Black Friday: 25% off at Hackett, 40% off Accor hotels, £19 Conde Nast Traveller, NCP savings

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• Waddle says:

  29 Nov29 November 10:40

  OT: Amex Gold FX quirks
  Sorry for the OT. I was always under the impression that the 2.99% fee for FX transactions did not earn points but my recent transactions tell a different story. A recent hotel payment of 458 Euros hit the card as £404.52.

  When I tap on this transaction, it shows:
  1.166 FX rate
  £11.74 fee

  By these numbers, the Euros converted to around £392.79 and £11.74 fee on top of that (give or take rounding) so I thought I should be earning 392+392 points but I actually earned 404+404.

  If I spent exactly £10,000 in a foreign currency, I will be charged £10,299 and earn 20,598 MR points rather than my original assumption of 20,000.

  This does make the fee more palatable for me as it also earns points and I can just view it as a bad exchange rate. Doesn’t change my view that Amex Gold is the best card for FX spending and non-BA airfare.

  • Shoestring says:

    29 Nov29 November 11:03

    if you hit the £15,000 spend to trigger 10,000 bonus (at year end), you could even add on 0.67 points/ £1

    so your £10,299 actually earns 27,264 points (stop spend at £15K & divert to another card)

    I also have no problem using Gold Card abroad, the cost is peanuts on a smallish FX spend

  • John says:

    29 Nov29 November 11:39

    Your incorrect assumption really makes very little difference.

    If MC and Amex exchange rates are equal, £10299 on Amex would cost you £9950 on Tandem, therefore you have paid £349 for 20598 avios or 1.7p each. Bad deal for me.

    If the Amex forex fee did not earn points, then you would only get 20000 avios for £349, or 1.75p each, an insignificant difference from 1.7p.

    In practice the Mastercard exchange rate is usually better than Amex, so that £10299 is probably £10325, raising the price per avios to 1.8p.

    If like Shoestring you spend 15K a year, that was £14564.5 before the 2.99% fee which costs you £14491.7 on Tandem, therefore you paid £508.3 for 40000 avios or 1.27p each. Still a bad deal for me but people who normally pay for UK origin J fares might be happy with that.

    If you could put the £10299 spend through Curve or Revolut which have better exchange rates, the Amex effective exchange rate would increase the price to approx £10350. If you used the Lloyds MC earning 0.5 avios per £ as the underlying card, then you have paid £350 for 20700 – 5000 = 15700 avios which is an awful 2.2p per avios.

    • Waddle says:

      29 Nov29 November 14:17

      You make good points and I don’t disagree at all. A minor point – I think it’s actually 45,000 points for £15k spend if all foreign FX so the £508 difference in pays for points at a rate of 1.12p rather than 1.27p.

      If looking at pure FX value for money then yes anything put through Amex is poor. But as the fee earns points, I now view the the whole thing as just getting an exchange rate 3% worse than other providers, the ability to earn 2.66 points (I’m rounding down because Amex does on all points earnings) per £ on foreign spend is something I’m happy to suck up. The gold card is a keeper beyond year 1 in my view.

• BEM says:

  29 Nov29 November 12:50

  OT: and a week late as it’s related to the Curve debacle but wanted to check and see if I have got the change to the Curve Ts&Cs correct. If I top up my Revolut card with my IHG card, via Curve to then pay my tax free childcare, this will incur the fee as they are a “merchant which does not accept credit cards”?

  • Peter K says:

    29 Nov29 November 13:12

    You don’t need to use curve to top up Revolut.

    • BEM says:

      29 Nov29 November 13:50

      Won’t Creation charge me for topping up Revolut though?

      • Grant says:

        29 Nov29 November 14:20

        Nope, try it and see

• Nick M says:

  29 Nov29 November 13:04

  Southend Airport offers:
  – Skylife Premium for £18
  – 15% off pre-book parking with code BLACKFRIDAY2019 (book by Monday)

• Spaghetti Town says:

  29 Nov29 November 21:23

  OT: can i pay my car tax with amex on apple pay at the post office?

  My replacement amex is on the way but my car tax is due to be paid tomorrow. Any thoughts?

  Of course, i can pay with a mastercard but want the amex points of course.

  • Shoestring says:

    29 Nov29 November 21:25

    so pay with your Amex

    • Spaghetti Town says:

      29 Nov29 November 21:27

      I’ve lost my physical card and replacement is on the way. Not turned up yet but vehicle tax due tomorrow.

      I’ve been waiting all week to get a chance to go to the post office, then i go lose my card

      • Harry T says:

        29 Nov29 November 21:40

        Have they replaced your Amex card with new one in Apple Pay? If so, should work if your post office branch accepts Apple Pay

        • Spaghetti Town says:

          29 Nov29 November 22:45

          Good question. Does this happen automatically?

        • Harry T says:

          29 Nov29 November 23:52

          It replaced it automatically for me when I got my new Metal Platinum card.

        • Spaghetti Town says:

          30 Nov30 November 09:48

          We’ll try it. Just hope PO don’t have some silly limit

• Louise says:

  30 Nov30 November 09:10

  Thanks Rob, had a NCP booking for next month and ive cancelled and rebooked with code saving £45!

• Riccatti says:

  1 Dec1 December 02:56

  Re: Hackett

  Can’t find how to give Club 65B number when ordering!

  • Rob says:

    1 Dec1 December 10:15

    If you are logged in I think it is automatic.

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