The HfP chat thread – Friday 26th March

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Nate says:

26 Mar26 March 05:31

Hi. I have recently received my AMEX platinum business card. I wanted to add my wife as supplementary card holder. Do I use the following link to receive bonus MR points?

https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/benefits/supplementary-cards/?sourcecode=3DA0000FJN07

I remember reading somewhere it would be 6k points for business card (I may be wrong) but above link “only” shows 5k points.
- BLT says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 08:22
  
  Definitely 5k for me. I’ve always just added using the link in the online account, no special link, and the 5k was added within 24-48 hours.
- Rob says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 09:13
  
  It’s 5k.
S879 says:

26 Mar26 March 06:03

When calling Amex Gold card do people ask for retention offers or just to cancel and then they offer the points. I don’t really want to cancel but would welcome the points they have been offering.
- Dan says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 07:21
  
  When I phoned and said I was thinking of cancelling because I haven’t been able to use the benefits etc, Amex were very empathetic and helpful and forthcoming with a no pressure bonus points retention offer (that I happily accepted as I too didn’t really want to cancel).
Ian M says:

26 Mar26 March 06:16

With the stay at home order lifting for England on Monday, is the new legislation that bans international travel in place yet?
- John says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 06:29
  
  Yes
  - Ian M says:
    
    26 Mar26 March 07:18
    
    Morning John, care to share the provision please? What Act is it contained in?
    - Ian M says:
      
      26 Mar26 March 07:42
      
      For anyone who’s interested I’ve found it now, it’s Statutory Instrument 2021 No. 364
      
      The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Steps) (England) Regulations 2021.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 07:28
  
  It doesn’t ban international travel full stop
  
  There are many reasons you can travel including to second homes!
  - Ian M says:
    
    26 Mar26 March 07:50
    
    Yeah, I’ve just read through the regulations, anyone that wants to leave England can easily do so if they so wish.
    - Pete M says:
      
      26 Mar26 March 10:00
      
      But if you are going to do the right thing and take all the Covid tests you’re meant to, it’ll easily set you back around £500pp to leave and come back…
      - Sam G says:
        
        26 Mar26 March 12:30
        
        I suspect there won’t be much enforcement but if they were so minded a two week trip to Cancun to view a couple of houses you booked online could lead to a difficult conversation…
        
        The only optional COVID test is the day 5 “test to release” – no way to avoid the pre-departure & the “2 & 8” day packages + whatever you need for your flight/destination, though costs are coming down & getting more simple e.g. the take with you kit that was reviewed on here recently
      - bafan says:
        
        26 Mar26 March 13:11
        
        It’s not even the right thing at this point, it’s just following the law.
      - Pete M says:
        
        26 Mar26 March 13:45
        
        There are plenty of ways to avoid all these things, Sam G, just depends on how good your moral compass is…
Steve says:

26 Mar26 March 06:19

Without joining the revolution and non fee bearing way to feed the seagulls and earn points?
- Steve says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 06:19
  
  *is there any non fee bearing way
  - BuildBackBetter says:
    
    26 Mar26 March 07:57
    
    Bendy works when used creatively
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      26 Mar26 March 08:14
      
      With a fee therefore not the fee free method the OP was asking for.
      
      Monese but tops ups limited and they don’t give much leeway.
      - Reney says:
        
        26 Mar26 March 08:31
        
        If I understood the last email from Monese, with the free plan, every top up at the post office incurs a 2% charge, minimum £2. Is that a correct understanding? If so not free, and potentially quite pricey.
      - TGLoyalty says:
        
        26 Mar26 March 11:11
        
        Why would you top up via post office when you can top up for free by debit card in the app?
    - Steve says:
      
      26 Mar26 March 08:50
      
      Yeah tried bendy creatively, but that’s only possible with fronted (and fees). Tried without for trial and error purposes and it failed
      - Reney says:
        
        26 Mar26 March 14:54
        
        How would you earn points via Monese if you top up via debit card?
      - Genghis says:
        
        26 Mar26 March 15:42
        
        Really? Some debit cards earn points.
- @mkcol says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 11:07
  
  Virgin
  - Steve says:
    
    26 Mar26 March 14:14
    
    Directly with no fees? No Bendy needed?
  - Reney says:
    
    26 Mar26 March 20:39
    
    I am only aware that the Tesco debit card earned points, but that is not longer opened to new application. Would love to know which other option is out there?
The Savage Squirrel says:

26 Mar26 March 06:28

So with a Virgin current account that I don’t want set up and bonus received, what’s the best bonus for transferring onwards? (No need to buy more Avios so have decided I don’t want a Barclays Premier.)
- Ming the Merciless says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 06:47
  
  I’m thinking hsbc premier. £125 and get the premiere credit card.
  - Jonathan says:
    
    26 Mar26 March 07:23
    
    You won’t get far with your aggressive MS with HSBC so I would take the £125 & move on quickly & quietly. They’ll blacklist you very quickly if they get the faintest whiff of game playing (although it might take their shoddy IT a little while to flag you).
    - Ming the Merciless says:
      
      26 Mar26 March 07:33
      
      Agree, some relationships are more important than other.
      - TGLoyalty says:
        
        26 Mar26 March 08:13
        
        Not so merciless …
    - Benilyn says:
      
      26 Mar26 March 10:51
      
      Has anyone in the UK ever been hit by this that you know of? Any idea how much they were putting through?
- 747_Brat says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 11:54
  
  Sadly there are not many switch offers around at the moment. If you don’t want to enter the downward spiral called HSBC customer service, it is better to wait until an offer comes around. Until then, you can earn 2.02% interest on Virgin current account for balances up to £1,000.
  - The Savage Squirrel says:
    
    26 Mar26 March 13:44
    
    Might do. It’s currently paying modest monthly direct debits to two very worthwhile charities, so no rush 🙂
Paul465 says:

26 Mar26 March 06:32

Did anyone get the full bonus 2000 Nectar points from Viking for the offer they were running in Jan? Mine never went on so chased with Viking, they will only give me 1000 even though I screenshot the offer and sent it with my chase.
- Njb says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 09:15
  
  No – this has reminded me to chase it up!
- Ja says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 09:40
  
  Who/where did you contact?. Viking or Nectar?
  
  Thx
  - Paul465 says:
    
    26 Mar26 March 20:10
    
    I contacted viking, they have said the offer was 2000 at the time of my purchase but are now only awarding 1000 so that is all I will get
Scallder says:

26 Mar26 March 07:25

Anyone had any luck in getting Virgin Money to give them the 15k points having been sent the wine as the reward? I got the 15k no problem but my wife’s account has had the wine reward and not the points come through…
- AJA says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 07:32
  
  Get your wife to phone Virgin and say she’s teetotal or for even more dramatic effect a recovering alcoholic so wine is of no interest to her. They will switch her to the points.
  - M says:
    
    26 Mar26 March 14:21
    
    It took a few phone calls for me and I quoted the terms and conditions. Eventually they said “ok fine, we will cancel the wine voucher and give you the points”, from that point it took about a week to get the points.
    - David says:
      
      26 Mar26 March 17:58
      
      Just promised me the same “within a week” (ie as soon as they get VR to cancel the wine offer)
KBuffett says:

26 Mar26 March 07:26

What’s the cheapest way to get Netflix without VPN etc?
- Andrew says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 07:30
  
  £5.99 is the cheapest subscription (1 user, SD)
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 07:31
  
  I’m on a 50% discount deal via sky atm and it was £4 more to get sky ultimate.
- Jonathan says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 07:56
  
  Share a standard plan with a friend (allows 2 people to watch at once & downloads to 2 devices) or Premium (4 simultaneous streams & 4 devices for downloads).
- Craig says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 08:49
  
  If you are a Sky customer look at adding it to your package, worked out cheaper for me than signing up separately. You can still use Netflix away from the Sky box as you would normally.
  - Craig says:
    
    26 Mar26 March 08:49
    
    Oops, missed that TGLoyalty had already suggested this.