The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 27th January

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• DenisO says:

  27 Jan27 January 08:58

  Now that the Tesco/Avios relationship is over I am looking for the best non-Amex credit card to use instead of Tesco card (when Amex not accepted) to generate Nectar points (to convert to Avios) ?

  I use a BA Amex Premium Plus Card whenever possible (to earn Avios and 241 vouchers).

  I have been using a Tesco Credit card when Amex not accepted – to generate Tesco Clubcard points to convert to Avios.

  This has been very successful with trips to Australia, Caribbean and Europe (Business and First) in recent years.

  I don’t have a HSBC Bank account so the HSBC Card is not an option.

  Which card would you suggest ?

  Any advice welcomed …

  • Jonathan says:

    27 Jan27 January 09:09

    For non HSBC premier Visa/MasterCards, there’s virtually no options available apart from the Sainsbury’s credit card range. But like Rob said the other day, it’s earning rate is terrible, 1 point per £5 spent, and like Tesco credit cards, Sainsbury’s credit cards round down per transaction, so a £9 transaction immediately followed by a £1 transaction will only give 1 point.

  • Stagger Lee says:

    27 Jan27 January 10:37

    There are a couple of Nat West Reward Cards where you can cinvert the rewards to Avios. You do need to have a Nat West account though

    https://personal.natwest.com/personal/credit-cards.html

    • Jonathan says:

      27 Jan27 January 10:59

      I’ve checked their website and it doesn’t say anything about being able to earn Avios (directly or indirectly) with NatWest credit cards. Plus they’re not mentioned at all on the articles on what the best credit card options are when Amex can’t be used.

      If anyone knows NatWest credit card rewards are like and how they compete with competitors please enlighten us

      • Rob says:

        27 Jan27 January 11:06

        Any NatWest card with NatWest Rewards can (currently) be converted to Avios. Avios has encouraged us not to promote them as Avios-earning because it is not a permanent offer, so we don’t.

        • Stagger Lee says:

          27 Jan27 January 11:21

          Interesting that it’s not a permanent offer as the infr on their site doesn’t say it’s time limited.

          For reference thouuh these are the details about the rate you get when trading rewards to Avios – https://personal.natwest.com/personal/myrewards/exchange/avios.html

• Rui N. says:

  27 Jan27 January 09:15

  Although the “monthly limit” on my blue Curve dissapeared from the app, it appears that I have reached it… it seems to be £45k, all transactions now being declined. Anyone experiencing something similar?

  • Rui N. says:

    27 Jan27 January 09:18

    Well, I’ve now read the previous page, and maybe the problem is the underlying IHG card… I shall try again tomorrow!

• Martha says:

  27 Jan27 January 09:19

  Anyone can suggest which platform to sign up and use to buy and hold a one £4000 worth of shares? If they are equal are there any ones I can get a promo or use a card route for rewards?
  Thank you very much

  • Anuj says:

    27 Jan27 January 09:28

    You haven’t mentioned what share however both trading 212 (referral link below) and Freetrade offer no fees and trading 212 has a free ISA too.
    If the company you want to buy isn’t on the above too, then x-o are quite cheap at £6 per trade and no ongoing fees.

    http://www.trading212.com/invite/FzTwolPz

• James. says:

  27 Jan27 January 09:20

  My Saga continues. I have still not received 2 vouchers (separate accounts) from Virgin for credit card spend. The spend was reached back in October. My card anniversary is January so am now into my next year period. Looks like I am going to have to call them to find out where it is.

  • Carol says:

    27 Jan27 January 09:46

    I had a very quick response of about 5 minutes when I whatsapped them on 03448747747

  • idrive says:

    27 Jan27 January 10:20

    Mine did not show on VA account (and still does not), I asked CS via text and they confirmed it was booked on the account at approximately the end of period date.
    I had received an email confirming i reached the required spent, at the same time VA offered the £40 discount for renewal back in autumn.

    • Jonathan says:

      27 Jan27 January 10:42

      Does anyone else have any experience of Virgin offering a discount or extra perks if you threaten to cancel your premium card with them ?

      I’ve seen previous comments here in the past, that someone who accidentally starts another year gets turned down for a refund, and then essentially have to keep it open for another year and swallow the fee

      • Travel Strong says:

        27 Jan27 January 11:34

        Don’t expect Amex style retention from Virgin Money – they are not in that game at all.

        Virgin marketing may have issued sign up incentives in the past, but thats where it ends. From point of application onwards you are appealing to be accepted, appealing for a reasonable credit limit, and dealing with a team that have no interest in retention and offer none of the excellent customer service that amex phone agents are renowned for.

        Be cautious of quitting the Virgin premium card if you are thinking of churning. New applications generally have terrible credit limits (and points cap at the credit limit).
        If you do leave, cancel at month 11 just in case the 2nd year fee is taken early.

        • dezbez says:

          27 Jan27 January 11:50

          I recently (successfully) re-applied for the Virgin Reward+ card after a 9 month break – like you say I was expecting a low limit of say £3-4K but remarkably they gave me £17,600…

• Oh! Matron! says:

  27 Jan27 January 09:23

  I’m looking for a way to get Avios / Nectar points to Apple Gift Cards

  The Mac Mini I want isn’t sold at Argos, but is at Apple. so my suggestion is Avios > Nectar to eBay Credit to Apple Gift Card

  However, whilst ebay is awash with iTunes gift cards, there’s just a smattering of Apple Gift Cards

  So, any suggestions? Thanks in advance

  • Anuj says:

    27 Jan27 January 09:30

    Surely the model you want is stocked on eBay itself ? And depending on how you feel, something sold as opened but brand new will still have warranty and can save hundreds on electronic purchases.

    • Oh! Matron! says:

      27 Jan27 January 09:41

      You’d think so, but no.

      • kitten says:

        27 Jan27 January 13:11

        is it one of the models sold by carphone or perhaps one of the mobile networks? their vouchers are certainly sold on ebay. I’m not sure if all of those would block crossover to eqpt for their use.

        I take it the obvious JL voucher idea doesn’t work or JL doesn’t stock it?

    • kitten says:

      27 Jan27 January 13:13

      Have spent a bit of time in past month looking at just such purchases on ebay and it’s amazing what some sellers will claim is Open Box.

  • idrive says:

    27 Jan27 January 10:22

    so basically, what is the best way to buy a new Apple device by combining both Plat rebate and nectar route?

    • Sina says:

      27 Jan27 January 10:33

      Do you have access to Student (through Unidays, beans, etc?) or Employee portals? (Perks, Xexec?) both will get you 10% off, excluding iPhones.

      • idrive says:

        27 Jan27 January 11:38

        i may have but i was specifically looking at a new phone, can it be done via JLP mixing card and GCs bought via Waitrose?

        • Sina says:

          27 Jan27 January 11:57

          You could get it from JLP using gift cards but note most online retailers are out of stock for most new iPhones.

  • Andrew says:

    27 Jan27 January 10:47

    The Currys Ebay store?

    • idrive says:

      27 Jan27 January 11:40

      what do you mean exactly? to buy from currys on ebay? you mentioned that as it is not subject to the £200 limit that Argos got?

      • Andrew says:

        27 Jan27 January 12:09

        You’re not comparing like with like.

        When you spend Nectar points at Argos, it’s a direct spend and they allow you to spend 40,000 Nectar points per transaction.

        When you buy Ebay vouchers with Nectar points, the maximum voucher value is £200 from 40,000 Nectar points.

        According to the T&Cs though:-

        “You can use more than one voucher at checkout.”

    • Oh! Matron! says:

      28 Jan28 January 08:57

      Normally not a bad place for discounts, but the 16GB Mac Mini appears to be only stocked by Apple themselves. I’ll keep searching 🙂

  • kitten says:

    27 Jan27 January 12:23

    are iTunes gift cards not accepted for the entire Apple ecosystem including hardware? I thought they were but am not an i-person.

    Apple has ‘shop in shops’ in some places including, IIRC, Selfridges and pretty sure Harrods. When I bought stuff at Carphone Warehouse a while back ISTR I was surprised I got a Carphone receipt and not a Selfridges so Apple may still be Apple at certain types of retail outlets (Bicester?) if you can use the center’s voucher somehow inputting NP to that?

    • memesweeper says:

      27 Jan27 January 12:32

      “are iTunes gift cards not accepted for the entire Apple ecosystem including hardware?”

      sadly, no… details at the bottom, here: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201209

• Bam says:

  27 Jan27 January 09:24

  I have a BA Future Travel Voucher I would like to use before the 30/04/22 cutoff – I am looking at ways to spend this, should I not be able make new holiday or flight bookings before this time. Can I use this for just Hotel bookings through BA or is there anything else apart from flights / holidays I can spend this on (I have Singapore air flight vouchers and 2-4-1 flights I need to use as well)

  • Bam says:

    27 Jan27 January 10:53

    Looks like I have found my own answer from BA website https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/incident/coronavirus/latest-information
    – ‘the voucher can also be put towards a new British Airways Holidays purchase. A minimum of 7 days’ notice is required if making a hotel-only reservation.’

• Globetrotter says:

  27 Jan27 January 09:45

  Is anyone aware of any further automatic extensions of Amex Companion Vouchers since the last lot of auto extensions in October 2020 for vouchers due to expire by 31/3/21? I have a Companion Voucher due to expire in April 2021 and wondered if any of those have been extended? Thx.

  • Rob says:

    27 Jan27 January 09:55

    Not heard anything.

  • Sandra says:

    27 Jan27 January 10:01

    Guess you mean 241 – I have one due to expire early April but so far nothing. For the flexibility of not being locked in to a travel companion I am going to hang on to it for a bit longer then if no extension I will book a UK flight and cancel for a voucher to extend until 2022.

    • robman says:

      27 Jan27 January 11:09

      Sandra, how will you retain the benefits of the 241 (to fly anywhere in the BA network), by booking a UK flight and then cancelling. Wouldn’t the voucher value only be equivalent to the UK flight value and therefore not able to be used further afield (e.g. USA)?

      • Genghis says:

        27 Jan27 January 11:15

        You make a single booking e.g. LON-MAN for two people for say 4.5k + £35 + 241 (which would expire soon anyway). This locks in the travellers.
        You then cancel this flight and ask for a FTV. What you’ve already paid gets bundled into a FTV which can then be used up until 30 April 2022 against something else.
        https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2021/01/25/british-airways-changes-its-book-with-confidence-policy-again/

• DT says:

  27 Jan27 January 10:03

  Had the opposite problem, waitrose credit went through next day but deliveroo took two days longer even though both were done on the same day

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