The HfP chat thread – Sunday 28th November

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

• Njb says:

  28 Nov28 November 08:05

  Any advice please for daughter who wants to take out first credit card in US?
  She will be flying home once a yesr but all over travel will be internal US.
  Previously had a basic amex in UK.
  Thanks

  • Paul Pogba says:

    28 Nov28 November 08:10

    If she still has the UK Amex (I sense not) she could take advantage of the Global Transfer Service which should help her establish a new credit file over there: https://www.americanexpress.com/global-card-transfers/index.shtml

  • bafan says:

    28 Nov28 November 08:19

    Tell her for her first card to take one out with no annual fee – or one that is downgradeable. A decent portion of your credit score in the U.S. is based on AAOA (Average Age of Account) so the first one you open ideally stays open indefinitely – I did the Amex Global Transfer when I first moved and picked the Delta Gold for the SUB > then went to Blue and still have it to this day.

    Global Transfer is her best bet but I had to go to my bank (Chase) and get my Social Security card verified and fax it to Amex before they’d complete the transfer so that’s something to bear in mind.

    Also Chase has the best cards (in my opinion) but has a 5/24 rule (you can’t have opened more than 5 accounts in 24 months) so once she has the Amex opened and her credit file is established tell her to focus on Chase first. Other credit cards can come later. Ideally the Chase Sapphire Preferred would be on her radar. Fantastic earning rates on travel and dining and a $95 fee – now with a $50 hotel credit to mostly offset it.

    • Mikeact says:

      28 Nov28 November 08:29

      If she is a newcomer/long term visitor to the US on a working visa, she will need help from her employer..no bank will offer her a credit card willy nilly without out a credit check and possibly a social security number.

      • bafan says:

        28 Nov28 November 09:09

        That is why we both suggested Amex GT. Read up on it before making comments?

  • Rui N. says:

    28 Nov28 November 09:10

    If she just arrived first she’ll need a TIN or a social security number. The only credit cards she is likely to get are either via Amex global transfer or, if that fails, a “secured” credit card for people with no credit. These are cards were you deposit your credit limit at the beginning (if you have a $200 credit limit you have to deposit $200. And yes, $200, $300 is the credit limit you usually get) and then use the credit card as normal.
    Then after 6-12 months of using that credit card below 50% of the credit limit and paying it on time, you can start getting regular credit cards. After that the sky is the limit 🙂

    • TGLoyalty says:

      28 Nov28 November 09:42

      $150 on a credit card a month. Bloody hell I’d shudder at the thought.

      Fingers crossed for Amex GT.

    • Doug M says:

      28 Nov28 November 10:36

      So a bit like the Virgin Atlantic paid card.

      • Peter K says:

        28 Nov28 November 12:35

        😂

      • Lady London says:

        28 Nov28 November 14:51

        🙂 Doug M

  • Jonathan says:

    28 Nov28 November 10:13

    It’s when you look at the returns that US based Amex cards offer, and you just half despair that it’s so much better than what we get !

    There’s no 241 vouchers, but I guess some of the cards benefits can heavily outweigh this, even easier if you travel solo…

    Numerous US Amex cards offer 0% FX fees

  • Njb says:

    28 Nov28 November 10:17

    Thanks for all this great advice. I don’t think she has closed the UK amex account as they only moved a week ago. I will point her to your advice as soon as she wakes up – the Amex GT service seems the way forward.

    • A says:

      28 Nov28 November 16:35

      Using global transfer they also backdate the ‘member since’ date in the UK to the new US account – it is very useful.
      You don’t need a social security number, just an address and a bank account.

• Andrew says:

  28 Nov28 November 08:16

  I see that most of the IHGs at LHR are off the booking system again – the red list contracts must be kicking in.

  • ChrisC says:

    28 Nov28 November 10:03

    I checked last night the CP at LHR T4 in January (have a stay on the 12th Jan) and it was still bookable. Just checked again and it’s not.

    Wonder when they’ll tell me I won’t be staying there

  • David says:

    28 Nov28 November 10:05

    Yes, my Rewards Night reservation is being transferred to another (non IHG) hotel. As such the hotel have stated a need to convert the points value to equivalent cash value to create the new reservation. Where can I find out the official conversion rate for this, to compare with current public rates at the alternative property?

    • John says:

      28 Nov28 November 13:27

      You would usually find out how much the hotel received from IHG after a stay by looking at your points statement, but for this purpose it’s none of your business what the cash value is to the hotel.

      You bought X nights of accommodation, you should receive X nights at the new hotel without paying anything extra and it should be a comparable standard of hotel.

      Also the hotel is probably getting more cash from the government than what they would get from IHG, which is why they are closing in the first place

      • Lady London says:

        28 Nov28 November 15:01

        Exactly

        If you want to flagellate yourself by not explaining to them what John said above, then just go onto IHG dot com and try to buy the number of points you paid and that’s your rate.

        Alternatively give the hotel 2 or 3 names of Heathrow non-IHG names that you would find of the same or preferably better standard. I’d make sure one of them is the Sofitel and possibly Doubletree Terminal 2.

        If you don’t know Heathrow hotels of other chains then tell us which hotel and posters here will easily be able to suggest equivalents you could ask for.

• BP says:

  28 Nov28 November 08:18

  Flying out to Dubai on Thursday for 11 nights and worried rule changes will stop us going. Either UAE going on Red list as Dubai is a global hub or UAE Red List UK as we have the new variant already.

  No idea if insurance will cover these things but got HSBC Prem which is normally decent and Amex Plat too (flights not booked with this).

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:

    28 Nov28 November 08:47

    Read clause 1.9 of your Amex Plat Insurance in case it is different to mine but mine excludes, amongst many things, items not paid for on the card itself and losses brought about by a pandemic identified as such by the World Health Organisation.

• ACK says:

  28 Nov28 November 08:50

  Just checked my miles and more silver in the app, and was surprised to see its expiry date moved from feb 2022 to feb 2024. Funny thing is, the only reason I qualified for silver was the number of cancelled BA flights in 2020, where I got rerouted via FRA. I know silver doesn’t get you far, but good to have lounge access when flying non-ba in the coming years.

  • David says:

    28 Nov28 November 09:20

    status is also stopping any miles you have from those flights expiring under M&M nasty expiry rules.

    If you are only an occasional StarAlliance flyer, much better schemes to credit to – e.g. Aegean, etc.

• mark2 says:

  28 Nov28 November 08:52

  Previously people have mentioned not getting Shop Small on Cards.
  I have gone through all my, my wife’s and sister’s cards, main and Additional (30+) and saved Shop Small on every one.
  So worth another look!

  • Andrew says:

    28 Nov28 November 09:22

    Yes they seem to have added them in batches over the course of the week.

• Frankie says:

  28 Nov28 November 09:18

  I tested positive with PCR on 17th November and am out of self isolation from today. Test and Trace have informed me to not do another test for 90 days. I’m due to go to Paris for New Year and now have to do a day 2 PCR as per the travel rules even though it’s within 90 days and goes against what Test and Trace told me. Is the test likely to be positive on 4th January? Or should I buy the test as per PLF requirements but not take it as per NHS Test and Trace instructions?

  • Andrew says:

    28 Nov28 November 09:23

    You’ll need to buy a PCR regardless so you can complete your PLF, take the test and follow the rules for whatever the result is.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    28 Nov28 November 09:44

    T&T are telling you not to bother the NHS basically because it’s unlikely you’ll be positive again.

    I’ve known many people to have negative PCR tests for travel within 90 days of a previous infection.

• Bill says:

  28 Nov28 November 09:35

  Swiss just announced a ban

  • Michael C says:

    28 Nov28 November 09:38

    On having fun?
    On reasonably-priced restaurants?!

    • Linda says:

      28 Nov28 November 09:47

      Rolls?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    28 Nov28 November 09:46

    Is the 10 day isolation for travellers from travellers arriving from Britain, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Egypt and Malawi announced yesterday or something new?

    • Rob says:

      28 Nov28 November 09:52

      New

      • Tom says:

        28 Nov28 November 11:43

        Austria just found a case this morning. Are they going to seal the borders entirely shortly? Completely insane country, politically speaking.

        • Js says:

          28 Nov28 November 13:27

          Who has managed to keep delta out?

        • John says:

          28 Nov28 November 13:32

          Last autumn I read in a Swiss newspaper something like “if Geneva was a country people would have to quarantine when going to Bern”. The point of that article was to say their quarantine rules were insane – but today they’ve voted in favour of keeping vaccine passports which by extension means most people probably approve of the other rules

• Amy C says:

  28 Nov28 November 09:38

  Can someone remind me, if I have triggered the Amex spend £5000 by Nov 30th and get 10k points offer does the offer just disappear from my saved list or am I supposed to get an email acknowledging this has been redeemed as well?

  • Andrew says:

    28 Nov28 November 09:48

    Emails seem nonexistent these days – you’ll just get the points turn up in a couple of weeks (Amex offers are on a go slow at the moment).

  • Steve-B says:

    28 Nov28 November 09:55

    There is no online acknowledgment at all. Yes, some people have reported receiving an email confirming target met and the points crediting a couple of days after. I haven’t so called on Monday and was told they will be added manually. They haven’t so far and I suspect they may make me wait the full 90 days.

  • Jill ( Kinkell ) says:

    28 Nov28 November 10:04

    My points turned up a few days after triggering the spend. That was earlier this week.

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