stifle

Payments to investment platforms are considered "cash-like transactions" by Barclaycard according to their website.

Frequentflyer99

But not by the card's T&C. I discussed that with Curve, who questioned whether the payments breached the Barclaycard T&C, and they accepted that they did not after I sent them a copy of the T&C. And, indeed, Barclaycard themselves have never questioned the payments.

stifle

I didn't say the payments breached the Barclaycard T&C, I said they were classed as cash-like translations. The Barclaycard T&C don't in any case define cash-like payments, they just say they "include" various things such as wire transfers, which clearly leaves it a possibility that there are other transactions that come under that description. The implications of making cash-like transactions may (or may not) include being charged interest immediately, having to pay a % fee, being charged a higher interest rate, having such transactions be subject to a lower credit limit, having Curve not want to process the transactions, and so on and so forth.

At the end of the day what you are trying to do is called "manufactured spend": putting transactions through a credit card that were never meant to be funded that way, so that you can claim rewards. Card providers obviously try to close this down because someone has to fund the rewards, which is easier to do out of profit margin on a normal retail transaction than on an investment platform.

Frequentflyer99

Although one could have an interesting debate about the point in yor post, my earlier post was only aimed at finding out whether other FT'ers have noticed a similar change.

let_BAegones_be

Has anyone had any success in reapplying for any of these cards, after closing the account ?

Crubber

I've been credited the 100k Avios. What is everyone doing with their accounts?

I'm thinking of keeping the credit card so that I can use it where Amex is not accepted. But what about the Premier plus bank account? Is there any advantage in keeping it open?

stifle

If you meet the Premier criteria (salary/investment) then you're essentially buying 1500 Avios for £7 a month (£12 monthly fee less £5 for having the credit card) which even if you just dump into Nectar is worth £10.

If you're in your free year of Premier and face the £20 a month fee for not paying in a salary of £6,250 (gross) a month, you may want to review your options.

Crubber

What is this???
On the credit card, I get charged £20 a month.
On the bank account, I currently pay the £12 Avios fee and get £5 back as a dual reward. I've had approx £30k paid into the account in the 5 months I've had it open but it has not always been over £6250 each month as my monthly pay varies.

crisdean

yeah bank account is £12/month for the Avios and £20/month for the card. since they run a credit check before opening account all should be well.

if you lose the income level then I think you won’t have the benefit.

stifle

It's exactly what it says on the tin.

Premier banking costs £20 a month (the bank account), Avios fee is £12. The plus credit card costs £20 a month.

There are then two credits. If you have Avios bank account and credit card you get £5 back. The £20 a month for Premier Banking is waived for the first year. After this, if you hold £100,000 in Barclays savings and investments, or you pay in at least £3,400 a month (that is £6,250 less income tax and a bit more), the £20/month Premier banking fee will continue to be waived. If you don't, you'll be charged a further £20/month for the Premier banking, and it will eventually be downgraded to a normal bank account.

You'll still pay £20 a month for the credit card and £12-5=£7 for the Avios.

Crubber

Thank you, totally forgot about this.

I will keep the bank account open until month 11 and then close it.

AviosTreasureHunter

The Barclaycard Avios Plus welcome bonus if doubled to 50,000 for those who apply before 31st May and are approved.
3K spend in first 90 days needed.
Say you keep the card for 3 months, thats £60 in fees but you get 54,500 Avios out of it. Not a bad return.
Nice follow on from the 70,000 bonus AMEX offered a couple months back.
If BA move to spend based Avios like Iberia, then I think card incentives will become more popular as ways to gain miles.

crisdean

Was on the phone to Barclays for an issue, and something else I was advised of is that they have issues posting Avios. They’re currently investigating. Apologies if this has been posted already. So there can be a delay. Funnily enough I got the 1500 Avios on time. Seems Barclayscard related.

botham

I have one of these upgrade vouchers, which I understand is good for one person return or two one-way tickets. What is the best use of this voucher?

flarmip

"Best" is always subjective.

But the voucher has essentially no value for a European short haul trip, since you are forced to pay the highest Avios/lowest £ rate, which is very poor value. It ends up working out costing you roughly the same to book in Y (with the voucher upgrading you to Y) as it does in J without a voucher.

The value is therefore to be had on long haul trips, where the same highest Avios/lowest £ rule applies, but it's not as bad value; it just requires you to have more Avios in your account.

In theory you'd extract the maximum value of 130k Avios from a SYD J redemption, although you pretty much have to book the second the seats get released at midnight GMT 355 days out to have a chance of getting them. But you can still save many tens of thousands of Avios through redemptions on other routes that are easier to get hold of.