[UK] My first Gold card year is almost over. Options? [Consolidated]
#46
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 183
You can hold both cards at the same time. You would not receive the sign up bonus for the Platinum card though unless you cancelled the gold and waited 6 months. You can upgrade your gold to platinum for 15,000 MR points but you must sign up through the special link.
#47
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Kent / Hertfordshire / London
Programs: BA Silver (clawing back to Gold!), Honours Gold, IHG Platinum, MLife Gold, Caesars Diamond
Posts: 137
Sounds reasonable, my strategy is similar, with a few tweaks
- Hold and keep the BAPP, fee is worth the companion voucher. All Amex spend not covered by the gold card goes on this.
- Hold the gold card for fuel, supermarket, travel, etc spend. Retain for 12 months, get the anniv bonus, cancel for 6 months and repeat. (104k MRs last cycle - lots of double dip with fuel at supermarkets, etc)
- Cycle other Amex cards (currently churning nectar - effectively £100 cashback) but see also SPG, etc in the 'off gold' season.
- Hold and keep the tesco clubcard mastercard - useful for double CC points on fuel as a CC, and any non amex spend.
- Hold and keep the IHG premium visa. Useful for plat status, IHG spend, and non amex spend.
The only grey area I have is which I derive most value from - either the IHG or Tesco cards - I should try and pin this down a little more. If I were eligible for the HSBC premium mastercard, then I would - sadly not currently.
- Hold and keep the BAPP, fee is worth the companion voucher. All Amex spend not covered by the gold card goes on this.
- Hold the gold card for fuel, supermarket, travel, etc spend. Retain for 12 months, get the anniv bonus, cancel for 6 months and repeat. (104k MRs last cycle - lots of double dip with fuel at supermarkets, etc)
- Cycle other Amex cards (currently churning nectar - effectively £100 cashback) but see also SPG, etc in the 'off gold' season.
- Hold and keep the tesco clubcard mastercard - useful for double CC points on fuel as a CC, and any non amex spend.
- Hold and keep the IHG premium visa. Useful for plat status, IHG spend, and non amex spend.
The only grey area I have is which I derive most value from - either the IHG or Tesco cards - I should try and pin this down a little more. If I were eligible for the HSBC premium mastercard, then I would - sadly not currently.
#48
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 223
Hi Pol what is the special link?
#49
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 183
You can find info and the link in this blog post here.
http://milesvirgin.com/?p=219
EDIT: This is a link to a post on my own blog about upgrading. I do not earn any commission or referral bonus for anyone using the contained link to upgrade.
http://milesvirgin.com/?p=219
EDIT: This is a link to a post on my own blog about upgrading. I do not earn any commission or referral bonus for anyone using the contained link to upgrade.
Last edited by pol; Apr 1, 2015 at 7:51 am
#50
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 447
Thanks for the headsup - I've been using HFP a lot in the last couple of months, thanks for it!
#51
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 447
#53
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 447
This is a big question for me, too. Will holding a free Green card stop my eligibility for the Gold first year bonus in 6-9 months?
#55
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Kent / Hertfordshire / London
Programs: BA Silver (clawing back to Gold!), Honours Gold, IHG Platinum, MLife Gold, Caesars Diamond
Posts: 137
Agree - this does change things somewhat. As Raffles @ HFP says, this is actually going to encourage more churn, not less as there's little point in keeping the card beyond the 2k spend for the bonus. I'll be putting more through the BAPP I think, and with a bigger 'off gold' season probably cycling SPG and Nectar a little more often.
#56
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 480
Just another data point - I have a AMEX PRG and called to get a AMEX Plat in addition to my PRG. The upgrade bonus was only 15k points after 3k spend, but I was told that I can not upgrade and apply for a new AMEX Plat versus upgrading, then get the current 40k points for 3k spend. I did that two months ago and get 40k after hitting the spend. In your case, you have a Plat already, but situation should be similar. If you try and apply when logged into the AMEX website, it sometimes only shows an upgrade option. CS at AMEX advised to log off and delete cookies, then I saw the 40k/3k application page.
#57
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Thatcham, UK or Adelaide Australia
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Plat OZ Diamond SK Diamond BA Blue
Posts: 3,323
Bad news
Bad news today. Annual fee of PRG UK Amex rising to £140 from 22 July 2015.
More annoying is that the double points for travel will only apply to airline spend from 22 July. I've made nearly all of mine from trains. I won't miss hotels and taxis, though. They never tracked properly.
The double points on foreign currency goes from excluding internet purchases to including all non-sterling spend, BUT there's still nothing like the no foreign exchange fees that the US cards get, so not sure now useful that benefit is compared with using a no-fee card.
More annoying is that the double points for travel will only apply to airline spend from 22 July. I've made nearly all of mine from trains. I won't miss hotels and taxis, though. They never tracked properly.
The double points on foreign currency goes from excluding internet purchases to including all non-sterling spend, BUT there's still nothing like the no foreign exchange fees that the US cards get, so not sure now useful that benefit is compared with using a no-fee card.
#58
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 447
Agree - this does change things somewhat. As Raffles @ HFP says, this is actually going to encourage more churn, not less as there's little point in keeping the card beyond the 2k spend for the bonus. I'll be putting more through the BAPP I think, and with a bigger 'off gold' season probably cycling SPG and Nectar a little more often.
#59
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend; Moderator: American Express, Capital One, Citi, Chase, Credit Card Programs, Diners Club, Signatures
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,878
There is no need to ever set foot in a Starwood hotel to benefit from using an SPG credit card because Starpoints are transferable to three dozen airline programs, most on the basis 1 Starpoint = 1 mile -or- 20,000 Starpoints = 25,000 miles.
#60
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 447