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The HfP chat thread – Friday 20th November

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Comments (357)

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

  • The Urbanite says:
    20 Nov20 November 16:49

    The Real Slim Shady cards…anybody managed to get a good haul of points through them, or do they not play ball?

    • Aston100 says:
      20 Nov20 November 16:58

      Loving these new codenames.

    • Genghis says:
      20 Nov20 November 17:02

      That’s the best of the codenames!

    • TGLoyalty says:
      20 Nov20 November 17:05

      They play ball with the seagulls but not much else.

      • The Urbanite says:
        20 Nov20 November 17:32

        @TGLoyalty that’s very interesting – they’re known to charge cash advance fees on our favourite MCCs, but I think I see what you’re saying. Also heard word of them scrutinising transactions with specific merchants like the tax man so wondered if it was worth it.

        @Aston100, Genghis, thanks!

    • S says:
      20 Nov20 November 17:08

      Can’t work this one out

    • Super Secret Stuff says:
      20 Nov20 November 17:43

      OK, I know nearly all the code names etc. But this has to be taking the piss lol

    • memesweeper says:
      20 Nov20 November 17:54

      I suggest we launch a new set of codes each morning, like Enigma 😀

      • Super Secret Stuff says:
        20 Nov20 November 18:06

        Oh dear…

        The enigma was fundamentally flawed and at the end of the day crackable. Let’s just stick to the current ones and change when nessisary…

        • Anna says:
          20 Nov20 November 20:03

          Did it not take several years, some machines and the country’s best cryptographers though?

          • Super Secret Stuff says:
            20 Nov20 November 22:06

            Kind of, more dependent on understanding the system and the equivalent of a laptop now days. It was great at the time and was genius thinking that spearheaded a revolution. It was more of a satirical comment to point out the ironironic.

            Another point is, constantly changing it means you won’t the info you need to do it if you can’t figure it out!

    • Pangolin says:
      20 Nov20 November 19:15

      You can top up Revolut directly – no fees, no interest

      You can pay off Amazon NewDay via Curve.
      You can also buy Premium Bonds (again via Curve).

      My usual route is Amex <= IHG/Curve <= New Day <= M&M/Curve <= Starling transfer to clear M&M balance… then repeat.

      • Aston100 says:
        20 Nov20 November 19:23

        You should have cc’d each of those companies while you were at it.

        • Pangolin says:
          20 Nov20 November 19:34

          Pretty much every thread with code names includes an expansion/explanation of the underlying card referred to. TG Loyalty above has already explained exactly what card is involved.

          Rob doesn’t bother calling things by code names either (i.e. he doesn’t say Bendy all the time instead of Curve).

      • TGLoyalty says:
        20 Nov20 November 19:56

        Only time I topped up Rev with M&M it charged a fee?

        Can’t say I’ve tried Ernie. Perhaps I will.

      • Secret Squirrel says:
        20 Nov20 November 19:59

        Curve metal?

    • Secret Squirrel says:
      20 Nov20 November 19:57

      @Urbanite
      You tell me your MS prep and I will let you know how well I got on!

  • Peter North says:
    20 Nov20 November 16:57

    On a wager here, can anyone recommend a decent hotel in Manchester for a weekend

    • Super Secret Stuff says:
      20 Nov20 November 17:45

      Staybridge suites or crowne plaza in Oxford Road area really good

    • Rob says:
      20 Nov20 November 17:57

      Kimpton Clocktower which we reviewed. Surprising number of decent options though – Radisson Edwardian, INNSIDE by Melia, the Hilton in Beetham Tower, Hyatt Regency (bit out of the way), the brand new Indigo (good Travelzoo deal on that at the moment) etc.

      • Anna says:
        20 Nov20 November 20:05

        Clocktower is very nice indeed but showing no availability for every weekend in December! Not sure why as I assume it won’t be booked up with people’s works Xmas dos.

      • Andy says:
        20 Nov20 November 21:13

        “Surprising number”? Why is it surprising?

    • The Savage Squirrel says:
      20 Nov20 November 21:46

      Stayed in many many hotels in central Manchester during a LOOONG project. Random thoughts….
      RadissonBlu best of the bunch.
      Innside very good.
      Midland surprisingly good for something so long in the tooth.
      Ibis special award for walls so thin they’re see-through
      Premier Inn Deansgate Locks free onsite parking – on low-cost nights the fee compares to just the cost of 24 hours parking so the hotel is basically free :D.

  • Chris K says:
    20 Nov20 November 17:02

    Happy Friday everyone!

    I’m looking to top-up my Lifetime ISA held with a Bristol-based FTSE 100-listed financial services company

    My ‘Creative Six Continents Hotels’ card doesn’t seem to work when bent. Has anyone had any luck with the following without charges?

    ‘Honoured’
    ‘Llwyd Avoid’
    ‘Fragrant Harbour’ Banking Corp Prem
    ‘T.E. Stockwell Clubcard’

    Or any other suggestions? Thank you!

    • Genghis says:
      20 Nov20 November 17:06

      3 works ok. I use combo of that and SDR (IATA) but with the Sailing ship. Same principle.

      • Chris K says:
        20 Nov20 November 17:28

        Thank you, I’ll try with Fragrant Harbour for now. I don’t think Spanish Abi is interested in me.

        Bristol used to treat my honour as a Debbie even without being bent, but not any more.

    • BuildTheWall says:
      20 Nov20 November 17:27

      They changed the MCC resulting in bendy not working creatively.
      On another note, I have no idea what Genghis refers to as SDR (IATA) or the sailing ship. 🤔

    • Super Secret Stuff says:
      20 Nov20 November 18:03

      Have you just made those up? Lol. I cant help you becuase I cant figure them all out.

      I think I can only figure out 1 and 4 but have no idea who you’re trying to bendy.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      20 Nov20 November 18:26

      The Real Slim Shady works…

      • Super Secret Stuff says:
        20 Nov20 November 18:39

        Ahhh yes and it avoids bendy fees!

        Still not cracked half the codenamed…

        • TGLoyalty says:
          20 Nov20 November 18:46

          No idea about bendy fees I have metal and a large enough limit so never gone direct. It’s personal spend so I don’t know why they would get upset seeing HL on the statement.

    • S says:
      20 Nov20 November 21:38

      Any clues for number 1?

  • Graham says:
    20 Nov20 November 17:19

    I have during lockdown used Revolut to MS a bit of spend in order to acrue points.

    About 20k a month. I had a source of funds check right when I opened the account.

    Now Revolut have asked me to “verify source of funds” and states an “amount to verify” equivalent to my spend over the past year or so.

    How do people do this? I can of course prove my income, etc. However, my income is less than the amount of spend I have put through the card although in reality, there is not so much source of funds but just me topping up Revolut with my credit card.

    The screen gives me the options when providing source of funds including salary, dividend, etc. I can also use “Loan” (which drawing from a credit card technically isnt). It also has an option of “Can’t find your income source?” which allows me to add a narrative, so I could put in “Credit Card Topup”.

    I am not sure what is expected.

    • rams1981 says:
      20 Nov20 November 17:58

      What is expected is that your account will be closed down. Hopefully it’s empty

    • Alex D says:
      20 Nov20 November 18:14

      I would empty your account ASAP if you haven’t already as they will likely shut down your account no matter what.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      20 Nov20 November 18:29

      If it’s empty you might as well say by to your account and not provide any data.

      £20k a month isn’t a little MS either for a single route 🤣

    • The Urbanite says:
      20 Nov20 November 18:38

      If you want to scale up you have to do what I call “KYC prep”. This means laying groundwork so you’re ready to get through these checks before they happen.

      If not then you might as well tell them what you’re up to and either hope they let you off with a warning or get shut down. All of these routes have a shelf life sadly!

      • Alex D says:
        20 Nov20 November 19:05

        What would you have in place just out of curiosity? Especially if it’s above your salary for example?

      • Secret Squirrel says:
        20 Nov20 November 19:52

        They don’t let you off I can assure you as I’ve been there with them lot.
        If your account is empty walk away as wasting your time.
        Took me three weeks to get £500 back!

    • Neil says:
      20 Nov20 November 19:18

      Well you made the most of it! They will shut down your account over the coming days and if you have funds in the account, enjoy the long battle to get them released. Don’t worry, most have done the same.

      • Sundar says:
        20 Nov20 November 19:42

        And the people asking for the explanations for the acronyms – Please read these comments as well for your awareness. This is another reason why we should not put in non-coded terms !

        Good Luck.

        • DT says:
          20 Nov20 November 20:07

          Yes, he got shut down because someone here said Revolut too much, nothing to do with driving £20k through his card per month. Even if nobody anywhere ever said the word Revolut, I’m sure they’d still reach out and ask for proof of income for pushing £240,000 pa through their card.

          • sloth says:
            20 Nov20 November 21:11

            I think Sundar is just trying to illustrate to all the people jumping on the bandwagon that its not just a case of understanding a few code words, its a case of understanding the whole process, risks and all and doing things sensibly without going over the top. its no different to the dot com boom, everyone piles in at the end just before it all goes pop and then winges that they didn’t understand

        • Bazza says:
          21 Nov21 November 01:12

          Yep. Soon enough all these routes discussed at length on here will go the same was as the Amex churning….

    • The Urbanite says:
      20 Nov20 November 21:53

      To be honest there is longevity in Rev – I’ve had it for almost 5 years and yes have been through a lot of reviews. Just have to handle it right, along with a bit of fortune with who carries out the review.

      • Alex D says:
        20 Nov20 November 22:40

        Do you think it would help if you used the card for other things? To deter a review? Such as getting money paid into it from a job, using for certain shopping etc?

        • The Urbanite says:
          20 Nov20 November 23:45

          Very few businesses want to be used for arbitrage – somebody has to pay for it and it’s usually them. Revolut don’t mind large amounts going through as long as they don’t think you are just using them for MS…or ML.

  • BJ says:
    20 Nov20 November 18:31

    3 months Kindle Unltd for 99p or 6 months for £24. The first offer obviously the one to go for.

    • Harry T says:
      20 Nov20 November 20:19

      Thanks!

      How are you keeping? I hear poxy southerners are no longer allowed into Scotland.

      • Anna says:
        20 Nov20 November 20:34

        It’s really weird, as well as being referred to disparagingly as a “northerner” by people in London, I am also disparagingly referred to as a “southerner” by people in Scotland. I feel oppressed!

        I’ve read it both ways in different publications; no one’s allowed across the border full stop and also that the new rules only apply to Scottish residents. However I suspect my Edinburgh trip will be scuppered anyway by The George deciding not to re-open.

        • BJ says:
          20 Nov20 November 20:56

          I don’t know either, trying to figure if I can travel through but not stop in level 3 or 4 to get to level 1 or 2.

      • BJ says:
        20 Nov20 November 20:47

        Don’t tell me you’ve got the pox now too 🙁 I am fine thanks, been dragged out of retirement to work on a project so haven’t had the time to keep up with HFP as much as I like lately.

        • Harry T says:
          20 Nov20 November 21:11

          @BJ
          Glad you’re okay – wondered where you had gone.

          So far, I’m pox free! Presumably going to be vaccinated against the corona pox soon.

          Hope the project is going well; they must really need you if they’ve disturbed your retirement.

          Let’s get the HFP Northern crew together in Edinburgh after the covid is behind us.

    • Lady London says:
      21 Nov21 November 01:11

      do we get to keep the books?

  • Alan says:
    20 Nov20 November 20:58

    No problems today using the Morrisons offer for
    10 x £250 Morrisons gift cards
    10 x £150 John Lewis gift cards
    I was worried that it would be flagged as an unusual transaction and declined but it went through fine, I received confirmation from Amex that the offer was used within a couple of hours .

    • Harry T says:
      20 Nov20 November 21:12

      Buying anything exciting or just stocking up for grocery shopping in the future?

      • Alan says:
        20 Nov20 November 21:42

        Nothing big planned, will swap them for JL vouchers, use some to buy Christmas gifts and the rest will go on shopping at Waitrose.

        Just happy to have covered the coat of my BAPC for a couple of years.

    • Andrew says:
      20 Nov20 November 21:28

      That’s quite some loan you’ve given Morrisons there!

    • Super Secret Stuff says:
      20 Nov20 November 21:57

      Wow! That is quite something. Hope you used the loyalty app and got the v points!

      Anyone know if student discount or similar is working on these?

  • Nick says:
    20 Nov20 November 21:32

    I dont wish to offend, but, I read some of the amounts of points gathered, some of the spending people talk about making and I wonder if people really need the 5 or whatever percent they are making on gift cards or anything else. Maybe its a mindset? Interesting

    • Mo says:
      20 Nov20 November 21:37

      My family was very frugal so some of that has rubbed off on me, though not nearly to the same extent 😅😂

      • Anna says:
        20 Nov20 November 22:40

        It’s certainly more about approach than the amount of money you have. We had a family friend whose husband was very successful and they eventually retired to a ranch in Texas. But she was still a northern lass at heart and used to drive over the border to Mexico to get cheap prescription meds and clothes (and haggled with the shop keepers!)

    • Sloth says:
      20 Nov20 November 22:19

      If saving money is in your blood then it’s in your blood. It doesn’t really matter how much money you have

      • Nick says:
        20 Nov20 November 22:25

        Sloth thats why I say its interesting, I love saving money and I really enjoy the site, but as I said its a small amount compared to the obvious wealth of some people

        • Mo says:
          20 Nov20 November 22:59

          Nick, to be honest I also find it quite fun, at least when it’s on a reasonable scale.

          I myself enjoy trying to find ways to creatively get points from the cards I have, it’s a bit of a challenge and if you find a good way, you can get a whole lot of value.

          I do agree, some people take it a bit far (at least, what I would consider too far). At that point you have to consider if its worth the time.

      • Nick says:
        20 Nov20 November 22:28

        I should add I used clean the Rolls Royce and snooker table of a guy who lived near me when I was a kid. He said I was a ‘ robber’ because you he used to pay me 50p, he was a millionairre thats why I guess

        • Sloth says:
          20 Nov20 November 22:37

          Exactly. I will never forget seeing someone sitting at one of the high roller table in Vegas about 20 years ago dressed in cheap jeans and t shirt, where the minimum hand was $20k. Appearance is nothing…

    • Super Secret Stuff says:
      20 Nov20 November 22:50

      Its in your blood. I dont necessarily need to do it anymore but its a buzz! Who doesn’t love feeling like they got a bargain? I interigate all savings to the Nth degree to make sure they’re genuine, but I also factor in the time element to those savings. If its easy, sure. If its a pain like, splitting my shopping between 4 supermarkets, nah.

      Also, with gift cards you can yardy them. Really shouldn’t mention the company. So it can be purely a points earner.

      When I finally make it to the current store of choice, thats what I’ll be doing.

      • Mo says:
        20 Nov20 November 23:06

        Pretty sure I know which company you mean.

        Just wondering, do they always accept it, or could they say no if they have too much of one companies gift cards?

        Also how quickly do they usually pay?

      • Nick says:
        20 Nov20 November 23:10

        Super Secret Stuff I get the buzz thing, but a little like you, I cannot be bothered with too much trouble in getting a ‘benefit’. I once bought an ipad and mobile that were so cheap I bought and made a couple of hundred quid in an hour or 2. I enjoy the site, the banter and the tips/ hints on here

        • Andrew says:
          20 Nov20 November 23:53

          I do agree Nick – I love a deal and in particular the Amex deals, but the savings need to be decent enough for me to bother or get excited about and 10% doesn’t really seem like it is. The amount of chat that’s been going on about the Morrisons offer over the last couple of weeks has surprised me considering the percentage return isn’t great. But I suppose it’s an uncapped return which is appealing and probably a sign of the times that we don’t have much else to get excited about.

      • Wollhouse says:
        21 Nov21 November 07:06

        Hi, looked at the cy site- is this the correct place? If you want max value, it looks as though they pay credit into an account on their site to allow you to buy other gift vouchers. Amazon seems to pay the most back, but still only approx 94% of face value. If you want cash, 90%. So based on the 10% Morrison’s offer, you can maybe make a few quid if you accept a different voucher, or net out if you want cash? assuming I’m looking at the correct site to resell vouchers, I assume this GC resale strategy is purely MS?? So, 1) am I on the correct resale site 2) do they pay out timely? I can see the attraction for my personally buying Amazon vouchers under the Morrison’s deal as I spend a ton on books anyway, just not sure the time/risk spent on the above resale strategy pays off UNLESS the process is seamless or you’re buying a LOT of vouchers. Genuine question as I’m not familiar with CY!

    • Alan says:
      20 Nov20 November 23:30

      Got me out of the house, and was £420 saved for a 1hr trip to the local Morrisons. A pretty good return compared to leaving the money in the bank for the six or so months it will take to spend.

      • memesweeper says:
        21 Nov21 November 00:21

        I will be buying a new iPhone soon so a grand’s worth of JL vouchers at 10% off is dead handy.

        Amex offers don’t usually ‘excite’ me enough to change my behaviour: but it’s a really good kickback when you’re spending expenses and hit a statement credit. I’ll chase that.

    • The Urbanite says:
      21 Nov21 November 00:46

      There’s a scale where it comes to value seeking. Some rigidly stick to the practice of seeing a price and taking or leaving it. At the other end some people find all kinds of legal ways of making savings. I think it’s just a personality thing.

  • Pthy887 says:
    20 Nov20 November 22:03

    Random question re Platinum referrals.

    My spouse has a BA free amex. If we cancel that card, can I refer my spouse for the same card say within 1 month from the Amex Plat and still bag the referral fee? Any advice against doing something like this? e.g. credit score, Amex not issuing credit?

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