The HfP chat thread – Friday 19th March

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• Oscar says:

  19 Mar19 March 12:33

  Just had my bendy card blocked. Email from them querying the high volume of transactions to NS&I…..

  I need to provide them with an “explanation”….

  • Rhys says:

    19 Mar19 March 13:12

    How high was the volume?!

    • Oscar says:

      19 Mar19 March 13:23

      £40k over the past week. I appreciate this is significant but ultimately, it’s genuine.
      I received proceeds of an investment last week, so I want to max out on Premium Bonds until I need the proceeds in December to pay my tax bill.

      • Doug M says:

        19 Mar19 March 13:40

        It’s really not genuine, assuming behind Curve was a credit card, else why not use debit direct. If you’re buying cash investments like bonds with a credit card you’re not genuine. Good luck doing it, but don’t kid yourself you’re not gaming things.

        • Oscar says:

          19 Mar19 March 14:29

          Disagree strongly.

          Curve’s own website states:
          “There are two types of transactions that we charge a fee for when using a credit card to make the payment:

          Taxes or government payments – these payments fall under the Merchant Category Code (MCC) 9399 i.e.:
          HMRC – If you’re planning to make payments to government agencies you should be aware of the rules and restrictions they may have in place. You can find further information around their accepted payment methods on their websites.
          National Savings & Investments”

          They then market and sell their metal product as a way of avoiding their normal charge.

        • Anna says:

          19 Mar19 March 15:06

          I’ve never noticed a fee for Ernie.

      • The real John says:

        19 Mar19 March 15:59

        So explain it

      • xcalx says:

        19 Mar19 March 18:08

        Have you gone from zero to 40K in a week, if so seems reasonable from curve. However 40k a week after building slowly slowly will catchy monkey .

  • the_real_a says:

    19 Mar19 March 14:08

    Usual KYC. No big deal as long as you have mixed spend.

  • Ali M says:

    19 Mar19 March 16:15

    Oscar don’t worry.just be careful though.Even genuine spend of that magnitude would invite questions…I am a big saver and even though can put 30-40k together every April but try and spread out… not because there’s anything wrong or have anything to hide but just because don’t want to do a to and fro explanation etc

  • Patrick Cold says:

    19 Mar19 March 18:23

    I had this, sent documents through and was cleared in 48 hours.

• Harry T says:

  19 Mar19 March 12:44

  Amex just kindly gave me 10k points to keep my Gold card. This is quite surprising as I already had a retention offer from October to January (2 extra points per pound). I am paying the card fee as it’s my second year.

  • 747_Brat says:

    19 Mar19 March 12:47

    That’s very generous of them. Were there any spend requirements attached to the 10k MR points?

    • Harry T says:

      19 Mar19 March 14:35

      No, they just gave me 10k. It’s actually already showing in my MR account.

  • BJ says:

    19 Mar19 March 12:56

    It’s your spending habits Harry, they want to keep you.

    • Harry T says:

      19 Mar19 March 14:35

      Not sure why, haven’t spent much on that card in the last few months. Although I did spend easily over 15k prior to that.

      • Neil says:

        19 Mar19 March 16:56

        Their retention models will be predicating that you will spend a lot post lockdown so worth keeping you

        • Harry T says:

          19 Mar19 March 17:22

          Good point, Neil – they probably aren’t wrong!

  • YC says:

    19 Mar19 March 12:56

    Was that via calling or just chat function?

    • Harry T says:

      19 Mar19 March 14:34

      I called. Got an American who was happy to cancel my account without any retention offer. I asked if there were any retention offers and she transferred me through to the specialist department, where I spoke to a nice lady with a southern English accent.

      • Pete M says:

        19 Mar19 March 15:03

        Probably someone in the Philippines, rather than the US.

        • The real John says:

          19 Mar19 March 16:00

          Filipino accents are different to American accents

• Aston100 says:

  19 Mar19 March 13:01

  Due to yet another schedule change / cancellation, I now have the opportunity to get a refund on flights booked to KUL this summer.
  Avios Reward booking utilising a companion voucher.
  This was not part of the discounted Avios fares that were on offer late last year.
  I want to go summer 2022.
  Is there any reason not to take the refund? e.g. is there a way to get BA to push the flights back by a year? I don’t want to get into a messy fight and arbitration etc

  Thanks.

  • BJ says:

    19 Mar19 March 13:24

    BA terminated as opposed to suspended KUL IIRC. Doubt they’ll give you 241 benefits on MAS ut you could push for SIN, enjoy a night or two there and try a VIP bus.

    • Aston100 says:

      19 Mar19 March 14:02

      Ah yes, forgot the route was completely terminated.
      Well, no chance of flights being pushed back then.
      Guess I’ll have to take the refund and find somewhere else to go next summer, and go through the hassle of trying to book flights as they come online at t-355.

      • Alex D says:

        19 Mar19 March 15:11

        You could change to SIN as it’s within 300 miles and travel between as it’s very cheap. You could also have your pick of dates due to BA cancelling on you.

• Andrew MS says:

  19 Mar19 March 13:06

  Does anyone have any experience of the seats at back of the business class cabin on Qatar 787s ? The two seats on their own by the emergency exits. More space perhaps but i guess you have to put up with the toilet traffic and regular curtain movement ?

  • The Savage Squirrel says:

    19 Mar19 March 13:46

    They’re wedged between the bogs behind the storage and with no visible windows which is exactly as appealing as it sounds. Seem to be generally abandonned or forgotten or used as crew rest area….

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    19 Mar19 March 14:50

    Having booked further up the cabin, I had a last-minute seat change to that pair on a DOH-LHR day flight. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but actually it was fine. No issues with privacy or noise.

  • Andrew says:

    19 Mar19 March 14:53

    Also proximity to the economy bassinet position just the other side of the curtain could be bothersome. They are referred to as the honeymoon seats as they certainly offer a private environment!

  • Jay says:

    19 Mar19 March 21:35

    Avoid at all cost… too busy. Economy behind, toilets to left and right and the ‘bar’ type area in front where people often mingle…. they are a dog of a seat.

• John says:

  19 Mar19 March 13:33

  Just tried reward flight finder. Date available on RFF not available on BA website and date offered on BA website not showing available on RFF.
  Had issues with Seat Spy some months ago and stopped that description – obviously neither of them are now reliable

• BJ says:

  19 Mar19 March 13:37

  Just got an email from Monese. They have slashed top up limits and hiked fees as of yesterday.

  • bafan says:

    19 Mar19 March 13:45

    I wonder why I didn’t get that email. What a bummer.

  • Ryan says:

    19 Mar19 March 13:57

    Changes to the paid plans?

    • BJ says:

      19 Mar19 March 14:39

      I don’t know, it only referred to my free plan. Limits almost halved, fees increased to 3.5%. It was effective yesterday so best check your app if on a paid plan.

• BuildBackBetter says:

  19 Mar19 March 13:42

  Apparently curve market share has increased!
  https://www.altfi.com/article/7709_monzo-continued-to-lose-digital-banking-market-share-in-2020

  • Tom1 says:

    19 Mar19 March 13:52

    Market share of ….. payments to savings and investments.

  • Anuj says:

    19 Mar19 March 15:09

    I’m not sure that data is very accurate

  • mark2 says:

    19 Mar19 March 15:28

    Surely they have 100% of their market since no one else does the same?

  • The real John says:

    19 Mar19 March 15:57

    Market share seems to be defined as percentage of accounts/app downloads(??) of each company out of the total number.

• Mikeact says:

  19 Mar19 March 14:10

  Just pushed the button to purchase an Iberia gift card @£1000 less current 25% discount, nett £750. (Using Curve) A good saving against an IB flight next year.

  • peter says:

    19 Mar19 March 18:19

    I’m surprised not all of the airlines did that, seems like a great idea to get some cash.. especially when many people forget to redeem them..

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