The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 22nd September

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Phil says:

22 Sep22 September 11:26

Very frustrating…

Applied for an Accelerating Business card based on the spend £5k get 60,000 Avios offer.

Got given a £1.5k credit limit – which clearly makes it impossible to achieve the offer.

They won’t review the credit limit for three months. And won’t allow pre-payment.

On a practical level, a £1.5k credit limit will neither buy me a decent laptop nor support a decent business trip.

I’ve now cancelled the card.

@Rob – you might want to feed back if you get a chance 😉
- Genghis says:
  
  22 Sep22 September 11:27
  
  Pay down credit card mid month?
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  22 Sep22 September 12:05
  
  Not being funny but why would you cancel! you’ve now excluded yourself from any business bonus for 12 months
  
  You can pay down the card at any point!
  - Peter K says:
    
    22 Sep22 September 12:20
    
    Same reply as the others. If you pay off (part or all of) the balance mid month it frees up the credit to be spent again. All spend over the credit limit still accrues points.
- Phil W says:
  
  22 Sep22 September 12:34
  
  That literally makes no sense. Sounds like you’ve cut your nose off to spite your face in pique of anger.
NSL says:

22 Sep22 September 11:28

What’s so special about this coming weekend that has meant that every Marriott hotel is 2-3 times it’s usual price? I’m trying to finish a mattress run but think I will look again in November to see if prices correct.
- Anna says:
  
  22 Sep22 September 11:52
  
  You don’t say where you’re looking to stay but weekend prices all over are insane at the moment. I think it’s at least partly due to pent up travel demand and weddings which have been postponed until now. I was at the Doubletree in Harrogate last weekend where there was a wedding and a couple of other functions and rooms were apparently going for £500 pn before they sold out!
- George K says:
  
  22 Sep22 September 12:04
  
  I’m at Courtyard Glasgow from Friday on a £40pn rate booked about a month ago. Not a mattress run, but it feels like one for that price!
- SteveJ says:
  
  22 Sep22 September 13:22
  
  Balmy September weather maybe?
- Karl says:
  
  22 Sep22 September 13:38
  
  I’ve wondered the same weekend. Was looking at the first weekend of the September in Liverpool, not a football weekend so prices should be lower and no other major events happening. 90% of places seemed sold out about 3 weeks in advance. HI and HIXs were asking for £300 a night. We managed to get into the HBH for 30,000 points a night.
Jody says:

22 Sep22 September 11:37

Just seen from Martin Lewis on FB that apparently there is strong rumours that Igloo have appointed administrators today. Just a heads up really, I know a lot of you are with them. More updates to come out as known apparently.
- Neil says:
  
  22 Sep22 September 11:58
  
  Just seen this with the advice to screen shot / download statements and take meter readings etc.
- ankomonkey says:
  
  22 Sep22 September 14:03
  
  Maybe the Igloo is melting! I only joined them a few months ago…
- Asim says:
  
  22 Sep22 September 14:33
  
  Had an email from them today increasing monthly payments by 20%!
  - Rui N. says:
    
    22 Sep22 September 15:33
    
    Prices are increasing 14+% next month, that’s why. You should have received an email about that a few weeks ago.
BP says:

22 Sep22 September 11:50

Just been doing some reconciliations of my cashflows. A 10k payment to the creative ones in June didn’t get credited to my account. Glad I checked!!
- Yuff says:
  
  22 Sep22 September 12:13
  
  It didn’t help back then that their processing of payments was insanely slow, it seems to have got much better recently.
- Genghis says:
  
  22 Sep22 September 13:26
  
  It’s important to have some controls built into your Finance system to check for such events. Interesting that you didn’t notice £10k missing sooner…
  - Rui N. says:
    
    22 Sep22 September 15:34
    
    £10k here, £10k there, wake me up when we start discussing real money
Dan says:

22 Sep22 September 12:02

Has anyone travelled from UK to Croatia recently and jumped through the hoops?

The Croatian online form gives the option to select a vaccine certificate OR a negative lateral flow test. But for UK citizens, both are required……yet I can only select one…? Just trying to minimise the chance of problems on entry.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  22 Sep22 September 12:27
  
  from what I have read only a lateral flow is required, your vaccine status is of no relevance to Croatian border control.
  
  travellers from the EU have the option of either a vaccine cert OR a lateral flow
- Jonathan says:
  
  22 Sep22 September 12:30
  
  You don’t need to show proof of vaccination to enter Croatia from U.K, last week I just had to show negative test results (which they checked closely).
  
  I did need paper vaccination certificate to enter Bosnia & reenter Croatia midweek though as a U.K. citizen not travelling from the U.K. can use vaccination or test.
  
  I think the “Travel Announcement” form allowed me to just select test for initial entry (not required again for land borders with Bosnia).
  - Dan says:
    
    22 Sep22 September 12:44
    
    Thanks Jonathan. Was that for the Neum crossing or the “real” Bosnia border? Was hoping to cross Neum from Split to Dubrovnik without any additional requirements.
    - Darko says:
      
      23 Sep23 September 08:16
      
      There is now a “Peljeski” bridge built with EU funds to connect EU territory and you won’t have to cross to Bosnia when travelling from Split to Dubrovnik in the future. It will be open in June 2022.
  - davefl says:
    
    22 Sep22 September 16:31
    
    Thanks for that info.
    
    I emailed the Croatian border police to ask that question 2 weeks ago with their ask a question form and got no reply. I’m going into Bosnia from Croatia for 3 days then coming back to Croatia. So good to know I only need the paper cert (which is what I assumed but nowhere tells you that)
Alan says:

22 Sep22 September 12:07

Any idea if Outfox the market is one of the energy companies at risk.

I had an email this morning saying they intend to increase my direct debit. This despite my account being £2k in credit (needed some quick spend to trigger a sign up bonus).

NB Given that credit balances are protected, could this be a new MS opportunity put a large credit onto your account and have the new company refund it.
- Doug says:
  
  22 Sep22 September 13:00
  
  Not heard anything, but there is a Facebook page that people are qyitw scared
- Anuj says:
  
  22 Sep22 September 13:04
  
  It could be quite a while before you get a refund. If your cashflow allows you to wait then you don’t have much to risk as it’s a ofgem protection. The worst thing about ending up with a bankrupt supplier is that you will be waiting at least a month to be able to switch from whatever supplier you’ve been shuffled to.
  - EwanG says:
    
    22 Sep22 September 14:38
    
    Agree with Anuj. I am still waiting for return of almost £200 being the final part of an account credit from when Simplicity went under back in Feb. Should receive it this week but spent much time chasing this from administrators and the new supplier who took over their customers!
- Paul Pogba says:
  
  22 Sep22 September 16:20
  
  They still seem to be taking on customers and those about to fail usually stop. They do seem like the sort of small outfit that won’t survive though.
Alan says:

22 Sep22 September 12:11

Beardy Bendy NS&I went through ok for me a few days ago. The transaction is still in pending but no cash advance charge added so far.
- Mjshort says:
  
  22 Sep22 September 12:22
  
  +1
- Andy says:
  
  22 Sep22 September 14:26
  
  Assume that’s why Bendy metal?
  - Andy says:
    
    22 Sep22 September 14:27
    
    *with
  - Alan says:
    
    22 Sep22 September 18:12
    
    Basic Bendy
    
    Just got the suspected cash recycling email 🙁
aDifferentSimon says:

22 Sep22 September 12:20

random OT question: does anyone recommend anywhere that does promotional post it notes for handing out at a conference? just had a google and got gazillions of hits.