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• Nathan Brandon-Bravo says:

  28 Apr28 April 05:27

  Thanks for this Rob,
  Booked one republic last time which was amazing so have just booked bastille! Are you planning on going?
  I’ve not done the package with the night at doubletree it was an extra 60,000 which doesn’t seem like a great deal.

  • Rob says:

    28 Apr28 April 08:03

    We should be there, yes, we were last time.

• Ant says:

  28 Apr28 April 08:18

  OT: can I use a Lloyds voucher to book 2 one way Hong Kong-London and therefore save the taxes/fees?

  • AndyR says:

    28 Apr28 April 08:20

    Yes.

  • Rob says:

    28 Apr28 April 08:39

    Yes – but Avios likes trying to add the fees sometimes so watch out, small claims court may be needed.

    • Callum says:

      28 Apr28 April 21:23

      The Avios agent messed up the Lloyds redemption I made to specifically reduce taxes and charges which ended up adding £100 to the price.

      I just booked it anyway as my voucher expired that day and was surprised when they quickly offered to pay back the difference as a goodwill gesture when I complained by email. Maybe they aren’t so bad to deal with now!

      (The route was Hong Kong to London, Bilbao to London to Santiago in Club and Euro Traveller for 88k Avios and £190 – bargain!)

• Anna says:

  28 Apr28 April 08:53

  OT but BA holidays – does anyone know if it’s possible to book one which starts in another country? E.g. would be using avios to fly to New York then the “holiday” element being return flights from NYC to LA with car hire for the duration? Trying to put together this kind of trip without paying for it all up front.

  • Anna says:

    28 Apr28 April 09:07

    Doing a dummy booking I just get a message that there are no flights available on that route.

    • roberto says:

      28 Apr28 April 10:41

      Would it work of ypu booked your holiday on the US versionof the Ba.com site?

      I have booked a spanish Ba holiday (to barbados) in the past from Malaga although be aware you wont be paying in Sterling.. However I got the Gold Amex card for my wife and used that to pay getting 4MR for every pound I spent. 2 for non sterling spend and 2 for a “flight” booking. Not sure if the new Gold Card has the double double option in the first six months..

      • Anna says:

        28 Apr28 April 11:47

        Thanks, worth considering!

• Asp says:

  28 Apr28 April 10:04

  O/T – anyone know if the JW Marriott Essex House in NYC charge a ‘resort’ fee? Looking st to redeem a Marriott TP (I’m currently Plat). Thanks, Asp

  • roberto says:

    28 Apr28 April 10:51

    Yes , was $28.69 a night …

    • Asp says:

      28 Apr28 April 11:45

      Roberto – ouch. Were you on a points or cash rate? Slightly off putting now (extra $300). Do you rate the hotel in general? Thanks

      • roberto says:

        28 Apr28 April 12:02

        Cash rate..
        Great hotel
        Also as Rob suggested you get hotel credit to offset the cost. Used mine on drinks and laundry.

        The extra charge whilst annoying is small potatoes net net especially considering where you are, the cost of NYC everywhere else and would not put me off on going back.

  • Rob says:

    28 Apr28 April 11:55

    It does but you get a bar / restaurant credit of the same value. Do a cash dummy booking. Looks like my stay in 2 weeks may get cancelled annoyingly.

• Andrew says:

  28 Apr28 April 10:52

  Bits – Very off topic.

  I was having a look at my Credit Score last night using “Clearscore” and notiiced two, what are effectively warning flags, on the history of my Virgin Money Credit Card account (the one with free FX)

  Essentially, on two months there was the notice “minimum payment made”. These were months when I’d bought 1000 points to keep an account active and a new ESTA – so the only transaction each month was circa £10-£12. The full repayment and minimum payment were one and the same thing.

  I’m not sure if this is bad data supplied by Virgin Money or poor interpretation by Clearscore, but for now I’ll be making sure that if I use the card during the month, I spend more than £25.

  • JamesB says:

    28 Apr28 April 11:55

    I doubt it will have much impact on your credit score. Oddly, it might be more of a help than a hindrance because any card companies looking at it in more detail might see you as a good bet for some interest even thought you know better. I always thought it was best to use a card so I put a small transaction at least through all my cards every month. Therefore, I should have loads of these flags over the past few years but my credit score has largely ranged from 933-999 despite a passion for churning. Thanks for posting this detail.

  • the_real_a says:

    28 Apr28 April 14:07

    This seems more like a “display” problem with clearscore presenting you the data. The CC companies create their own algorithms on top of the raw data which is why you can only take these credit report services so far.

  • Nick M says:

    28 Apr28 April 15:42

    That sounds a bit odd… I haven’t noticed anything on mine, and I have a couple of 0% deals where I just pay the minimum…

    Bought a car on some point-earning cards, then had a 0%interest, no fee balance transfer – if anything, I’d say it has boosted my appeal to lenders!

• Tom1 says:

  28 Apr28 April 12:08

  o/t
  Do balance transfers count toward the spend targets on CC in general?

  I saw some comments about this in the last few days but can’t find them now.

  If I spent £xxxx on my Amex (or another card) and then did a balance transfer to my Lloyds Avios card – would that a) earn points and b) count toward the Upgrade voucher?

  (also, will Amex offer balance transfers in the new Gold credit card?)

  • Roberto says:

    28 Apr28 April 12:48

    no

• JamesB says:

  28 Apr28 April 12:28

  No in all respects to the best of my knowledge. It was posxible many years ago but I am not aware of it in recent times.

• mark2 says:

  28 Apr28 April 12:32

  OT
  How do I request a higher limit on Curve please?
  When I click on the link the screen goes blank; do I have to write a note?

  • JamesB says:

    28 Apr28 April 12:41

    Yes, write a suppirt message. I have found them to be quick, clear and helpful. I think they work shorter hours at weekends though.

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