The HfP chat thread – Thursday 14th October

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• JW says:

  14 Oct14 October 10:28

  Switching from HSBC Premier to Barclays Premier for the Avios Rewards bonus.

  Besides the big upside of the avios benefits, seems like the features of premier banks between them are otherwise pretty similar, anything I’ve forgotten that I should expect to miss when I’ve left HSBC?

  • Harry T says:

    14 Oct14 October 10:38

    Why bother switching? Just open a Barclays account in addition. The HSBC account offers a really good credit card.

  • Benilyn says:

    14 Oct14 October 10:45

    Open both.

  • ExperiencedRunner says:

    14 Oct14 October 10:49

    HSBC Premier offers great credit cards, free worldwide travel insurance which is much better than the Amex Platinum one (it covers nearly all pre-existing health conditions for a start), ability to seamlessly open Premier accounts in other countries (you are automatically eligible for Premier accounts in other countries where HSBC operate as long as you meet any legal requirements of opening an account in those countries) and transfer money globally between HSBC accounts fee free. Also it has some further additional perks like 12 months expedia gold membership, preferential terms on mortgages and savings and so on (not to mention all the perks of the CCs which you become automatically eligible for). Barclays Premier is just not worth it. Open it as a new account if anything but don’t switch from HSBC.

  • Doug M says:

    14 Oct14 October 10:51

    Travel Insurance is a paid add-on with Barclays, and free with HSBC. I’d open an additional account rather than switch.

  • Youllnever says:

    14 Oct14 October 10:52

    You’d lose the worldwide travel insurance in addition to the Premier cards.

  • Doug M says:

    14 Oct14 October 10:53

    As a general bit of advice it’s worth having a current account or two you don’t care about, simply for the switching benefits.

  • Red Flyer says:

    14 Oct14 October 11:59

    Agree with others in that you should have both – I have both and salary drops into Barclays on 28th and into HSBC via standing order on 30th. Recently had to claim for a last minute holiday cancellation on health grounds and HSBC paid out no quibble.

    • Sina says:

      14 Oct14 October 12:04

      Agree with others, there’s no benefit in having a Barclays premier account, other than a one-time 25K Avios, if you join their Avios rewards.

    • JW says:

      14 Oct14 October 17:11

      Thanks for the tip everyone + especially Red Flyer — salary requirement is exactly the reason I was thinking about switching. So I think I’ll just open an empty account, switch that, and set up a standing order

• Crafty says:

  14 Oct14 October 10:34

  Spanish PLF says one should not enter Spain having tested positive for Covid in the last 14 days. First I’ve heard of it. Is this the law, or advisory? Nothing on FCO that I can see.

  Wording is “DO NOT TRAVEL…if you have been diagnosed with COVID-19 within the last 14 days, or if you have had close contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19 within the last two weeks.”

  • Harry T says:

    14 Oct14 October 10:39

    Why would you be trying to enter Spain when you have had covid in the last 14 days? The FCDO isn’t the relevant source here – the Spanish PLF supersedes any UK information.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    14 Oct14 October 10:55

    FCO advices on what they interrupt the Spanish laws/guidance to be it is NOT the definitive answer.

    All seems pretty sensible since in the UK you need to isolate for 10 days after being diagnosed/suspected diagnosis of COVID19 still.

  • Anna says:

    14 Oct14 October 12:43

    Won’t your kids have to have a test anyway before travelling to Spain? If there’s a chance they will still test positive that’s going to scupper any plans.

    • ankomonkey says:

      14 Oct14 October 14:07

      Aren’t Spain only requiring tests of kids aged 12 and over?

  • Andrew H says:

    14 Oct14 October 13:15

    You shouldn’t be out and about in the UK for at least 10 of those 14 days, so not sure what your complaint is?

    • Crafty says:

      15 Oct15 October 07:11

      It’s not a complaint at all, just wasn’t familiar with the rule. We are working on how long after my daughter’s recovery we might be able to reinstate our cancelled holiday.

      • Crafty says:

        15 Oct15 October 07:15

        Also, it’s not true that you have to isolate for 10 days after diagnosis; you have to isolate for 10 days after symptoms began. In our case, diagnosis was on day 5, so isolation is almost complete. The guidance on the PLF however would imply no travel until day 19, whereas we could theoretically have been travelling freely within the UK for 9 days at that point. That is why I’m trying to clarify.

• Chrism20 says:

  14 Oct14 October 10:49

  Airtime promo “SOCIAL” £1 back on £5 before Saturday

  • Shaw West says:

    14 Oct14 October 13:22

    Does airtime work with Lebara? I have moved to their 99p a month plan 🙂

    • Reney says:

      14 Oct14 October 14:52

      yes it is on the list.

    • jek says:

      14 Oct14 October 19:09

      No, top up balance (which Airtime is) will not be applied to monthly plans which need to be paid via credit or debit card.

  • Reney says:

    14 Oct14 October 14:54

    Thanks.

    A while back someone made a comment saying it took ages to earn enough on Airtime. My advice is if you time purchases with promo codes (which comes quite often), they do make a difference!)

• AngryOctopus says:

  14 Oct14 October 10:53

  bonus for first supp on gold credit card hasn’t posted and its been 2 weeks since card received…..hmmm

  reluctant to do any referrals given all the chat about delay in points posting….any recent data points pls

  • Anna says:

    14 Oct14 October 10:58

    A few of us are in the same boat. I was told up to 60 days on chat.

    • Dave says:

      14 Oct14 October 11:23

      I was told by the first statement date for my card. My wife was told up to 90 days.

      So who knows!

  • Lee says:

    14 Oct14 October 11:01

    No problem for receiving referral bonus, turned up in 2 days

  • QFFlyer says:

    14 Oct14 October 12:24

    Referrals fine for me, supplementaries same boat, still waiting, about a month now.

• TGLoyalty says:

  14 Oct14 October 10:55

  0.5%?

• Anna says:

  14 Oct14 October 10:57

  I’m waiting to see what happens with the free night/£99 fee before I make a move. I’m assuming if I don’t receive a response from Creation within a reasonable amount of time I can just move on to the FOS? I emailed them nearly 2 weeks ago to ask what would be happening with the free night and not even had an acknowledgement.

  • JDB says:

    14 Oct14 October 11:05

    You need to wait eight weeks from the date they received your complaint before going to the FOS or for their final decision if that is earlier. Is the email you sent clearly a complaint (and sent to the contact email/form they state for complaints) rather than a request, as others have reported receiving the standard complaints protocol email/letter? Even for them, i would be surprised if they don’t carefully follow the procedure.

    • Dave says:

      14 Oct14 October 11:22

      My wife sent an email asking if she would be getting the free night voucher this month and whether they would be taking the annual fee.

      She just got sent the generic “you have raised a complaint, here is your reference number, we will be in touch within 8 weeks”

      So she never got clarification either way

    • Anna says:

      14 Oct14 October 12:14

      How do I know if they’ve received my complaint if they don’t even reply?!

  • stevenhp1987 says:

    14 Oct14 October 11:21

    +1 Same. Emailed without any acknowledgement.

    However, mine was a query, not a complaint. You need to actually complain to start the 8 week window. I won’t be complaining until they inform me of their intentions.

    I also emailed them Monday last week with a DSAR request which has gone unanswered too.

  • Lady London says:

    14 Oct14 October 11:21

    You need to log it as a complaint. Then exhaust their complaints process, get “final answer” not resolving it to your satisfaction, or wait 8 weeks after date of your complaint with no resolution then you can reasonably FOS, MCOL etc. A polite request is not counted as a complaint – or at least it’s much harder.

    Creation really, really deserve the ton of bricks that’s going to fall on them if they keep up this attitude – for stupidity if no other reason.

    This kind of mean deaf behaviour might be got away with in France by large businesses – but in the UK – unless everyone’s been breaching card conditions – it’s gonnq cost them.

  • Allan Boswell says:

    14 Oct14 October 19:44

    Same here. Two black accounts: one renews November, the other July. November account hit spend target in March. That’s clear cut shenanigans if the award night is not received in November. July card: will push 4k on by November 22nd to make the 10k. For reference: both cards had Curve attached but nothing silly. 30k total IHG and Curve used mainly for FX only and typically £50 cash withdrawal per month. NS and I use: £1,000 on each card this summer and still there. No silly games played here. Will see if the £99 fee gets put onto the November card and then chase £750 on each card in lieu of points if award night not awarded, plus the November fee if not refunded.

• Simon says:

  14 Oct14 October 10:59

  Anyone interested in a last minute points trip to Majorca, maybe this will drop back into points inventory. I’m just cancelling 4 CE LHR to PMI out on 17th back on 25th. + Junior Suite Marriot Arabella 17th – 22nd. Slight issues with Kids passports not arriving back in time..

• Dave says:

  14 Oct14 October 11:10

  Anyone know if the Creation IHG card is still foreign-fee free? I now there was a promo this summer but can’t see when/if it ended.

  Thanks.

  • Craig says:

    14 Oct14 October 11:12

    Ended 28 Sep.

  • Harrier25 says:

    14 Oct14 October 11:14

    It ended on the 28th September.

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