Bits: get two free US Uber rides, new American Express shopping offers

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• Jon says:

  20 Nov20 November 14:25

  Thanks for the Uber tip, will come in handy in a few weeks!

• Gavin says:

  20 Nov20 November 16:21

  Does the Harrods offer work online? (For buying giftcards specifically)

• Ant says:

  20 Nov20 November 16:36

  OT: BA cash back offer
  if I book these separately via the ba website on different dates but before the 24 Nov will I still get my cash back?the total is £526.
  2 RFS
  Flight and car hire
  Hotel

  Thanks

  • TGLoyalty says:

    20 Nov20 November 21:25

    Seems to be cumulative spend so should be ok

    In fact I wonder how many of these deals are actually in one transaction and not just total spend by the expiry date. The Hilton one is cumulative.

  • Mikee says:

    22 Nov22 November 21:07

    This is what Amex sent me when I asked the same question:

    “I would like to inform you that you need to make a single transaction with British Airways for £500 or more to become eligible for the offer credit. The offer credit will not be triggered on the split transactions.”

• PalCsaky says:

  20 Nov20 November 16:38

  Could a Harrods gift card purchased in Knightsbridge be used to pay for goods at Harrods Heathrow?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    20 Nov20 November 21:27

    The FAQ says

    WHERE CAN I SPEND MY GIFT CARD?
    Online at harrods.com and across Harrods Knightsbridge stores.
    You can also spend your Gift Card in any of Harrods cafés and restaurants. Click here for more information on Harrods eateries.
    Regrettably, Gift Cards may not be redeemed at any of Harrods Airport stores or at Harrods Estates.

    So seems not

• Waribai says:

  20 Nov20 November 17:19

  Just a cautionary tale regarding the AMEX offer with Harrods. Last time they had this offer, we bought a £400 handycam (remember them:)) using 8 x £50 gift cards. So effectively the camera was half price with the £25 back on each gift card purchase. A few months later, the camera started playing up and intermittently switching off. Took it back to Harrods and they didn’t really want to know but eventually agreed to send it to the manufacturers repair centre. All in all it went back and forth 3 times over the course of a year before it was correctly repaired.
  Because it was paid on vouchers section 75 didn’t apply so we couldn’t just ask for a refund.
  Finally, evenv though we only paid £200 with the cahbackback, the real saving was only about £80 as Amazon were selling it much cheaper than Harrods!

  • the real harry says:

    20 Nov20 November 18:35

    you could have paid partly on credit card to get S75 cover

    • Waribai says:

      20 Nov20 November 20:25

      That is true. I wasn’t expecting Harrods customer service to be so poor. I naively assumed they would be like Amazon and just replace it in a jiffy. You live and you learn. Suffice to say we have hardly ever used the camera in the last couple years!

      • Lady London says:

        20 Nov20 November 21:33

        Re Harrods item the retailer is liable. If it played up within a few months, then it’s not fit for purpose. Law changed approx last October on this. The governing law is now the Consumer Rights Act 2015. You have to allow retailer to try one repair or replacement. But after that, if it’s still faulty and within 6 months of purchase you have the right to a full refund. After 6 months a refund may be partial. MSE is good on this.

        A lot of departments within Harrods are run as “shops within shops” and it’s possible a retailer under this arrangement might have needed bringing up to date. I am sure Harrods would have helped with this if necessary.

• the real harry says:

  20 Nov20 November 18:40

  it will include season tickets as Amex just see the £ transaction – not the detail

  • Tom says:

    21 Nov21 November 08:41

    I also assumed the same.. the only thought in my mind though was that the season ticket part of the site has a different look and feel. And whether that means it gets a different merchant ID..

    Hmm!

• Genghis says:

  20 Nov20 November 18:57

  OT. LBG favourites to buy MBNA
  http://on.ft.com/2gsK228

  • the real harry says:

    20 Nov20 November 18:59

    cut & paste makes it easy viewing

    • the real harry says:

      20 Nov20 November 19:08

      https://www.ft.com/content/9c958ae6-af0b-11e6-a37c-f4a01f1b0fa1
      Lloyds Banking Group has emerged as the leading bidder for Bank of America’s £7bn credit card business in Britain, taking the UK lender closer to its first acquisition since being rescued by the taxpayer more than seven years ago.

      Two people briefed on the process said Lloyds had moved ahead of Cerberus, the US private equity group, in the bidding for MBNA’s British credit card operation after BofA backed down on a crucial sticking point in negotiations.

      Lloyds had initially pulled back from the auction because of BofA’s refusal to share the future costs of compensating customers for mis-selling payment protection insurance. But BofA has now agreed to indemnify the buyer if PPI costs rise above a fixed cap.

      Lloyds has been prevented from making acquisitions since its takeover of failing rival HBOS during the financial crisis, a deal that left it on the brink of collapse and needing a taxpayer bailout in 2009.

      However, the bank has since returned to profit after heavy restructuring and the government has sold more than three-quarters of its stake, which is now below 10 per cent. The Treasury aims to exit fully by next year via a trading plan to drip-feed its shares into the market.

      MBNA fits with Lloyds’ search for acquisitions to expand in higher-margin areas, including unsecured consumer loans, car finance, leasing and fleet management as it tries to offset the impact of low interest rates on its main mortgage business.
      Cerberus was told several weeks ago that there was “a more attractive offer” and its team now believes it has lost the auction, said one of the people, adding that it had “downed pens”. Another said Cerberus had faced difficulties with a “complex” financing package and Lloyds could seal a deal in the first quarter of 2017.

      The board of Lloyds is reluctant to add to its exposure to the PPI scandal, which has already cost the bank £17bn. It set aside another £1bn last month, while saying that was expected to be its last PPI provision.

      MBNA has allocated about £1.6bn for PPI compensation, but it is widely expected to take another charge this year. The Financial Conduct Authority is next month expected to finalise plans for a PPI compensation claims deadline of mid-2019 — giving Lloyds comfort that its exposure is capped.

      There is no certainty that the deal would be completed, the people said. One pointed out that if Lloyds bought MBNA it would control about a quarter of the UK credit card market by receivables, close to the share of market leader Barclaycard, which may raise competition issues.

      A sale to Lloyds could be bad news for the town of Chester, where the MBNA business is based. The UK bank is likely to transfer MBNA’s customers to its own systems and lay off many of its 1,700 staff, mostly based in the town, one person said.

      Analysts have warned that buying MBNA would eat into Lloyds’ ability to pay higher dividends, particularly as a potential economic downturn due to Brexit is likely to eat into the bank’s profitability.

      Lloyds is expected to access the Bank of England’s “term funding scheme” — a new programme to provide £100bn of cheap funds for banks to lend to small businesses and households — to lower the borrowing costs of MBNA, analysts have predicted.

      Five years ago, BofA abandoned plans to sell its entire European credit card business, offloading some operations in Ireland and Spain, while keeping the main UK business after bids fell below its target valuation.

      MBNA made a profit of £166m last year and has 5m credit card customers, giving it about 11 per cent of the UK market by credit card balances. Lloyds has a £10bn credit card loan book and about 15 per cent market share. MBNA is expected to fetch a premium to its £7bn of outstanding credit balances.

      BofA, Lloyds, and Cerberus declined to comment.

      • Alan says:

        20 Nov20 November 19:09

        Damn, that’d be a pain given how much better MBNA are at repeat sign-up bonuses vs Lloyds!

        • Genghis says:

          20 Nov20 November 19:17

          I know. I’ve only just started to churn with MBNA too…

      • Genghis says:

        20 Nov20 November 19:17

        Cheers Harry

      • Tom says:

        21 Nov21 November 08:43

        You missed a bit:

        “Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. All rights reserved. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.”

        🙂

        • the real harry says:

          21 Nov21 November 09:42

          I always think if you give the link/ attribution they won’t mind too much – free publicity for them

          anyway, I don’t think anybody in the UK has ever been penalised for copying a newspaper article to a forum

      • Andrew says:

        21 Nov21 November 09:58

        Could be far worse… It could be NewDay!

        It would be a real shame for Chester if this were to happen, they’ve gradually lost a considerable number of finance jobs over recent years.

        Is £7Bn too big for an MBO? Or maybe some form of structured deal with BoA financing.

        • Rob says:

          21 Nov21 November 11:16

          Could be MBO’d – £7bn is mainly the value of the loan book you are buying. The actual equity value of the business is modest. The problem is that FCA approval for an MBO of something this size could be tricky and certainly slow. Selling to a trade player removes a level of uncertainty over whether the deal completes.

  • Rob says:

    20 Nov20 November 19:06

    Oh dear …..

• the real harry says:

  20 Nov20 November 19:01

  corporate is different

  your Amex deal would be associated with you & your card

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