The HfP chat thread – Monday 24th May

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M says:

24 May24 May 11:19

UK mortgage for EU property?

I appreciate this is not really a travel question 😉

Is it somehow possible to get a mortgage in the UK to buy a property in the EU? Does anyone have any experience doing that? I am thinking about a small (in UK property terms) amount – let’s say around 125k. If that makes any difference, it would be a buy to let property (long term, not a holiday rental).

Thanks!
- gareth says:
  
  24 May24 May 11:26
  
  Easiest way would be to borrow against your main residential in the uk.
  - M says:
    
    24 May24 May 11:37
    
    Ah, I should have mentioned that – I do not own any UK properties.
    I own overseas properties – any possibility to use those as collateral?
    - gareth says:
      
      24 May24 May 11:40
      
      Probably best to just enquire with a broker for a specialist lender. You could borrow against foreign properties but only from banks in their country etc.
      - BuildBackBetter says:
        
        24 May24 May 12:13
        
        +1. A regulated mortgage product can only be sold by a local (domestic) bank. Other lenders might accept it as collateral, but it’ll be treated as a personal loan and will come with higher interest and deposit.
    - Sam G says:
      
      24 May24 May 12:25
      
      Realistically you’ll either need to mortgage in the country that you own your existing property or in the country that you are buying. If it’s say Spain then they’re pretty well set up for it as long as you’ve got a decent deposit.
      - M says:
        
        24 May24 May 12:34
        
        Thanks for the answers. How would I go about finding a specialist lender?
      - Sam G says:
        
        24 May24 May 16:30
        
        @M it’ll be country specific. you’ll have to do a bit of googling. in the major UK hotspots (Spain, Portugal France etc) there will be plenty of brokers able to assist.
- Rui N. says:
  
  24 May24 May 12:54
  
  Check this recent article from This is Money about this: https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-9592619/Properties-Portugal-demand-finance-holiday-home-overseas.html
  (It’s not only about Portugal, talks about UK folks buying property abroad in general)
- Phil W says:
  
  24 May24 May 22:55
  
  Together Money may very well be able to help.
Alex J says:

24 May24 May 11:45

I’ve got a flight with VS to PDX in a couple of weeks that had a cancellation of the first transatlantic segment, LHR-SEA (but my booking still retained the connecting flight from SEA-PDX, amusingly).

Given the state of travelling to the US at the moment, I’d like to reschedule this until autumn, and based on my understanding of EC261, this shouldn’t be a problem in and by itself (re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at a later date at the passenger’s convenienc).

Just wondering if anyone in similar circumstances has had any luck with also changing the destination of their flight while changing the dates? Thinking I’d like to go direct to SFO or LAX instead, so it’s not _too_ far away. Unsure about VS policy on this.

Thanks!
- Ghosty says:
  
  24 May24 May 20:32
  
  I changed a cancelled LHR-SEA return, the outbound was to be this Sunday, to LHR-LAX in October.
  You can requested a change on the website by following the link on your cancelation email.
  - Alex J says:
    
    25 May25 May 11:40
    
    Great news, will try that. Thanks!
Andrew says:

24 May24 May 11:49

Sorry – long post!

Having a nightmare with BA again. They have cancelled my flight LHR-ZRH in June and booked on an earlier flight that day. I can’t make the new times and so am looking to rebook to a date of my convenience (April 2022) under EU/UK261.

First agent said I only have a choice of 2 days either side because it’s a “schedule change”. I pointed out the different flight numbers and he said he’d go away and check but cut me off.

Second agent says I only have a choice up to 1 year from date of purchase (ticket validity) – this would be July 2021. I asked to be put through to a manager who is insisting
– ticket validity still stands (albeit from a date I rebooked with a voucher, extending validity to September 2021)
– BA’s usual policy in case of cancellation is to allow rebooking up to 3 days before the original flight and up to 14 days after
– they are “being more flexible” currently and allowing booking up to ticket validity date.

I’ve pushed back – the manager has asked at the Back Office about whether a further extension is possible (I suggested an INVOL endorsement might help). Their response was that, nope, validity still stands (with 2-3 weeks grace).

I read the following to the manager from the CAA website that I entitled to “(c) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at a later date at the passenger’s convenience, subject to availability of seats.”, but they’re not budging, even though I said I’d take this all the way.

Oh, and they say that any complaint I make (to get a deadlock letter) would need to be a after the flight…

They will send me an email outlining why their conditions of carriage won’t allow them to rebook me to a date of my choosing.

Where do I go next?!
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  24 May24 May 12:18
  
  “I can’t make the new times and so am looking to rebook to a date of my convenience (April 2022) under EU/UK261”
  
  You can’t make any date for a few days in ZRH between June 2021 and April 2022?
  
  EU says your convivence but that doesn’t mean you can have it whenever you want. You can take it all the way if you want but unless you can prove its reasonable you cant make it until April 2022 then you might lose.
  - Sam G says:
    
    24 May24 May 12:27
    
    There are a lot of comments on here about this if you search back and the sentiment is that you can refund, rebook a new date and take BA to MCOL to claim the difference and they’ll fold and pay out
    
    However for Zurich I’m not sure it’d be worth the hassle? How much is the fare difference? Just take an FTV and rebook (or the cash refund and use another airline if time/price better)
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      24 May24 May 12:30
      
      @Sam G “context”
      
      If it’s a few weeks in the far eat / USA then it might be worth it. For a few days in Europe .. really?
      - meta says:
        
        24 May24 May 12:57
        
        @TGLoyalty I am of the view that it’s precisly on short-haul that BA needs to be taught a lesson. If
        BA starts forking out £35 per claim plus interest, they will start thinking about changing the policy.
      - Andrew says:
        
        24 May24 May 13:02
        
        If it helps, existing flights in Club cost about £190. Dates I am keen to go are pricing up – for the same days of the week and times – at £440.
    - Steve says:
      
      24 May24 May 17:31
      
      I’m in the same situation to canaries. I’ve booked a replacement flight (fully flexible) for feb half term 2022 at a cost of over £4K via amex travel.
      
      Half term is appropriate as it’s a peak date for Avios as was the original booking.
      
      Fully flex is appropriate as a RFS is fully flexible.
      
      MCOL is in and I’ll update you all once it’s resolved. If it goes south I’ll cancel the fully flex booking.
      - H says:
        
        25 May25 May 00:19
        
        Hi Steve, please do update us. I’m just in the middle of a CEDR case where BA are arguing that they can’t rebook outside ticket validity for a cancelled flights and this is in compliance with EU261. Next steps after CEDR if that doesn’t succeed would be MCOL for me. Interested to know what happens with your case. Thanks
  - meta says:
    
    24 May24 May 12:50
    
    It does mean any date at your convenience. Despite what some people think here, courts rulings and evidence has proven this time and again. Flight was cancelled by the airline, end of.
    
    Some people can only travel at certain times of the year. BA should get their act together and stop hinding behid covid excuses and disregard the law.
    
    Conditions of carriage are not above law and in this case specifically UK261. However, since BA is not budging, I suggest you start by send a letter before action to BA Legal and then follow the procedure. LHR-ZRH is hardly that expensive, you could book a normal ticket on BA.
- Andrew says:
  
  24 May24 May 13:05
  
  Thanks for your responses so far.
  
  If I need to justify “convenience”, I can do this in broad terms in that
  – I only work every other Friday so options for weekends away are reduced by 50% before we start
  – I then need to avoid school holidays
  – I also need to avoid festivals associated with two religions
  – Other existing bookings etc take up most of the other times that I can go – certainly this year.
  
  But it sounds like – if I so choose – get a refund, rebook a new flight and claim the difference via a Letter Before Action and see what happens…
  
  thanks all! Any other tips gratefully received.
  - meta says:
    
    24 May24 May 13:18
    
    No, you must not ask for a refund!
    First you need to engage customer services in writing (not over the phone), then send a letter before action, then book a new flight (out of pocket) when they do not respond, then start MCOL proceeding.
    
    I mean technically you do not need to engage them first, but it’s better to have written proof or you could call them again and record the call where they refuse.
    - Andrew says:
      
      24 May24 May 13:45
      
      Ah! Great – thanks @meta and @memesweeper
  - Memesweeper says:
    
    24 May24 May 13:18
    
    Do not request or accept a refund.
- Lady London says:
  
  24 May24 May 14:33
  
  Just curious – is there any reason why you didn’t request BA to reroute you on, say, Swiss on a flight later than your original BA time but on the same day?
  - Andrew says:
    
    24 May24 May 15:57
    
    Good question – tbh it didn’t occur to me at the time(!).
    
    Looking at their times now, Swiss’ last outbound flight of the day (which would be the one that needs rerouting) leaves 50 mins before the BA flight that was cancelled and – with commitments in the day and the time to get to LHR – it’d still be too tight.
    - Lady London says:
      
      24 May24 May 16:57
      
      So would that mean you’d have missed the reason for your trip or not have enough of it left so you would need to rebook it for the next available time you would have?
      - Andrew says:
        
        24 May24 May 17:04
        
        It’d have meant I’d probably not have got to LHR in time to catch the flight, and – if the alternative was to fly the next day – I would have missed too much of the trip to do what I planned to do…
        
        In terms of the plans I had, I’d like to do them sometime-not-in-the-winter, so the choice was before winter (no times I can do because of work/children/existing bookings etc) or after winter… hence April…
      - Lady London says:
        
        24 May24 May 18:09
        
        To me, what you’re saying stacks upas reasonable enough @Andrew.
        
        Keep being nice with BA, call again in core hours, explain your predicament and ask again.
      - Andrew says:
        
        24 May24 May 20:34
        
        Many thanks @Lady London. I may try again tomorrow… unsurprisingly the email from the manager hasn’t appeared, so calling and trying again tomorrow may work and – if no joy – start the complaint process.
        
        Thanks to everyone for their help.
aDifferentSimon says:

24 May24 May 11:58

Hypothetically, supposed I wanted to do a fully refundable £10k spend this week and get it refunded in early June where’s the best place to do this for low hassle & risk? Do hotels.com take the money immediately on the prepay option?
- BP says:
  
  24 May24 May 12:18
  
  Yes they do. And refund quickly too.
  - bill says:
    
    24 May24 May 12:27
    
    good question – great minds think alike. where are you thinking of ‘going’ ?
    - aDifferentSimon says:
      
      24 May24 May 12:45
      
      Thanks all. a week in the shard seems to be good. A short commute to work. But then next month I’ll remember I’m mostly working from home.
- DZOO says:
  
  24 May24 May 12:37
  
  Agree w/ BP – have been great throughout the pandemic – no quibbles.
- Rob says:
  
  24 May24 May 12:52
  
  Yes, Hotels.com do it. You need to select a ‘pay on departure’ hotel – you will then be offered the ‘benefit’ on paying in advance but having full refund rights. Or book a BA fully flex flight and pay the £15 cancellation fee, but be darn sure you know what you’re doing in picking the right flight.
- Dayle says:
  
  24 May24 May 13:58
  
  For CC SUB? Surely refund will remove the spend…
  - Amy Carpenter says:
    
    24 May24 May 18:23
    
    I’m curious too! Surely it does or we’d all be at it.
    - Ryan says:
      
      24 May24 May 23:02
      
      Move points out to another partner before refund hits, Amex don’t bother clawing back -ve points
R says:

24 May24 May 12:17

Tesco Clubcard vouchers

If I use the Clubcard Hilton vouchers to book a room at Hilton, is my Hilton status going to be acknowledged/does the stay count towards my status? (I am assuming the answer is no)
- Rob says:
  
  24 May24 May 12:51
  
  Oddly I think it does – I think you even earn points back, based on the cash rate. You are booking direct with Hilton after all. I have seen HfP comments in the past about this, hopefully someone who has done it can confirm.
  - Blenz101 says:
    
    24 May24 May 13:03
    
    Yes worked fine for me based on similar advice given here. The room is booked direct and the Tesco voucher just acted like a gift card in prepaying based on the cash rate.
    
    Do check your hotel is listed before you book, you will also need to work out how many vouchers to convert. No change / credit is given once you have converted.
- Munch says:
  
  24 May24 May 12:59
  
  Stayed at Hilton Belfast on Tesco vouchers. Status was recognised at the hotel but no points posted or stay credits. As the stays were part of a status challenged I managed to overturn the stay credit through customer services but it was a bit of a battle. Still no points.
  - Algor says:
    
    24 May24 May 16:25
    
    Hilton Belfast has messed up the setup / procedure, stay & credit should have posted without fuss.
    
    I’m aware some of the hotels are writing off 25% of room charge on the reservation folio (Tesco cut) and the base points are slashed becouse of it. Majority of hotels following the correct procedure will deduct Tesco commission in appropriate manner meaning you with get the base points as it would be a normal cash booking. The only trick is no change (new part voucher / token) is given on the Tesco voucher vs room rate.
- R says:
  
  24 May24 May 18:35
  
  Thanks a lot guys!
Super Secret Stuff says:

24 May24 May 13:00

Niche question, do IHG travel zoo vouchers count for nights towards status? Any recognition of status?

Thinking because I have 4 nights booked in and plan to use a voucher in August i could end up hitting the Platinum status offer
- ChrisC says:
  
  24 May24 May 13:44
  
  No they don’t count as qualifying for status.
  
  Some hotels might recognise your status but doing so is not officially part of the programme.
  - Super Secret Stuff says:
    
    24 May24 May 14:28
    
    I know they officially don’t count but in practice is not always the same thing
- Super Secret Stuff says:
  
  24 May24 May 16:05
  
  For context here, the booking is showing up along with the price of the voucher and an estimate for earning points
Christophe says:

24 May24 May 13:26

Is anyone else having problems with the Virgin credit card app and payments recently.

Debit card payments are not getting updated on the app in a timely manner and so I’ve ended up overpaying by several £k as I was approaching the payment due date.
- Ste Cox says:
  
  24 May24 May 13:35
  
  I tried paying mine off this morning but got an error saying they couldn’t process the payment
- mark2 says:
  
  24 May24 May 13:47
  
  In my experience it is a rubbish app, a major compulsory downgrade from online.
  - Ryan says:
    
    24 May24 May 13:56
    
    Compared to the website, it’s awful… Slow, no option of saving cards, can’t export your data (to excel to check points limit)… the list can go on
    
    I had a feeling they would reverse the decision but I think I may have been dreaming…
    - Brighton Belle says:
      
      24 May24 May 14:29
      
      ~The virgin app now has an export transactions function.
      
      Any transaction going to your Virgin card is very slow to display. I always allow 2 days for it to display.
- Mike79 says:
  
  24 May24 May 18:56
  
  I’m having issues too. I paid with my Curve Metal on Thursday money has been taken and underlying card charged but Virgin haven’t updated my balance. Phoned them to be told that they can’t see the payment being made, messaged Curve to be told only thing they can do is offer a Mastercard Chargeback but it can take 12 weeks to go through.
Mco says:

24 May24 May 13:34

Achieved my 10k spend and got the points on my Business plat but one of the transactions is being refunded so will go to 8k spend.

What’s the best way to deal with this? Shall I transfer points and go into negative then spend the 2k.

Or let them claw back the points knowing they will credit them back again once I have hit the 10k again.

Just don’t want to get in a situation which involves multiple calls to get the points back which it sometimes can be in these sort of situations.
- meta says:
  
  24 May24 May 14:07
  
  Spend £2k now, so that even with the refund you won’t go below £10k and points want be clawed back.
  - MCO says:
    
    24 May24 May 14:30
    
    Not an option unfortunately as its for a Business and no requirements right now.
    - Super Secret Stuff says:
      
      24 May24 May 14:50
      
      Transfer them out prior to refund, once the refund has been dealt with if they do claw back the bonus you can always cancel and reapply / referred again in a few months time
      
      Might even get a retention bonus when you try and cancel