The HfP chat thread – Friday 9th April

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• Tom says:

  9 Apr9 April 07:40

  Does anyone know the latest rumours re tourism travel between US and UK? I missed Rhys’ piece in the Times (if memory serves correctly). Do we think it’s likely you’ll need to have been vaccinated or just evidence a -ve test before entry. Maybe at this stage all just speculation!

  • TGLoyalty says:

    9 Apr9 April 08:10

    It’s all speculation

    Testing seems to be the theme of 2021 travel.

  • Jonathan says:

    9 Apr9 April 08:36

    I doubt we’ll see any easy travel without quarantine anytime soon to say the least. I also read a news report that American authorities are against the idea of a vaccination passport, I think they were mainly citing privacy concerns, I’m not entirely sure of details right now

    • Anna says:

      9 Apr9 April 08:58

      The governor of Florida (who may well be a Mar a Lago type for all I know!) has said that vaccine passports will be illegal in his state, so we’ll probably see a lot of regional variation once in the US. If we are allowed in in the summer we’ll be fully vaccinated (and we don’t do bars or clubs these days!) and the teenagers regularly tested so not too fussed, we’ll just keep taking the precautions we do now. These seem to have worked for us living in one of the worst affected areas of the UK so I’m not particularly worried about travel.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      9 Apr9 April 09:47

      I think UK USA travel will resume without quarantine but not without testing. I have no idea what tests they will be but if our free NHS lateral flow tests can be used pre departure (at both ends) that would be a bonus.

      • Pete M says:

        9 Apr9 April 11:16

        I agree with you TGLoyalty – I’d be fairly certain it’ll be an outbound paid-for test (thankfully they accept antigen ones, so around £35 with say Qured) and then the same on the way back + apparently a PCR test on return as well. Although today’s announcement from the travel taskforce seems to suggest they are considering antigen tests on return to keep costs down. That’s assuming the US becomes a green-list country, of course!

• David says:

  9 Apr9 April 07:52

  Hypothetical question -if you travel to a green country then do a side visit to an amber country but are back in the Uk 10 days after you re-entered the green country -would you still have to isolate ?

  • Lou says:

    9 Apr9 April 07:56

    I should hope so! Accept the moral responsibility that comes with travel in this current situation

    • Sam G says:

      9 Apr9 April 08:18

      If it’s like last time it’ll be the “last” 10 or X days in the green Country, otherwise you’ll have to quarantine the balance.

      Of course for somewhere like Schengen Europe with open land borders it becomes unenforceable with a little effort and dishonesty if you land back in the UK from the correct country

      • J says:

        9 Apr9 April 10:16

        Not sure how ‘open’ borders are within Schnegen right now, most travel now requires negative tests both ways and there seems to be passport checks (at least travelling into Germany from surrounding countries).

  • TGLoyalty says:

    9 Apr9 April 08:13

    No it’s the same today.

    For example, If you were in a red list country then go to a non red list country for 10 days you no longer have to hotel quarantine.

    @Lou don’t understand your moral dilemma. The rules are set in regards to where you’ve been in the last 10 days.

    • Stu N says:

      9 Apr9 April 08:20

      Last summer you had to list all the countries you’ve been in the previous 14 days. I fully expect the requirements would be the same now, setting aside the change to 10 days.

    • Lou says:

      9 Apr9 April 08:26

      Yay, go potentially infect another country. That’s nice of you

      • Oh! Matron! says:

        9 Apr9 April 08:44

        What Lou said. The rules are borderline arbitrary. Look at the charter flights that are having to be laid on from pakistan as it transitions towards being a RED country. Yes, TGLoyalty, the virus will wait until it becomes red before it will spread.

        Would it kill any of us to just, for the time being, the stay home?

        • The Lord says:

          9 Apr9 April 08:48

          Why shouldn’t people go abroad and enjoy themselves? The old and vulnerable have been vaccinated. I don’t see what the issue is. I will be straight out of here once allowed.

        • Gary Busey says:

          9 Apr9 April 08:55

          Would it kill any of us if we didn’t stay home is the question……

          If you’re so concerned about travel, then don’t travel. I feel it is extremely selfish of people with this mindset, just because someone has a ‘the world is going to end’ attitude from watching too much of the news, doesn’t mean you should try to project this negative mindset on everyone else.

          If you’re at high risk, then self isolate, COVID will be around for a while, life must go on.

        • Number9 says:

          9 Apr9 April 09:15

          This old ( well feeling old) and vulnerable person has booked 2 trips in last week for 2022/23.
          @ oh Matron this whole blog is about getting the most out of travel and the way to do it at a discount or for maximum benefit for minimum outlay. If you want to stay at home that’s your choice, don’t judge others for going further afield. I’m not planning on going this year but only because I’m going to be renovating a house and no chance I’m leaving builders on their own with no one to oversea them!

        • TGLoyalty says:

          9 Apr9 April 09:19

          That’s up to country X to decide what is or isn’t red/amber/green for it.

          “The rules are borderline arbitrary” agree the lists are mostly a load of shite.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          9 Apr9 April 09:25

          “Would it kill any of us to just, for the time being, the stay home?”

          Sorry the time for that is over. If you want to stay home carry on.

        • GaryC says:

          9 Apr9 April 09:28

          The issue is one of potentially lower vaccine efficacy against variants, of which there are still some unknowns. See the Lancet for example: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00730-3/fulltext

          I’m certainly not planning to stay at home once travel is allowed, but I do think that caution is justified. Just saying “everyone has been vaccinated so we can all just go wherever we want and enjoy ourselves” is being wilfully ignorant.

      • The real John says:

        9 Apr9 April 09:41

        Other countries make their own decisions on whether you are an infection risk to them.

        • Lou says:

          9 Apr9 April 09:57

          I’m not saying stay at home (although for this year it’s probably not a terrible idea to make good of the British holiday scene), what I do think falls in the way of responsibility is if you do go somewhere, be sensible and pay the quarantine dues

        • Lady London says:

          9 Apr9 April 10:01

          So i should go about in my bulletproof vest just because someone who wants to indulge their habit of playing with guns has to go out and shoot rounds?

          Why is it all put on countries and individuals to protect themselves because someone couldn’t give a $hit about someone else?

          To make it relevant to travel, just like the astonishing attitude of people in the BA lounges who sit there facetiming or watching videos without earphones. Receiving a polite request to perhaps use headphones or perhaps lower their speaker volume unleashes a torrent of abuse about I (and presumably everybody else in a 20 meter radius) should wear earplugs. Really?

        • TGLoyalty says:

          9 Apr9 April 10:01

          And the OP would be paying the quarantine dues because the form will ask where you have been in the last 10 days. Where they have been before that is of no importance on the PLF

• Joe says:

  9 Apr9 April 07:55

  Have to report my experience to date with Barclays Premier has been absolutely dreadful.

  I opened the account and completed a switch – no hassle – but then couldn’t make any payments at all. It took me 2 hours on the phone to the Premier team to establish that they hadn’t set up the internet banking properly at their end, and couldn’t work out what was wrong with my App. Told me to raise a complaint and they would investigate.

  A week later and I finally got a call about the complaint – and a resolution.

  This morning I see I’ve been charged £6 for receiving a payment in GBP into my Barclays account. They say it was an “international transfer” and so they charge for that. Money sent from a GBP denominated account in my name into GBP denominated Barclays account. Baffling that they would charge for that!

  Not impressed so far at all.

  • MD says:

    9 Apr9 April 08:19

    Agree Joe, terrible experience for me with Barclays Premier so far as well. Set up the account using the app on Wednesday with no problems. Haven’t yet been set up for internet banking, switched, or anything else.

    Did a £10 test transfer from HSBC yesterday, seemed to work. I always do this for new accounts. Then unable to access the app yesterday afternoon, account blocked!

    45 minutes on hold to reach their fraud team on the number advised. Spoke to someone who admitted it was the £10 transfer, from my own UK account, which had been flagged as suspicious activity. Worse, he didn’t know how to unblock it, or stop my account from being blocked following routine activity. Put me on hold for 10 minutes, came back and said he’d have to transfer me to another team. After another 35 minutes on hold (1.5 hours total) I had to give up.

    So, account still blocked. Will be raising a complaint after they get it unblocked. Not very Premier, indeed. Was considering using it as my main account, now will definitely not. Muppets.

    • Joe says:

      9 Apr9 April 08:51

      V similar to my experience and very poor.

      • MD says:

        9 Apr9 April 15:14

        @Joe Just to follow up on this, after another 30 minutes on hold to the fraud team, finally got hold of someone else.

        There was apparently a detailed note on my account following yesterday’s conversation, long story they are still suspicious of a whole £10 being transferred and demanding I go to a branch with photo i.d. to prove who I am before they’ll unblock it.

        Needless to say the idiot yesterday didn’t tell me that at all, just left me on hold. When I told them today I was going to raise a complaint she got quite stroppy and said there was nothing to complain about! Claimed there was nothing more to tell me about WHY transferring £10 would be fraudulent, other than that I needed to go to a branch. Probably the most clueless bunch of banking people I’ve ever talked to. Premier indeed.

        • kitten says:

          9 Apr9 April 20:19

          Wow. I’d close the account. Keeping it open just long enough to file a complaint with the FOS.

      • kitten says:

        9 Apr9 April 20:22

        £10 and they insist you trek into a branch during Covid?

        Have Barclays staff been to the Revolut training school?

        • MD says:

          10 Apr10 April 09:58

          Crazy, right? Forcing me to come into a branch during a pandemic will certainly be a part of the complaint. And hilariously my nearest branch is only open Mon-Fri between 1000-1200. Yes, 2 while hours a day.

          This is my first experience of Barclays. Never realised they were so terrible. I’ve even been KYC’d by Revolut, and that was much less painful!

  • Andrew says:

    9 Apr9 April 10:38

    Have they charged or has a correspondent bank charged the £6?

    Where was the remitting account domiciled?

    • BS says:

      9 Apr9 April 13:02

      Barclays charge £6 for receiving any international transfer (even in GBP) if it is >£100. Poor.

    • Joe says:

      9 Apr9 April 13:34

      They have charged. Italy. But it’s a GBP payment from a GBP account – never had an issue making payments from that account to any other U.K. bank.

      • kitten says:

        9 Apr9 April 20:27

        Try again with them as Italy and UK still in SEPA so this should not be chargeable? IIRC reports on here of Santander trying something similar with Spain and being pushed back.

• Andrew says:

  9 Apr9 April 08:20

  Not looking good for the return of mass tourism then with the government confirming PCR test on arrival required even for green countries.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    9 Apr9 April 09:24

    You’ll be able to use one of your weekly lateral flows pre departure and Shapps says he’s looking at the rip off pcr test costs.

    Get them down to £50-60 and it would be fine.

    • Pete M says:

      9 Apr9 April 11:22

      Would it, though? If the country you are going to wants a test (say £35-£60pp depending on the test type), even if the test before your return was free, you’d be looking at another £60pp on arrival. So for a family of 4 you’re at nearly £500, which makes it pretty un-affordable for most?

      • TGLoyalty says:

        9 Apr9 April 11:51

        Under 11’s are usually exempt.

        • kitten says:

          9 Apr9 April 20:28

          ….and should not be.

• Rui N. says:

  9 Apr9 April 08:30

  Any recommendations on any (online) service that can write a will for an EU national (based in the UK), but that still has savings in said EU country? I tried to do it with Co-Op Will to use the Amex offers, but they said they can’t do it for any EU nationals that retain any assets in the EU.

  • Lady London says:

    9 Apr9 April 10:29

    If your worldwide assets are over £325k and if you are UK domiciled then an online service not appropriate you’d best consult a specialist tax lawyer on your will as there are many options. If the UK is less benign than the other regime, for example, you have some advantages if the UK is not your domicile of origin if you decide not to keep it. However many countries claim real property (eg your house) in that country effectively cannot be a legacy even under a will made in another country without paying their inheritance taxes etc…. It’s a specialist area and best to take advice.

    You could try doing a separate will in each country but depending on the nature, location and value of the property in the will and your residence(s) and domicile this may or may not be fully effective or tax-optimal.

    The only specialist name I have come across doing a really good explanation of these gotchas and solutions was Moore Kingston Smith but I’d suggest whoever you use it’s worth paying for some initial advice.

    Obvs if your estate is less than taxable value in all countries that might have a claim am guessing separate will per country would be less likely to get an unforeseen outcome.

    • Rui N. says:

      9 Apr9 April 10:32

      Thanks a lot Lady London. But I don’t want to do any estate planning… I just a will saying that if I die my assets go to the Mrs (and vice-versa), and if we both die at the same time, custody of the children go to a specific family member. I can’t see how taxes have anything to do with it – yes, that’s a matter that needs to be addressed, but that’s not my concern here.

      • Number9 says:

        9 Apr9 April 11:22

        @Rui The lady who did my estate planning and wills is coming round today, she’s Italian I will ask her your question.

        • Number9 says:

          9 Apr9 April 11:24

          Actually I’ve text her your question. I’m bound to forget later.

        • Rui N. says:

          9 Apr9 April 11:44

          Thanks a lot Number9, much appreciated!

      • Number9 says:

        9 Apr9 April 13:49

        @Rui site wouldn’t let me post contact details so I’ll try another way.
        https://dlsestateplanning.com/

        Try that.

        • Rui N. says:

          9 Apr9 April 15:19

          Thanks a lot, I’ll check them out!

  • @mkcol says:

    9 Apr9 April 14:16

    Check with Farewill.

    If they can then you can use my link for some sort of a discount if you like (or not!).

    https://farewill.com/r/colin-19410

    • Rui N. says:

      9 Apr9 April 15:20

      Thanks, I’ll check if they can do this 🙂

• Sam G says:

  9 Apr9 April 08:31

  More noise about US being on Grant Schapps “green” list from May though which ties in with rumours on the US side. UK has confirmed it’ll be pre departure/ post arrival (PCR) inbound. US likely to be pre departure only.
  So not an insignificant cost but doable especially if costs come down. But a few more weeks before we find out

  BA haven’t taken the axe to their June NYC schedule yet so they seem to be in “wait and see” mode .

  • Sam G says:

    9 Apr9 April 08:32

    This was @Tom!

    • Tom says:

      9 Apr9 April 08:36

      Cheers Sam. May not have to cancel my 1st redemption to Miami in mid June after all!

      • Yuff says:

        9 Apr9 April 08:48

        Is anyone getting irritated by the lack of decision making by the Travel Task Force?
        All anyone wants to know is what are the rules, they’ve had 6 weeks to work them out and they still can’t decide……
        If I have been fully vaccinated by the time I travelled I would not be too pleased at having take several tests to go to countries that have similar low levels of covid…….

        • Number9 says:

          9 Apr9 April 09:19

          Apart from a couple of sensible MP think this pandemic has shown you don’t need any useful skills to be a MP, they seem clueless and with zero common sense. Only there to get what they can out of the trough of the public purse. We are governed by soundbites … that irritates me.

        • James Vickers says:

          9 Apr9 April 09:21

          Incredibly frustrated. I think it will be disappointing as well if people who are fully vaccinated have to take more than a lateral flow test.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          9 Apr9 April 09:27

          Being fully vaccinated doesn’t mean you can’t catch Covid-19 nor does it mean you can’t pass it on.

          This is especially important until July 31st when the Phase 1 at risk groups will actually be full vaccinated (plus a couple weeks for it to be fully effective)

        • Yuff says:

          9 Apr9 April 12:07

          If that was the case then the roadmap would not start until July 31st

• Anna says:

  9 Apr9 April 08:42

  Minister Schnapps on GMB finally admitting that covid tests in this country are an utter rip off compared with other countries and saying he will work with the travel industry to remedy this and even remove providers who overcharge from the list of approved testers!

  • The Lord says:

    9 Apr9 April 08:50

    Good, I would like to see them a bit more solution focused than problem focused.

  • Yuff says:

    9 Apr9 April 08:50

    A lot of people have got very wealthy during this pandemic……

  • Sandra says:

    9 Apr9 April 09:55

    Is that the same person as Mr Green/ Stockheath/Fox who’s regularly compared to a used car salesman in his approach to transparency and honesty?

    • Sandra says:

      9 Apr9 April 09:59

      And… Jet 2 just announced they are extending the suspension of flights and holidays to up to and including 23rd June 2021 due to a lack of clarity and detail from the government – Sky news on Twitter

• Craig says:

  9 Apr9 April 08:49

  Lateral flow tests available to order for everyone now from gov.uk. Just passing the info, I would be grateful if we don’t get into a protracted discussion of how accurate and what the pros and cons of them are?

  • Andrew says:

    9 Apr9 April 08:57

    Thanks Craig, I’ll order some now.

  • Anna says:

    9 Apr9 April 09:01

    Thanks for the reminder, Craig, have you got a link to the ordering page? I can only find the one for PCR tests and one for employers.

    • Craig says:

      9 Apr9 April 09:03

      https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests

      • Anna says:

        9 Apr9 April 09:11

        Thanks! Just ordered some, mainly for my OH as his employer still hasn’t done this despite them being frontline keyworkers and regularly moaning in the media about not being prioritised for vaccination!

        • Craig says:

          9 Apr9 April 09:17

          You are welcome, I’m expecting my employer to provide them at some point but they are still working through the ‘details’ even though they could have ordered them weeks ago. It will also help with the volunteering and mean I no longer need to arrive 30 minutes early to take a test. Fingers crossed I’ve lucked in with the weather tomorrow and the rain holds off in the morning as forecast.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    9 Apr9 April 09:21

    You can pick them up from your local pharmacy too.

    • PerkyPat says:

      9 Apr9 April 10:39

      I went to the pharmacy yesterday to get a prescription and was given 2 test kits.

  • StevieKicks says:

    9 Apr9 April 10:27

    England residents only

  • Pete M says:

    9 Apr9 April 12:10

    Thank you – may come useful I suppose!

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