The HfP chat thread – Monday 3rd May

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• BH says:

  3 May3 May 12:02

  Seems unlikely, but does anyone know whether there any way of getting points/miles when paying Inheritance Tax to HMRC?

  Bank transfer seems the only currently accepted method of payment…

  • David D says:

    3 May3 May 12:37

    Billhop but they charge a 2.95% fee and as the payment to Billhop is seen by Amex as foreign spend (as they are based in Stockholm), you pay the Amex fee of 2.99% on top of that.. So expensive

    • Peter K says:

      3 May3 May 13:00

      I’ve never had amex view billhop as “foreign spend”. It always goes through as a UK purchase. There’s still the billhop 2.95% fee of course, as mentioned.

      • David D says:

        3 May3 May 13:18

        Just gone back to check and the invoice I had paid was in EURO hence the additional fee from Amex, so you are correct, a GBP payment should go through as a UK purchase

    • Sam says:

      3 May3 May 14:55

      This is a good/only(?) option and if it’s a big bill, you can ask Billhop if they’ll give you a discount

      • BH says:

        3 May3 May 23:05

        Thanks. Unless I could persuade them to give a significant discount, I reckon I’d be better off buying Avios with the commission next time a sale comes around.

  • Alan says:

    3 May3 May 14:48

    Is inheritance tax treated differently to CGT and PAYE, both of which can be paid via Curve.

    • Chas says:

      3 May3 May 19:07

      It seems to be. I’ve just gone to the link I use to pay my VAT, Corp Tax and Personal Tax, and there doesn’t seem to be an option to pay IHT. Seems odd – has anyone been able to pay this via Curve?

    • Fred says:

      3 May3 May 20:59

      Whats the experience with paying CGT with the free Curve card? Does it have to have to be used with certain cards at the backend? Thanks!

• Toddy says:

  3 May3 May 12:23

  From reading the HfP articles on the UK Virgin Voyages cruise, it was stated that all passengers had to be vaccinated against COVID.

  However on the VV website, I can see no mention of this requirement!

  Am I being stupid/missing something obvious?
  Thanks

  • Andrew says:

    3 May3 May 12:42

    I think every single cruise company is mandating both doses before you can join a ship. As an aside, those with kids might be interested in the Disney Cruise Line which is sending a ship across the Atlantic to spend the summer and autumn going around the coast of the U.K. – good for those who have missed out on Disney World holidays this year and last.

    • Jody says:

      3 May3 May 12:51

      Not true, MSC are not mandating vaccinations, and neither are Fred Olsen.

      Some cruise lines are making it mandatory for all passengers, thereby effectively making them adult only cruises, as no under 18s are currently vaccinated (P&O are dictating it on their summer cruises). Most other lines are stating vaccinations for over 18s and a PCR test for under 18s 72 hours before, plus a lateral flow test for everyone before boarding.

      Disney finally got their act together and put their cruises on sale last week, they’ve been very popular even with the high prices.

      • Craig says:

        3 May3 May 14:11

        Royal Caribbean policy for my cruise in July is vaccination for over 18s and negative PCR for under.

  • Tom says:

    3 May3 May 13:12

    Toddy, agree. My partner and I are booked on one of the cruises and have received all the booking confirmations etc. Absolutely no mention of coronavirus vaccination requirements anywhere. Spoke to a helpful live chat agent on the VV website and got a fairly generic reply about “looking into that” and “will be confirmed nearer the time” etc.
    No big deal to us. We’ll both be doubly-vaccinated by then. But I’m curious too because I’ve only seen reference to the requirement here on HFP.

  • planeconcorde says:

    3 May3 May 14:49

    “…So at this time, only residents of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland will be sailing on our Summer Soirée Series — with Sailors aged 18+ vaccinated against COVID-19. Additional testing and protocols will be confirmed closer to sailing — all in line with the most up to date recommendations from the UK government….”
    Source is the VV web site at: https://www.virginvoyages.com/ahoy/stories/summer-soiree-series

    • Tom says:

      3 May3 May 15:22

      Thanks Plane, that’s helpful. I’m either going blind or they’ve updated their website.
      However, it wasn’t a prerequisite for making the booking as far as I could see.

• Mikeact says:

  3 May3 May 12:26

  One current benefit of using SOU airport in todays climate.
  We thought we would take advantage of a BA flight to Spain right at the end of the season before BA stop flying.
  At least we won’t be stuck for hours with 1000’s of others in the arrivals area. In theory could be back home within the hour.

  • Lady London says:

    3 May3 May 12:50

    Yes. In the BBC article linked to by @Alan above, being packed into arrivals halls at airports is mentioned as a particular risk for transmission.

    If Border Force doesn’t man up and reorganise to fix the massive amounts of time passengers are spending trapped in those cramped arrivals areas at Heathrow then they are criminally negligent. The people leading Border Force and their unions should be individually charged if they don’t fix this pronto.

    Having open areas on the airfield where passengers can wait with social distancing, in the rain if necessary, and be called forward straight to an Immigration Officer when it’s their turn, would provide a minimum level of safety Border Force doesn’t seem to care about providing ATM

    • BJ says:

      3 May3 May 13:22

      What does it matter if social distancing gets scrapped, gigs, clubbing, indoor events and the likes are all allowed? Impacts of vaccination looks good but we are never going to know for sure unless we push the boat out and give people most of their freedom back to see what happen Caution until all 9 priority groups have had two doses and all adults their first, and then go for it IMO.

      • meta says:

        3 May3 May 14:20

        According to the article on TLFL, Home Office has announced that those coming from the countries on the green list will not need to queue and they’ll be allowed to go through egates.

        • Rob says:

          3 May3 May 15:43

          And if you have kids? 6 hour wait?

        • meta says:

          3 May3 May 16:13

          More likely double that since this is the case now, not when it picks up. Perhaps that was the plan all along. Make it so unbearable on return that nobody travels abroad and spends money in the UK.

    • TJones says:

      3 May3 May 19:29

      “The people leading Border Force and their unions should be individually charged”. Their unions? Health and safety at work is the legal responsibility of management, not trade unions. There is, however, research showing that where management do consult on H&S with recognised trade unions (as they are required to do by law), safer working environments are the result.

    • Fred says:

      3 May3 May 21:48

      Aren’t you aware it’s soon to be all over? Never mind supposed health guidelines etc, politics rule. Boris has seen the political capital to be gained thus why the game is up next month.

• Super Secret Stuff says:

  3 May3 May 12:33

  Any word on when the IHG premium card will be back?

  • Andrew says:

    3 May3 May 12:42

    Is it coming back?

  • kitten says:

    3 May3 May 12:52

    more likely the existing one will close to.new applicants, if not completely

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    3 May3 May 12:53

    I Don’t think its ever coming back, well not atleast with Creation. I’m sure I read Creation wanted out of the credit card market.

  • Tw33ty says:

    3 May3 May 13:27

    There was a survey email sent out from creation about 12-18 months ago about an even more premium version of the ihg card.
    It might be rather than the black re launching, it will be that one.

    • Rob says:

      3 May3 May 15:45

      Look at Creation’s website. They have effectively closed down.

      • RussellH says:

        3 May3 May 16:17

        Just had a look.
        The only card they seem to be promoting at https://www.creation.co.uk/credit-cards/ is the white IHG card, though there is also a picture of someone holding a black card.
        Go to https://www.creation.co.uk/about-us/ and you see them advertising that they are partnered with both IHG and Marriott (technically true I know, as my Marriott Mastercard is my main card) even though one has not been able to apply for a Marriott card for years.

• Andrew says:

  3 May3 May 12:38

  I have to agree to a certain extent – processes are not in place yet to facilitate travel on a large scale.

• Voltron says:

  3 May3 May 13:13

  Anyone still have the tesco credit card? Now that avuos has gone, and I do t really shops tesco tempted to just cancel card, or does anyone see a good reason to keep it?

  • JDB says:

    3 May3 May 15:37

    Depends if you are waiting for your 2500 points annual bonus. I shall cancel next month when that arrives, but if not waiting for that, can’t see any interest any longer.

  • Reney says:

    3 May3 May 16:27

    For me, points can be converted to VS points (convertible to Hilton). Since the VS vouchers have been made more flexible I’ve been more serious about collecting them.

    And we use the points for RAC breakdown cover (three cars in the family). So it is worth it to us.

    Plus it is our main supermarket and petrol station where the bulk of our shopping is done so we would be collecting points passively anyway.

    • cinereus says:

      4 May4 May 07:00

      How do you convert VS to Hilton?

      • cinereus says:

        4 May4 May 12:14

        Never mind remembered how.

• egold says:

  3 May3 May 13:13

  I applied for The Platinum Card 2 weeks ago. two cards have gotten lost or stolen in the post, now I’m waiting for the third card which will be sent with DHL. still waiting

  Has anyone had a similar experience?

  • Optimus Prime says:

    3 May3 May 13:40

    Have you asked Amex to verify if the cards have been activated and used? It’s happened to me twice in the last 18 months, luckily both cards were supps so I could see the pending charge and report it asap.

    BTW for those who asked the other day – when activating a supp card you only need the YEAR of birth of the main cardholder. I don’t know how many attempts you get but this system is ludicrous.

    • egold says:

      3 May3 May 15:55

      wow! how would a thief be able to activate the card without knowing my details?
      Shocking!

      • John says:

        3 May3 May 18:13

        I was able to spend on a new Amex for a few weeks without activating it – I hadn’t made any transactions over £100, but the first time I did it was declined. Although smaller transactions still worked. They only said I hadn’t activated it when I messaged them to ask why that was declined even though I used the correct PIN

  • Reney says:

    3 May3 May 16:30

    My gold card didn’t arrive for over a week, I called and they sent out another one. Both have since arrived, I never worked out if I ended up activating the first card or the second one, as the letter isn’t dated. Others in the family appears to get their card within 2 working days, not sure if it is a location thing.

• MCO says:

  3 May3 May 14:03

  I think I read on here someone mentioned that they have a free BA card which they upgrade before it hits the 10k spend and then downgrade once the voucher has posted.

  Does that work? Has anyone done this more than once?

  • Alex D says:

    3 May3 May 14:12

    yes it does work, normally upgrade at around £9K or so, hit the 10K spend. (if you upgrade after spending £10K, the expiry date sometimes doesn’t change from 12 to 24 months). Once the voucher hits your account, you can downgrade again. I don’t tend to do it, i just keep the BAPP. However when i have, i normally leave it a month or so before i downgrade and never had any issues from amex.

  • Rob says:

    3 May3 May 15:44

    Works fine.

    • MCO says:

      3 May3 May 16:20

      In terms of ones credit report how does this reflect. Is this a cancelled/new account or just the same account carrying on?

      • Alex says:

        3 May3 May 17:40

        Same account carrying on, I didn’t even get a new card when I upgraded, the earning rate just increased. Only got a new black card when it hit expiry date

        • Mco says:

          3 May3 May 19:26

          Perfect. Thank you

        • Alex says:

          3 May3 May 19:41

          It’s worth noting, Amex only do soft searches once you already have an Amex. So you have BAPP and say you apply for platinum it’ll only be a soft search as they mainly use your history with them to decide

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