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The HfP chat thread – Thursday 18th February

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General

Comments (384)

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

  • Jay says:
    18 Feb18 February 11:36

    Does bendy need to front ended to pay Student Loans Company (albeit it is the government but not sure if seen as a separate entity for payment purposes)?

  • Amit says:
    18 Feb18 February 11:38

    Booked to go to LAX in March (50% sale) and the flight has been cancelled. Have been rebooked on a flight that arrives 3 hours later. Have been offered a FTV, but not been given the opportunity to rebook at the sale price for any dates at all as no avios availability. Is this correct? Thanks

    • Anna says:
      18 Feb18 February 12:24

      I think BA changed their policy recently on how many hours they will move your flight before they will consider it cancelled. However, if you’ve now got a different flight number it should qualify for EU261 protection, you might need to try a different CSA.

      • BJ says:
        18 Feb18 February 12:41

        Yes, now 4h. Bit of a farce as even the longest domestic connections have a flight duration of less than half that time.

    • Harry T says:
      18 Feb18 February 12:47

      I don’t find the four hour policy is aggressively enforced, to be honest. Just say your flight has been cancelled and ask nicely to rebook it.

    • Lady London says:
      18 Feb18 February 17:03

      If flight number – any on your booking – changed it’s s cancellation so you wont need avios availability.

  • Gavin says:
    18 Feb18 February 11:44

    Hello – does anyone know what a wholesaler is buying Avios for? Looking to use Banked https://banked.com/avios for a fintech product and keen to get a sense of the economics.

    • Rob says:
      18 Feb18 February 12:15

      1p

      This is not a guess, it is based on people I have worked with to get Avios partnerships across the line.

      • Gavin says:
        18 Feb18 February 12:23

        Ta

      • TGLoyalty says:
        18 Feb18 February 13:55

        Are you aware of anyone actually using the “banked” partnership with avios to offer consumers earning opps?

        • Rob says:
          18 Feb18 February 15:09

          No. I opened a discussion with the Banked CEO but he never finalised the meeting he agreed to have and, I agree with you, I haven’t seen any companies using it yet.

          The problem for Banked is that their product is VERY low cost for companies (0.1% or something) because they are simply sucking the money from the customer’s bank account. To give Avios, however, the client needs to agree a fee of 1%+ which is on a par with accepting credit cards. For you the customer, you are still likely to be better off using a BA Amex than getting the Banked Avios (unless they go to 2 per £1 or more) and you get Section 75 cover.

  • Martin says:
    18 Feb18 February 11:55

    Have been doing weekly shops with Sainsburys since the Nectar/Avios started – weekly offers now really ramping up – got Nectar offers totalling 1650 points on about 15 products that we buy each week today.

  • BJ says:
    18 Feb18 February 11:57

    Just got this, and I didn’t…

    Dear BJ,

    As requested, we have cancelled your Mail Plus membership. Your membership will end on and you will not be charged for Mail Plus after this date.

    If this has been cancelled in error of if you have any questions, please email feedback@dailymailplus.co.uk or call us on 0345 071 2721.

    Please retain a copy of this email for your records.

    Kind regards,
    The Mail Plus Team

    • Harry T says:
      18 Feb18 February 12:14

      I received the same… but no reply to my email asking them to honour the terms of our contract!

      • BJ says:
        18 Feb18 February 12:18

        I doubt we will, they will likely just ignore them all until somebody resorts to legal action and then things might start rolling.

        • James says:
          18 Feb18 February 17:37

          You were clearly told that applying was a risk and may not result in the points, and that the promotion was a targeted one. You chose to apply using a personalised weblink you’d not actually received for an offer not available on the DM public facing offers pages. Why you’re surprised they have done this is beyond me.

          • Doug M says:
            18 Feb18 February 17:50

            It was targeted only through the email, the link was not personalised. Whilst HfP may have expressed some doubt, the DM accepted the applications and sent emails confirming this.
            Any competent organisation does use personalised links to avoid this, they also state the offer is only available to those invited. Why such effort to defend the DM who did very poorly here?
            I didn’t apply and don’t care from any personal perspective, but DM in the wrong here.

          • High Grade says:
            18 Feb18 February 18:28

            James, are you linked in some way with the Daily Mail? Or just an avid fan.
            This must be the 3rd or 4th comment I see from you defending their position. Could it be you are trying to influence people not to pursue the points, many of us feel contractually entitled to.

          • BJ says:
            18 Feb18 February 21:05

            As much as I respect Rob’s views and advice, my decision to apply was based on the T&C. I made an agreement in good faith, paid for it and they accepted that. I therefore expect them to honour it. Whether they ultimately do or not, I don’t much care. We win some, we lose some and I sleep like a baby regardless.

          • James says:
            18 Feb18 February 21:20

            I couldn’t abide the Daily Mail more, not that it matters. I’m not defending them either, simply trying to point out to the serial complainers on here that it’s not really a surprise this has happened.

        • Lord Doncaster says:
          18 Feb18 February 19:24

          It was naive to think the Mail would pay out Nectar points to so many at a loss…no doubt they were aware of the discussion on here.

        • Ken says:
          18 Feb18 February 19:53

          Legal action would be a fools errand in this case.

          Just move on.

    • John W says:
      18 Feb18 February 12:41

      +1 that mail has gone to everyone

    • Lady London says:
      18 Feb18 February 18:03

      “As requested” ? as the opening line?

      Have they hired the person at British Airways that always insisted BA reducing their offering was always due to “customer feedback”?

  • Stu says:
    18 Feb18 February 12:23

    Did we arrive at majority verdict on what we thought was the safest way to protect our Avios from being stolen and converted into fraudulent Nectar accounts, in the absence of 2FA in BA?

    • John says:
      18 Feb18 February 12:30

      Verification by phone conversation is currently in effect.

      • Stu says:
        18 Feb18 February 12:31

        Did I miss something? So basically if you want to transfer points from BA to Nectar, they call you?

        • BJ says:
          18 Feb18 February 12:37

          Not exactly, you call BA.

          • Stu says:
            18 Feb18 February 12:46

            Update: just tried and got a message stating that BA to Nectar is currently not available online – call 03 blah …. etc to complete the transaction. Phew, at least they’re finally on the case!

        • Rhys says:
          18 Feb18 February 12:38

          Sounds like a temporary solution whilst they plug the security hole.

  • xcalx says:
    18 Feb18 February 12:25

    @ Andy GWP
    Follow up from yesterday. I received a reply today.

    The estimated death value as at 1 feb 2021 is £55,219.25 This value includes any additional amount from our promise to determine the with-profits benefits.

    So not the promised formula as to how 5% CI arrives at that figure. Must have something to do with the “with-profits” . No mention of this in the poicy wording.

    • Lady London says:
      18 Feb18 February 13:04

      i think i would insist on knowing more

      • xcalx says:
        18 Feb18 February 16:58

        I am going to phone them tomorrow and try get more info. i thought I was getting a breakdown today but just got the above.

    • AJA says:
      18 Feb18 February 15:48

      @ xcalx I read yesterday’s posts and this latest one with interest. It sounds like you had a “with profits” pension where you receive bonuses based on how the funds have performed. They should have sent you statements whenever a bonus was added to the policy.

      The current estimate of £55k is what they would pay out to your estate if you died. This figure will change the longer you keep the fund (it can go down as well as up, depending on future performance of the fund). You many also have a minimum death benefit figure (unlikely but possible).

      I know you are not interested in receiving £50 a month but instead of just keeping it for the death benefits are you not able to take the 25% cash lump sum when you reach 55 (or 57 depending on your current age) and then draw down a taxable lump sum each year until the fund is exhausted?

      Or you could transfer the entire pension and combine it with another (assuming you have another pension). Legally you are obliged to get independent financial advice if you want to transfer from:
      – Either a defined benefit pension worth more than £30,000 OR
      – a defined contribution pension worth more than £30,000 with a guarantee about what you’ll be paid when you retire (e.g. a guaranteed annuity rate)

      Do you know if you have a guaranteed annuity rate with this pension fund?

      I consolidated 5 separate pension pots 2 years ago. It cost me 2.5% of the existing fund values at the time for the IFA advice but I now have my own Sipp which I control and has since increased by over 22% and it will allow me to do draw down when I reach 55 rather than be stuck with annuities or small sums. I did not consolidate one small fund as that bizarrely entitles me to a guaranteed tax free sum which is equivalent to 56% of the fund rather than the usual 25%.

      • Lady London says:
        18 Feb18 February 17:09

        Watch out that age 55 will go up to 57 soonish. And even if you are a Conservative voter other tax privileges on pensions may need to be reviewed by Rishi.

        Could be worse if the other people get back in.

      • Lady London says:
        18 Feb18 February 17:14

        PS hopefully someone will correct me if I am wrong but is it as soon as you take the 25% tax free or only once you draw anything down from it, that you won’t be able to transfer (move keeping it under a pension wrapper) it?

        • Ken says:
          18 Feb18 February 20:06

          The main issue is once you take drawdown income then the annual allowance (the amount you can contribute to another pension, is vastly reduced). This is to stop ‘pension recycling’ to increase the tax benefits.

          This change does not trigger if you just take the 25% tax free & defer taking income

          • Lady London says:
            18 Feb18 February 20:14

            I was more wondering if just taking the 25% stops the rest being transferred to another provider. Think I saw somewhere that taking drawdown (ie after the 25pc) means you cant transfer it to another provider.

            Yes if the poster hasn’t breached the MPAA then taking the 25% then recycling on 4th and 6th April did occur to me but my head was beginning to hurt after that

          • AJA says:
            18 Feb18 February 23:34

            @LL I don’t think you are prevented from moving to another provider if you’ve just taken the 25% lump sum as with drawdown the rest of the pot remains invested and you can sell and buy individual funds so there’s no reason why you should be limited to the provider. You just won’t be able to take any further tax free amounts.

        • Ken says:
          18 Feb18 February 23:11

          You can move a pension in drawdown from one provider to another.
          So from say Hargreaves Lansdown to AJ Bell
          There would likely be a charge. You have to move the whole lot once in drawdown, whereas before you enter drawdown you can move & split your pension into different providers if you wished.

      • xcalx says:
        18 Feb18 February 17:30

        @AJA I am in my mid sixties I got the pension details through a few week ago with a pot of £64k it came with an example of what’s on offer = £7883 tax free lump sum plus a taxable yearly income of £2627 It does have a guaranteed annuity (the yearly sum without the GA was £2549.) So hardly life changing. I know I can take upto 25% tax free with a smaller yearly income.

        I looked at taking the whole pot as a lump sum but the death benefit is more generous due to the taxes.

        I have COPD with a FEV1 rate of 31 as of December 2019 ( just outside stage 4 and no tests since due to covid) so a long retirement is not on the cards hence looking into the pot becoming a death benefit.
        A few years ago I did look into taking the pot in full but was continually put off doing so by FAs because of the GA. I don’t get how they reckoned the GA was such a good benefit as in the example given it’s a paltry £78 per anum.

        • Lady London says:
          18 Feb18 February 18:14

          is it worth getting a quote for impaired life annuity?

        • AJA says:
          18 Feb18 February 20:18

          @xcalc have you considered taking the maximum 25% tax free and then using the reduced pension income to pay for a separate life insurance policy that gives £64k cover? I would be very surprised if the premiums would exceed the income from the pension. That way you get the benefit of the 25%tax free lump sum and all those 35 years of pension contributions.

      • Mouse says:
        18 Feb18 February 17:59

        2.5% of the fund value for IFA advice sounds very steep! That would be 25 grand for a couple of hours’ work for a £1m pension pot!

        • AJA says:
          18 Feb18 February 23:43

          @Mouse It wasn’t just advice, it was also doing the consolidation work closing the 5 pensions and setting up the SIPP on an appropriate platform, plus recommending funds. I also have regular review meetings and the IFA also reviews my HL ISAs although I do the active management of the ISAs. I consider it money well spent and the returns achieved along with a significant reduction in ongoing charges have more than recovered the fee I paid. I wish it was a £1m pot but it wasn’t but is growing so could potentially get close.

    • AndyGWP says:
      18 Feb18 February 22:45

      Thanks for the update. Very interested in seeing how this pans out and some of the comments you’re receiving are very useful / educational 👍🏻🙂

  • Rich says:
    18 Feb18 February 12:43

    Virgin Bank account update.

    I applied and was told they needed to send me a letter to verify some details. Letter arrived today and account opened smoothly.

    The letter is a little confusing. It gives an authentication code (along with three other numbers), but online they ask for an authorisation code. But before that, you have to fill in an *activation code*, sent by email (and another by SMS).

    The letter also warns you to have your password ready, which I never set. But you don’t need that. And it tells you to visit a web address where you need to scroll down to find the right option.

    3/10 for clarity!

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