HfP ‘Credit Cards’ page updated for March 2017 – what are the best deals this month?

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• Mike says:

  6 Mar6 March 16:54

  Barclaycard have just told me that the Hilton card has been stopped as of today. Any truth to that?

  • Genghis says:

    6 Mar6 March 17:05

    It looks like they’re still taking applications. You mean the IHG card?

  • Alan says:

    6 Mar6 March 17:16

    I really hope you made a typo and mean IHG!

  • Nick says:

    6 Mar6 March 20:11

    If that came from the horse’s mouth, then why would you question it?

    The visa commitments followed by the eu interchange regs were always going to kill the credit card benefits we have been enjoying. Even Amex will get pulled in, indirectly. Barclaycard is very profitable and it’s not like they were unaware that a slug of their income was about to disappear. People using credit cards to earn points but who paid their bill in full every month were a losing proposition for card issuers from 1 Jan 2015. People paying £99 for a credit card were unlikely to be the Ines who don’t pay the balance in full. If anything I am surprised it has taken this long for the half decent non- Amex cards to disappear

• Daz says:

  6 Mar6 March 17:12

  Just received a letter today saying my IHG card with Barclays will close on the 20 Apr 17 and any spend after that will not earn points. They are moving me on to the Platinum card, which is no good good for me and I may opt for a quick churn on the Hilton Card.

  • Brighton Belle says:

    6 Mar6 March 17:56

    Nice trick. IHG took their annual membership of £99 fee in January with the promise to give me a free night at £10K spend. I’ve done £5K. Now their card provider takes away the means to do that. Presumably I have to get the Creation card to keep the spend target in sight.

    • mark2 says:

      6 Mar6 March 18:52

      Are you hoping that Creation give you credit for your spending with Barclaycard?
      That does sound rather unlikely.

• Ed says:

  6 Mar6 March 18:12

  Bit of a silly question, but with Hilton card free night do you receive status recognition benefits?

  • Genghis says:

    6 Mar6 March 18:26

    No question is silly. But yes, you do. It’s like any reward night with Hilton. IHG could learn from Hilton here.

    • Ed says:

      6 Mar6 March 18:33

      Thanks Genghis

    • John says:

      6 Mar6 March 21:42

      Well I get the limited benefits of being Spire on IHG reward nights, it’s only IC that doesn’t count.

• Kipto says:

  6 Mar6 March 19:46

  BA AMEX QUESTION. This year my wife dropped from premier plus to the blue Amex card. Her anniversary for the card is in May. She is only £300 from spending £10000. If upgrading to the premier plus card, will it cost £195 or is it pro rata i.e two months worth of the fee around £30-£40. ? She will dowmgrade again once the companion voucher has been earned.

  • John says:

    6 Mar6 March 21:44

    I believe it’s £195 at the time the preimum card is approved and then refunded prorata when she switches back to the free card later

  • Polly says:

    8 Mar8 March 09:31

    Yes Kipto, def worth the upgrade fee pro rata… Worth having the 241 in the bag in case you can use a F ticket or J. We have done this a few times.

• Nigel says:

  6 Mar6 March 19:47

  “BA to offer less legroom than Ryanair on some planes”
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39184179

  • the real harry1 says:

    6 Mar6 March 19:55

    lovely enhancement, it means my chances of getting airline diverticulitis improve by about 200%

    • Brighton Belle says:

      6 Mar6 March 20:56

      Stop worrying about front row or emergency exit seats and prebook a C or D nearer the loos 🙂

  • Nate1309 says:

    6 Mar6 March 22:34

    I just read this too. Unbelievable. Wasn’t the BA agenda to find a way to increase profit every day? Well here’s today’s!

    • Anon says:

      7 Mar7 March 00:22

      While they hold a quasi monopoly on some routes, a lot of pax have little alternative and BA know this.

      So its a simple mantra..

      Reduce costs = Increase profit

      Works for the short term, but what about long term?

• Ezekial says:

  6 Mar6 March 19:56

  OT
  I’ve got the AMEX £50 back on a £250 spend. I’ve got £200 spent, but no stays to use the rest.
  Can I just find one and blow £50 in the bar? Or will that come up as different spend?

  • David says:

    6 Mar6 March 22:57

    I’ve just triggered the offer after making three advance payment rate bookings at three different hotels. Delighted!

  • Ezekial says:

    7 Mar7 March 13:39

    Yes, I did mean Hilton, sorry.

    Surely someone has been the gift card guinea pig before me?

• Kevin says:

  6 Mar6 March 20:27

  I received a letter from Barclaycard today informing me that they are going to close my IHG premium Visa card in April 2017. This is totally a mess as I just got my card fee paid in Jan (not sure how this will be refunded) and I will not able to achieve the free night award as planned considering I already spent a reasonable amount over the last few months. This mean all of my efforts over the last few months have totally wasted.

  Have anyone in similar situation and what can we do about that?

  • Brighton Belle says:

    6 Mar6 March 20:54

    I had an online chat with IHG about this today. They said Barclays will refund the unused membership fee back to the card. My plan is to open the Creation version and continue spending on that until I have accumulated enough spend since my last membership renewal. So don’t close the old card until the refund hits.

    • Kevin says:

      6 Mar6 March 21:04

      Well but i got to pay £33 (pro rota) for 3 months and considering already spent £5k on the card and not equal to have a free night reward if we considering it worth for £250.

• Liz says:

  6 Mar6 March 21:46

  Just come home from a day out with friends to find the same IHG letter that everyone else has had. I had this card in my name and used it to gain Spire Elite these past 2 years. Eligibility checker on the Creation site says I am not eligible for the card so the 20k qualifying points earned so far this year will go down the pan as I can no longer earn qualifying pts going forward after April. Had to take the card out in my hubby’s name but at least he has now been promoted from Club Member to Platinum Elite. Spoiled what was a great day!

  • Brighton Belle says:

    6 Mar6 March 23:47

    IHG just tweeted me “Sorry, any IHG® Rewards Club benefits linked to the credit card will also stop after 20 April 2017. My conclusion… So if you spent anything on the Barclays IHG towards a free night they are going to walk away from the deal: any YTD spend is valueless. We have been screwed over and IHG don’t care a toss.

    • Liz says:

      7 Mar7 March 00:01

      My year with the Barclaycard IHG card was up next week so I already earned my free night – but the qualifying year in the IHG account runs from 1/1 so my 20k qualifying pts earned so far won’t count for anything as I won’t be able to add to them. Need to start from scratch on my hubby’s account so not likely to earn Spire by the end of the year for next year. Was well on the way for it this year on my account. And I don’t want to waste a load of Virgin miles just to get Spire. Another good thing bites the dust. I have Spire till the end of the year at least.

    • Brighton Belle says:

      7 Mar7 March 00:28

      IHG are really keen to help. They told me “. . . Blah Blah …your feedback for improvements. . . You may ring Barclaycard customer care 0800 151 0900 or 0333 200 9090 for other queries.” “This change has been communicated”.

      Not sure that giving 6 weeks notice of the promotion shutdown is really fair given the accumulated spend effort over the previous X months.

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