The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 6th January

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

• Tim says:

  6 Jan6 January 10:37

  I have an HMRC bill to pay. If I sign up for Curve Metal and use Frontend with my IHG card, am I likely to have problems?

  • rams1981 says:

    6 Jan6 January 10:42

    it has worked for me

• Charlieface says:

  6 Jan6 January 10:52

  Tel Aviv and West Jerusalem is as stable as you get. Maybe avoid West Bank and East Jerusalem areas if you are worried.

  • Charlieface says:

    6 Jan6 January 11:00

    That was a reply to Anna earlier

    • Anna says:

      6 Jan6 January 14:58

      I’m not worried but there’s no convincing him! The list of things I would love to see there …

      • Doommonger says:

        6 Jan6 January 16:07

        sounds a right bore

        • Chris Heyes says:

          6 Jan6 January 16:36

          Doommonger Anna’s OH definitely “NOT” a bore lol

• 747_Brat says:

  6 Jan6 January 11:10

  Amex Advice Required:

  I have the Amex Gold Credit Card, and I am thinking of getting the BA Amex Premium Card. But I wonder if there is a business case for both cards to co-exist in my wallet, since both cards come with a decent annual fee. If not, is it worth cancelling PRG for BAPP?

  And in the scenario, where I decide to keep both the cards in my wallet, what should be my spending strategy:
  (1) Spend £10k on BAPP, get the companion voucher and move the further spends to PRG
  or (2) Spend £15k on PRG, and move the further spends to BAPP

  I personally think option # 1 makes more sense, but happy to hear thoughts from Amex connoisseurs here on HfP. 🙂

  • Alex says:

    6 Jan6 January 11:23

    You can get the BA Amex, spend say £9.5K, upgrade to BAPP spend the next £500 to hit the £10K spend, get your voucher etc and then downgrade to the standard card again. This will save on fees. Or you could get BAPP spend the £10K and have higher earning rate for all of it and then downgrade once your voucher lands(I would personally do it this way).

    It also depends on your annual spend, if you can smash through both targets it doesn’t really matter. If it might be a struggle then go for the one you feel you can get most value from first.

  • Grant says:

    6 Jan6 January 11:30

    If you are able to clear £25k per annum through Amex then it doesn’t really matter which order you do it in but you can be efficient with the timings in order to minimise fees. Remember that first year on PRG is free so if you have a partner you can alternate between the two annually and never pay the fee (bar one month or so required to collect the 10k bonus points).

    • 747_Brat says:

      6 Jan6 January 14:18

      Thanks Alex & Grant.
      I have already crossed £15k on my Gold in 9 months. Not sure if I can clear another £10k in 3 months. But I will keep your suggestions in mind, when I make my decision. Thank you. 🙂

      • BuildBackBetter says:

        6 Jan6 January 17:34

        If you are going to get a BAPP, you have 12 months from now to spend 10k for a voucher. Your gold card anniversary has nothing to do with BAPP anniversary.

• YC says:

  6 Jan6 January 11:34

  I hate to ask but anyone successful in using curve to top up ajbell over the last few days? tried both creation and beady both not working over multiple days

  • JD says:

    6 Jan6 January 11:50

    Worked fine for me with the Eastern Bank 2 days ago

• Chas says:

  6 Jan6 January 12:18

  I’ve had a notification from Award Wallet that I have some Hertz points expiring on 24 Jan. I assume that this is based on Hertz’s standard “no points activity in 18 months”. Does anyone know if Hertz have extended this as part of a Covid response? I can’t see anything from a quick search on their site. Assuming that this is a hard deadline, will a small transfer of MR points count as activity, and what is the smallest allowable – 1k? I tried searching on here, but “Hertz points expiry” returned zero results.

  • Chas says:

    6 Jan6 January 13:51

    Just realised that Hertz aren’t an MR partner. As I don’t need a rental this month I assume that there is no way to keep the points live? It’s not too big a balance, so I’m not going to worry too much, but has anyone had any success asking Hertz for an extension?

    • Pete says:

      6 Jan6 January 14:27

      Make a reward booking and cancel it? Although I am yet to work out if that results in some points being deducted! (I did have some deducted, queried it, and had them reinstated!)

      • Not Angry says:

        6 Jan6 January 14:32

        A booking alone hasn’t been enough for a couple of years. You have to actually consume the rental to count as activity.

        They have offered no extensions. The only options are to make a future booking (if you have enough points) and hope you use it, or transfer to someone else’s account.

    • GeorgeJ says:

      6 Jan6 January 15:30

      Making an award booking counts as a rental.
      I just hired a car for a day using a few points and this kept the balance alive.

      • Not Angry says:

        6 Jan6 January 15:39

        But you actually took the rental, right? Not just booked, but took the car and completed the rental?

        Award rentals count – if you complete them.

        Only making a booking (with a view to cancelling it after the expiry date) hasn’t counted as activity for a long time. If that worked for you either you were lucky or they’ve changed the rules again.

        • Chas says:

          6 Jan6 January 16:29

          Thanks – appreciate the responses. Looks like I will be making a reward booking for a car I don’t need or want! But at just 800 points, it will keep the balance alive for another 18 months.

  • Charlieface says:

    6 Jan6 January 21:48

    Get someone else to book on your account a car that they need. You are allowed free additional driver as Five Star

• Eric says:

  6 Jan6 January 12:37

  Do financial advisors that advice on mortgages e.g Capricorn, have any referral bonus in place? Capricorn does not, but not sure if others do.

  • Stanley says:

    6 Jan6 January 13:33

    Independent advisor will earn c £400 per £100k mortgage borrowing. Negotiate with them a kick back of their fee….

• dezbez says:

  6 Jan6 January 13:13

  Both have been recommended but if heading west then for me either Chicago or Toronto. Chicago is like NYC but much cooler & stylish. Toronto similar but even more understated, but on a similar scale.
  Both have great cultures with loads to do, are walkable and have excellent choices for accommodations and eats. (And Niagara Falls is an easy day trip from Toronto.)
  I could very easily live in either.

  • dezbez says:

    6 Jan6 January 13:17

    That’s a reply to Anna – not sure why it’s been orphaned!

    • Anna says:

      6 Jan6 January 15:00

      Ooh, I forgot about Toronto. Not sure how as one of my friends used to live there!

      • Louise K says:

        6 Jan6 January 16:11

        Niagara on the Lake is beautiful too, we stayed a few days on our last trip. Spent a day at the falls, that we really enjoyed too.

• Alan says:

  6 Jan6 January 13:19

  Hi,

  I am trying to pay a Virgin card with IHG via C/Metal(business).
  Yesterday’s test run with £200 appeared to work but while showing as pending on virgin app there is still no trace of the transaction on the IHG app. A second £500 transaction made today was declined.

  Anyone know if I trying to do the impossible or if this is normal behaviour

  • Genghis says:

    6 Jan6 January 13:30

    Wait until tomorrow.
    MCC 6012 with Creation has £700pw rolling limit in the form of (and there are other combinations) £300 day 1, £200 day 2, £200 day 4.

    • Mark says:

      6 Jan6 January 13:55

      700 pw?
      So is that the most u can pay off using Curve metal and Ihg?
      Doesn’t seem worth the risk if so.

      • Genghis says:

        6 Jan6 January 13:56

        Yes. Yes.

    • Alan says:

      6 Jan6 January 14:25

      Thanks Genghis,

      It does seem to be some sort of transaction limit but it’s lower than £700. I tried with £400 and that failed but £200 went through, so at least £400 but less than £600.

      • Genghis says:

        6 Jan6 January 14:29

        Like I said: £300, £200, £200

        • Alan says:

          6 Jan6 January 18:47

          Thanks, I thought was just an example way to get to £700. I will put the £300 though tomorrow.

  • DT says:

    6 Jan6 January 14:36

    The limits are £300 per day, £500 per 3 days and £700 per 7 days

    So as Genghis says, you will need to do £300 one day (daily limit), £200 the next (3 day limit) and then £200 two days after that to be outside the 3 day limit from the first day.

    • Anna says:

      6 Jan6 January 15:09

      I’ve not had these limits for a long time, I thought they went when Creation started charging interest and we had to start paying it all off as soon as it tracked?

      • TGLoyalty says:

        6 Jan6 January 16:00

        nope they returned once Curve fixed something or the MCC treatment was changed c2 months ago.

        They aren’t limits on everything.

      • The Urbanite says:

        6 Jan6 January 17:24

        Interest only is MCC 4829
        MCC 6012 has the weekly transaction limits

        Curve were recharging txns to a different MCC which opened up a major loophole for MSers – this was closed down as per TGLoyalty’s post.

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