The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 7th December

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• NorthernLass says:

  7 Dec7 December 16:00

  The Archbishop of Canterbury has publicly condemned the new travel restrictions so that sounds fairly authoritative. Just need the Pope to confirm now.

  • mark2 says:

    7 Dec7 December 16:33

    It must be a good idea then.

  • The Canuck says:

    7 Dec7 December 16:52

    Is this satire? I can’t wait to hear Grant Shapps’ opinion on Jesus soon then

    • NorthernLass says:

      7 Dec7 December 17:57

      https://www.cityam.com/archbishop-of-canterbury-calls-on-government-to-stop-travel-apartheid/

• Mco says:

  7 Dec7 December 16:30

  Do you need to fill in Passenger locator form if you are transiting airside for 3hrs at LHR?

  • davef says:

    7 Dec7 December 16:38

    Yes, you wont be allowed to board your inbound flight unless you have one.

    • Sean says:

      7 Dec7 December 17:05

      The website clearly states “ Airside transit is when you do not pass through UK border control. You remain ‘airside’ before you leave the UK on your connecting journey.

      You need to take a COVID-19 test before you travel to England.

      You do not need to complete a passenger locator form before travel to England.

      When you are in England you do not need to quarantine or take any COVID-19 travel tests.”

      • JDB says:

        7 Dec7 December 17:42

        The problem is that whatever the .gov website says, if you come up against the wrong check in agents you have a problem, so it may be easier just to fill in the PLF anyway.

      • Harry T says:

        7 Dec7 December 17:54

        I transited LHR from CDG on my way to DXB and no one asked me to fill in a PLF. I had the relevant page from GovUK screenshotted and to hand, in case I encountered someone dimwitted at bag drop.

  • Tazzy says:

    7 Dec7 December 16:57

    Yes. I arrived back from St Lucia last Friday. There was a man who only spoke Portuguese transmitting to Dublin. He didn’t have PLF and border control were really rude to him and offered no help and was shouting at him for wasting her time. I felt really sorry for him and tried to help but with the language barrier it was impossible. He had all the paper work for ROI but none for U.K. I’m sure he must have missed his flight.

    • John says:

      7 Dec7 December 17:50

      This is a stupid situation because ROI doesn’t respect the CTA when coming from GB by air, so it is completely useless for the UK to make that man go through UK immigration. If he was going to France he wouldn’t need a UK PLF. Yet he needs an Irish PLF and test whether he transits GB or any other country in the world. And if he transited in an EU country he wouldn’t need the transit point’s PLF.

  • Save East Coast Rewards says:

    7 Dec7 December 17:05

    You no longer have to unless you’re going somewhere that’s in the common travel area – so connecting to a UK domestic, Ireland, IoM or Jersey.

    However some guidance hasn’t been updated last time I flew in transit (last week) so it was easier just to fill in the form

    • Mco says:

      7 Dec7 December 23:54

      Thanks all.

• Neil Spellings says:

  7 Dec7 December 16:51

  Very interesting new survey on Virgin Money Matters community for those who are members…

  • David says:

    7 Dec7 December 17:26

    Well, don’t leave us hanging… what is the topic?

    • Neil Spellings says:

      7 Dec7 December 18:19

      Well I can’t say without breaking my NDA!

• The Savage Squirrel says:

  7 Dec7 December 16:52

  Random wildly OT question.
  Any suggestions for decent business loans with competitive rates and modest additional fees?? It’s for about 125k for building work and business expansion, and trading records and cashflow are strong enough not to be an issue. My existing bank has quoted 3.2% above base for 10 years with a 2k arrangement fee and a valuation required at another 2k (which is the bit that really annoyed me – the standard valuation rate per site in my sector is £600!).

  • Steven says:

    7 Dec7 December 16:59

    We used a company called Iceberg recently. Competitive rates and very easy to deal with.

  • Richie says:

    7 Dec7 December 17:23

    £2k for a bit of admin! That’s a rip off.

  • ken says:

    7 Dec7 December 17:47

    We use HSBC (we bank with them) and pay 2.99 above base on our last loan 2.5 years ago (secured against commercial vehicles).
    We borrow typically no more than 60% of the asset value and arrangment fee is £250 (on initial finance of £200k).

    Margin was slightly less about 10 years ago (2.7 above base).

    Paid lower again in 2007 (2.5 above base with Lombard) but that was a time of very loose business lending.

    In terms of property we paid 3.3% above base and £500 arrangement fee on our premises (which are in a SIPP) but that was a decade ago. It is a pretty vanilla high street property (shop & offices). Valuation was £495 I think

    You say building work, what existing mortgages on the property ?

    I know vehicle financing a bit different but arrangement fee sounds like a piss take.

    Saying that, Arena Television is a large recent asset finance fraud (borrowed about £300m against assets that appear never to have existed) so all lenders will be ultra careful about verifying asset exists & valuation.

• memesweeper says:

  7 Dec7 December 17:01

  Forum bug?

  https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/forums/topic/hyatt-place-whitechapel/#post-293547

  appears to be Anonymous, but I’m logged in?

  • Rob says:

    7 Dec7 December 17:26

    Will be fixed tomorrow 🙂

  • Lev441 says:

    7 Dec7 December 18:00

    How did I miss the forum launch!!

• PAL says:

  7 Dec7 December 17:03

  Following re yesterday’s seat spy article. Is there a hotel equivalent and some sort of alert set up when reward availability appears?

  • Sam says:

    7 Dec7 December 17:08

    Earlier in the year, I built a test one for IHG. Any demand if I try and finish it using a similar kind of subscription model?

  • Rob says:

    7 Dec7 December 17:25

    No, not that I know of.

    • meta says:

      7 Dec7 December 18:05

      There is actually, but it works slightly differently and not sure if it is available for all hotel programmes. It’s called Open Hotel Alert.

      You can read about it on OMATT https://onemileatatime.com/receive-alerts-if-hotel-award-nights-become-available/

      Basically the way I understand it, it only works for programmes where if a standard room (and other rooms) is available for cash, it is also available on points. I am not sure if any loyalty programme apart from Hyatt does that.

      Last month I managed to grab nights at Park Hyatt Kyoto on points. I got an Open Hotel Alert at 7am in the morning that availability opened up and it was showing on Hyatt website.

      • PAL says:

        7 Dec7 December 18:51

        Great thanks will take a look.

• Paul says:

  7 Dec7 December 17:06

  Is the Amazon ‘Visa Credit’ trick still available or have I missed the boat on that?

  • elguiri says:

    7 Dec7 December 17:14

    worked yesterday for OH

    • Richie says:

      7 Dec7 December 17:33

      Amazon Fresh wouldn’t let me through the gate today with my visa credit card as a default payment. I went M&S instead.

• AlexD says:

  7 Dec7 December 17:29

  I’m sure this has been asked and answered numerous times but can’t seem to find it anywhere. Currently have 10% off at Morrisons on my Virgin plus card. If I buy gift vouchers will it apply to those?

  If it makes any difference I’ll be doing a full weekly shop aswell not just vouchers

  • AlexD says:

    7 Dec7 December 17:33

    A follow up question – does Apple Pay with the virgin card also work? Haven’t used my card physically for months so no clue where it is😂

  • Neil Spellings says:

    7 Dec7 December 18:21

    Yes, Virgin (and Amex for those with the offer there) have no idea what you bought at Morrisons

  • can says:

    7 Dec7 December 19:30

    It worked for me multiple times with giftcards with Amex.

    • AlexD says:

      7 Dec7 December 19:40

      Perfect – thank you!

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