The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 17th March

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• Ros says:

  17 Mar17 March 11:27

  Cancelled my personal Bendy account about a year ago due to frustrations with difficulty logging on, just trying to sign up again and same problems! Problem when putting in my mobile number, then sending a link, app not opening up. Do you think it’s because I’ve been black listed as seems to be working fine for others in household?

  • Tyler Durden says:

    17 Mar17 March 11:47

    you cancelled a year ago… how much MS were you doing back then?

    • Ros says:

      17 Mar17 March 11:55

      MS? sorry excuse my ignorance!

      • Andy says:

        17 Mar17 March 12:04

        Manufactured Spending (putting spend through the card without actually spending money).

        • Ros says:

          17 Mar17 March 12:09

          hmm I don’t think I did anything significant to be honest, I had the Blue Bendy and the most I ever did was purchase NS&I before they introduced the 1.5% fees, very strange! Definitely in comparison to the volume other users on here tend to go through, drop in the ocean!!

        • Secret Squirrel says:

          17 Mar17 March 16:33

          Not everyone who opens a Bendy account uses it for MS.

      • Guernsey Globetrotter says:

        17 Mar17 March 12:05

        MS = maunfactured spending. Apparently that is what most Bendy holders on here seem to use it for 🙂

  • Zana says:

    17 Mar17 March 14:45

    I don’t think you’ve been blacklisted. If you’ve cancelled the card before and you want to re-apply, you need to get Curve customer service to delete your old profile from the system. I have no idea how their internal systems work but apparently their systems prevent you from signing up again with the same mobile number. Just because you no longer have an active card doesn’t seem to make a difference.

    I gave up in the sign-up process years ago and when I did try again, the automated sign up won’t work. But customer service solved it.

• Gill says:

  17 Mar17 March 11:35

  I have an AMEX Plat and notice that the current insurance exclusions include:
  Any claim resulting from travel restrictions imposed by Governmental Offices relating to Trips booked after the World Health Organisation declaring a pandemic or known event
  Does this mean that the travel insurance is worthless?
  I don’t remember seeing this exclusion – I wonder when it was added.

  • BuildBackBetter says:

    17 Mar17 March 12:39

    If you want cover for travel during covid, you’ll have to get a new one specifically covering it. Most regular insurance policies, including amex, have excluded cover during covid.

• Nick Burch says:

  17 Mar17 March 11:38

  Just had a “fun” little jaunt down to Heathrow, for a pre-travel PCR test (heading off on a work trip Saturday morning). Overall, very slick, much better than Boots was last autumn.

  It’s on the ground floor of T5, far right when looking from outside, just past the Caffe Nero. Helpers at the entry to the queue, checking you have made your booking, or helping you do one. No actual queue though! Up to the desks to have your details taken – needs booking number and passport, then a confirmation of what kind of test you need in case you booked the wrong one, and finally payment. Handed a strip of barcodes, then round the corner to wait (10 seconds!) for a nurse. 8 bays setup, at least half staffed today. They confirm the test type, grab the appropriate kit, quick effective swap (they’re clearly doing them a lot more than Boots were and have the knack), then you’re done.

  It’s a hundred quid mind you!

  They are also doing the post-arrival testing there, I believe it’s now £190 for days 2 + 8 tests. You do your “day 2” test when you land (called day 2, actually day 0-2), same place.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    17 Mar17 March 13:32

    expresstest has a drive thru based in one of the car parks at heathrow and charge £80

• Hotelier says:

  17 Mar17 March 11:41

  Is it possible to ask to transfer an AMEX offer from one card to another i.e BA card to Buss.Plat? I believe it is not but checking online came across an article on another points blog saying yes but think is US related, thought worth a check.

  • Genghis says:

    17 Mar17 March 11:46

    No. It was possible to add such offers yourself back in the day but Amex fixed that weakness.

  • Ste Cox says:

    17 Mar17 March 11:50

    I managed to get the Morrisons offer added to my Plat by saying it was on my free BA card last week using the online chat

    • Hotelier says:

      17 Mar17 March 12:04

      @SteCox will give it a go!! Thanks so much.

    • Hotelier says:

      17 Mar17 March 13:02

      No luck with this – agent said no way! hahaha

    • TGLoyalty says:

      17 Mar17 March 13:35

      very surprised they’ve been saying no ALOT

      • Hotelier says:

        17 Mar17 March 15:02

        To be honest, I was not expecting it to be possible. Thought maybe a way for it to be ”added” to this card rather than a transfer. Anyways was very nice to the agent and he said he would as well pass the feedback to the ”manager” so hoping the offer magically appears in a couple days.

        • Genghis says:

          17 Mar17 March 15:16

          When I worked in a call centre back in the day, the “feedback to management” comment was a way to get you off the phone 🙂

        • Hotelier says:

          17 Mar17 March 15:24

          @Genghis I know, I am the “Manager” that gets the feedback in my job. I’m just hopeful cause I had not even been pushy and already said ok have a good day and still they said it. A lot of times, I can’t do something “officially” and will not be able to put it on the record even worse in writing … but then can be done in a case by case basis … specially if you are nice to the staff as they have no need to do it.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          17 Mar17 March 23:30

          In my experience if they are actually going to add it happens within an hour.

• James says:

  17 Mar17 March 11:43

  I have Gold Star Alliance status with TAP Portugal (took advantage of the status match promo they did) but I want to credit points on my next Singapore Airlines flight to the Air NZ loyalty programme (more likely to use them from this account). How do I add my TAP Portugal account to get the status benefits, but credit the earned points from the flight to a different loyalty programme? Is this possible? Singapore Airlines customer rep didn’t think it was.

  • Beardless Hipster says:

    17 Mar17 March 12:30

    Get in touch with SQ and ask them to add your TAP number as FQTS and your Air NZ number as FQTV.

    • Anuj says:

      17 Mar17 March 13:13

      Is this something you can do with any star alliance airline or is FQTV and FQTS specific to Singapore ?

      • Rob says:

        17 Mar17 March 13:31

        You can do this with any airline, any alliance, but almost no-one has ever been trained in how to do it.

    • James says:

      17 Mar17 March 13:16

      Awesome, thanks. I thought there was a way to do this, but had forgot the terminology to use.

  • John says:

    17 Mar17 March 13:53

    If you just want lounge access and fast track security, put NZ on the booking and show your TP card

    For other benefits you will need to keep changing it unless you find someone who knows how to use the fqts field

• mutley says:

  17 Mar17 March 11:45

  I am thinking of getting an International Dollar card and transferring MR to Krisflyer, am I right in assuming that this can be done via the $100 green card as apposed to shelling out for the Gold or Plat versions.

  • Guernsey Globetrotter says:

    17 Mar17 March 12:15

    Yes – the Amex USD Green works the same way as the other cards for a transfer to KrisFlyer. Just remember that you can only transfer once per calendar year.

    • Rob says:

      17 Mar17 March 13:04

      I have the Green one, works fine. Note that the MR fee is on top though, another $36.

      • meta says:

        17 Mar17 March 13:21

        First year it’s free. At least it was 2-3 years ago.

        • meta says:

          17 Mar17 March 13:22

          I meant MR fee

        • mutley says:

          17 Mar17 March 15:37

          Thanks all.

    • Louie says:

      17 Mar17 March 22:30

      “Just remember that you can only transfer once per calendar year” – are you sure? Amex’s usual rule is that there has to be an interval of a complete year between transfers.

      • Louie says:

        17 Mar17 March 22:34

        Just to clarify – meaning an interval of a year between transfers of Amex MR points from one currency to another, not from Amex to Krisflyer.

• Reney says:

  17 Mar17 March 11:46

  Question on HSBC premier, what do people recommend to be the best investment product to take up that has the least tax hassle? I really can’t be bothered to get valuations etc every year to report it on my tax return. I’m thinking I could just put this years’ S&S isa in HSBC for ease? I know there are strong opinions here on where to open S&S ISA, so hoping to get some useful advice from you.

  • John says:

    17 Mar17 March 12:16

    The points and tax tails should not wag the investment dog.

  • Optimus Prime says:

    17 Mar17 March 12:18

    Someone said you can open a general investment account with £100 and not invest it.

  • Genghis says:

    17 Mar17 March 12:37

    I’ve just opened a general investment account with them so can build up HSBC fund positions before “transferring” to iWeb ISA. V easy to set up. But at 0.25% custody fee not the cheapest for long term buy and hold. As such, I wouldn’t put ISA there.

    Note you don’t need to get valuations for your tax return, just the amount of dividends paid, which is once a year for most equity funds IIRC. As UK domicile, no ERI calculations. So quite simple tbh.

    As Optimus Prime mentioned, another user mentioned just leaving £100 as cash and not having problems.

  • BS says:

    17 Mar17 March 14:08

    I opened a GIC account and put £100 in, uninvested.
    They accepted this. I will leave my £100 there earning nothing. Because of the tax implications I do not intend to actually invest it.

  • Memesweeper says:

    17 Mar17 March 19:53

    Life insurance qualifies. They are reasonably priced for my needs.

• Ron says:

  17 Mar17 March 11:49

  Airtime reward – How soon do transactions show on app? Thanks.

  • Connor says:

    17 Mar17 March 11:53

    3 days after the transaction has fully posted on your card I find.

  • John says:

    17 Mar17 March 12:14

    Up to 2 weeks for me

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