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Bits: Which? magazine writes about HfP readers, the BA Amex Premium card lives

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News in brief:

Which? covers the end of Royal Mint commemorative coin purchases

In the past I have written about Royal Mint offers where you could buy commemorative coins at face value – using a miles earning credit card – and then pay them into your bank account.

I was always cautious of such deals because it was often tricky to find backs that would accept them.  Eventually the Royal Mint intervened and told banks to stop taking them.

The story was picked up in Which? magazine this month:

Which? magazine commemorative coins

Is Amex still issuing the BA Amex Premium card to new customers?

If you can remember the peak days of Busted, McFly and Natasha Bedingfield, you might also remember the grey-coloured British Airways American Express Premium card. 

It offered 1.25 Avios per £1 (half way between the free and Premium Plus cards) and required £15,000 of spend (half way between etc) for a 2-4-1 companion voucher with an 18 month validity (half way between etc).

It was only half way successful and was quickly withdrawn by American Express.

However, this comment was posted at Flyertalk this week.  A Premium Plus cardholder who wanted to downgrade – presumably after triggering his voucher – was offered this card as an alternative to the free one.

I doubt this was a random agent who had decided off their own back to relaunch a card last seen when they were still at primary school, so it is possible we may see more efforts by Amex to bring it back.  I know that Amex has continued to re-issue new BA Premium Amex cards on expiry to the few people who still have one. 

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Comments (64)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Danksy says:
    30 Jul30 July 06:29

    I downgraded last week and wasn’t offered this card!

  • jovanna says:
    30 Jul30 July 07:28

    I saw an advert on the TV last week for one of those commemorative £5 coins. The advertisement said it was legal tender in Jersey. I wonder if that’s true and if so, why?

  • Mike says:
    30 Jul30 July 07:42

    From what I remember, legal tender means that the instrument in question must be accepted as settlement for a debt.

    Is there a loophole here if anyone does some of these coins lying around (such as paying off a credit card bill)

    • harry says:
      30 Jul30 July 08:10

      court debt

    • TimS says:
      30 Jul30 July 09:24

      As harry says, legal tender is a legal definition that means that settlement of court debts cannot be refused if paid in legal tender. For example the court cannot refuse to accept payment of £1 in pennies, but could refuse £1.01 in pennies as 1p coins are legal tender up to the value of £1

  • Cheshire Pete says:
    30 Jul30 July 08:18

    I also downgraded 2 weeks ago, and it wasn’t offered either.

    • Grimz says:
      30 Jul30 July 09:57

      When you downgraded did you not have to apply for the free card via the website? I got told to do this!

      • Cheshire Pete says:
        30 Jul30 July 10:23

        No they sent out new Blue Ones which is actually a nice change from the Graphite one! My account changed overnight and my old card still worked until delivery. All very painless really nothing to fill in just a call to CS.

        • Mud Island Mlungu says:
          31 Jul31 July 14:39

          Do you just upgrade again at the end of your year?

  • Genghis says:
    30 Jul30 July 08:20

    If the BAP card is ‘half way’, does that mean it’s now priced at around £100? If so, could be a good alternative; Losing the extra 2,500 avios from spending £10k on BAPP and the inconvenience of spending £15k v £10k may be worth £95.

  • Rich says:
    30 Jul30 July 08:30

    O/T question for the collected wisdom… I have the Priority Pass membership from a now cancelled Platinum Amex. After cancelling I’ve heard nothing at all from Priority Pass. Any ideas what might happen if I try to use it to get into the Aspire lounge at T5 next week? Cheers all.

    • Genghis says:
      30 Jul30 July 08:33

      Won’t work

      • Raffles says:
        30 Jul30 July 08:51

        Card is refused when there is no credit card backing it up – which there isn’t now.

    • jovanna says:
      30 Jul30 July 09:02

      I used my PP twice after the AMEX was cancelled. These were a good few months later.

    • xcalx says:
      30 Jul30 July 09:25

      Try it, but be prepared to pay if rejected. One son used his a couple of times a year for 2 years with no problems another son got rejected on first visit and didn’t try again.

    • Rich says:
      30 Jul30 July 18:03

      Thanks everyone! We’ll probably give it a go and see what happens…

  • J says:
    30 Jul30 July 09:00

    Silver BA Amex card. I still have this card and I pay £75 a year annual fee. I was told that the 2-4-1 voucher had an expiry date of 12 months. This is my main credit card and I use it all the time. I don’t see any reason why I should get rid of it?

    • Genghis says:
      30 Jul30 July 09:05

      Thanks J. So the fee has not gone up in line with the BAPP? Makes my argument above even stronger

  • John says:
    30 Jul30 July 09:09

    Which? is often clueless, like in the accompanying image to this article which shows commemerative £2 and 50p, which are in general circulation. It is the commemerative £20, £50 and £100 which aren’t accepted (25p and £5 should still be accepted).

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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