Bits: The Economist on ‘class war in the [BA] airport lounge’, 0% Post Office balance transfer

News in brief:

The Economist’s 1843 on ‘Class War In The Airport Lounge’

Intelligent Life, the quarterly lifestyle glossy from The Economist, was recently relaunched with a new title 1843.

The new edition features, on its back page, an article by Adrian Wooldridge.  It outlines his journey through British Airways Executive Club status.  He is clearly not a Head for Points reader, however, as it seems that he missed achieving Gold by 30 tier points and didn’t seem to know a) that he could ring BA for a one week extension or b) how to get 30 tier points quickly and cheaply.

It is well worth a read and you can find it here.

Did you know, for example, that in The Republic Plato argues that citizens come in three types:  Gold, Silver and Bronze?

As the article concludes:

We Britons understand the value of keeping the classes divided while holding out the possibility of social promotion.  BA’s slogan is ‘one world’ [er, no!] but its genius is to understand that, however interconnected humans become, it still pays to divide them into gold, silver and bronze.

0% balance transfer fee on the Post Office Mastercard

The Post Office dropped me a note last week to promote a new 22 month 0% balance transfer deal on its Platinum Mastercard.

I feature the Post Office card on HfP because it is one of only a handful of credit cards which are both FREE and have no foreign exchange fees on purchases abroad.

Whilst the Halifax Clarity card is a little better than the Post Office one for overseas use because Clarity also has no FX fees on overseas cash withdrawals, the new offer of:

0% interest for 22 months on balance transfers, and

0% fee on your balance transfer

will be interesting for some people.  This means that you can move an existing balance from any other credit card, fee free, to the Post Office card and pay no interest until early 2018.  You should definitely clear your balance at that point, however, as the representative APR is 17.8% variable.  This is NOT a card where you want to be paying interest.

You can still make new purchases without impacting your 0% balance transfer as your monthly repayment must, by law, be used to pay off the highest APR transactions first – which means paying off your fresh spending.  

This would still allow you to benefit from the 0% fees on foreign exchange transactions which is, of course, the key benefit for HfP readers.  More details of the Post Office Platinum card and this offer can be found here.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – September 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 26th September 2024, sign up for FREE Barclaycard Avios Mastercard and you will receive a sign-up bonus of 10,000 Avios. This is double the usual bonus! You only need to spend £1,000 within 90 days. Our full review is here. Click here to apply.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Avios. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Avios. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.