
        18 Nov18 November 12:01

        Thanks.

        • Chas says:
          18 Nov18 November 16:33

          Rob – it’s still slow and jumpy for me (Safari on a Mac), but I have noticed a bit of a difference. Previously my progress bar was only getting c20% of the way before it paused, and it was when it got to 100% that the page jumped as if it had just fully loaded. Now it gets about 40% of the way there before pausing. Maybe irrelevant, but thought I’d share just in case.

    • Kevin C says:
      18 Nov18 November 13:01

      On Mobile. And as Destiny’s Child sang, the site is jumpin’, jumpin’.

  • Nigel W says:
    18 Nov18 November 10:51

    Are some people having issues trying to do Amex referrals to others? My father for some reason cannot refer anyone via the website or app at the moment.

    • Anna says:
      18 Nov18 November 11:08

      What’s the issue – is the referral link not being generated?

      • Nigel W says:
        18 Nov18 November 11:54

        exactly that, he keeps getting an error message.

      • Rob says:
        18 Nov18 November 11:56

        Anyone who has missed a payment or requested a covid deferral on payments is banned from referring.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          18 Nov18 November 12:09

          Not that I make a habit of missing payments but accidents happen. Do they really ban you for one missed payment ever?

          • Rob says:
            18 Nov18 November 12:21

            If your account is in default, it seems so. Not permanently, I assume, just until the default is cleared.

          • KS says:
            18 Nov18 November 13:26

            I had it happen when I stopped direct debit and made a payment via debit card. For some reason their system identified it as a default on payment. It was fine from the next month onwards.

        • Nigel W says:
          18 Nov18 November 12:21

          How strange, he’s never missed a payment or asked for a covid deferral. It’s with the customer service team now, just thought it might be a general covid related thing.

        • Charlieface says:
          18 Nov18 November 14:46

          Covid deferral shouldn’t cause a problem in theory.
          Problem is most institutions don’t see a difference on their back-end

          • Rob says:
            18 Nov18 November 14:48

            Amex is absolutely blocking referrals from people who have requested a covid payment holiday.

  • Nick says:
    18 Nov18 November 11:18

    Re Harvey Nics offer, does anyone know if it applies to spend in restaurant ( I appreciate we cannot at this present time)

    • KBuffett says:
      18 Nov18 November 15:12

      Safest way would be to purchase a gift card in the store and spend it in the restaurant.

  • Travel Strong says:
    18 Nov18 November 11:48

    ASDA Saver Card : I miss the deadline to test it every year! (15th Nov). Signage implies that top up £280 just before the 15th and would get a £15 bonus. Is it that simple? Does anyone do this?

    Okay its 5% not the morrisons 10%, but it’s an easy 5% if you food shop there anyway.

    • Genghis says:
      18 Nov18 November 12:01

      Yes. I do it on Tesco xmas saver – £12 on £200+ top up.
      And earns clubcard points on their purchase, on the card spent, and then again when you redeem at Tesco (so 3 clubcard points / £ for me on Tesco debit).

      • TGLoyalty says:
        18 Nov18 November 12:11

        Completely forgot about it this year but £12 on £200 is a decent return especially if you shop there anyway.

    • Mo says:
      18 Nov18 November 13:42

      Yes, I’ve done this and yes it can work exactly like this (I imagine it’s intended for small deposits regularly but it works in one lump sum right before, though I’d do a few days before to be safe)

      Great way to hit Amex bonuses ofc, and a little extra for you if you still have the £280+ balance left in Nov

  • JW says:
    18 Nov18 November 12:03

    I have a question for any Miles and More card users please. Is it possible to make a payment to clear your balance on the Miles and More card (in order to free up more credit)? Or do you just have to wait until the direct debit clears the balance each month? I have logged-in but there seems to be no option to make a payment.

    • David says:
      18 Nov18 November 12:23

      I’m not aware of a way to make a manual payment.

      And they will also want to control your max spend for their economics.

    • Rob says:
      18 Nov18 November 12:23

      Yes. You need to ring Affiniture and ask them for the BACS details. You then simply send the money from your current account. Note that the reference you must give is NOT your card number, it is your account number (do a £1 test first). It tends to clear around 4pm irrespective of when in the day you pay – I sent a payment at 9am today and it is not reflected on my account yet.

      The numbers I use are 623141, 33855463 (E&OE!). Reference should be 10 digits.

    • Pangolin says:
      18 Nov18 November 14:26

      I regularly send clearing payments via Starling and they gave me the bank details via email.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Learn more on our About page.

VAA

Latest comments

Latest Forum Posts

Get 30,000 points bonus with American Express Platinum

Amex Gold

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.3 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

Get 20,000 bonus points and your first year free with American Express Gold

Amex Gold