Virgin MBNA/Amex on the way out

[mitchja]

Looks like the announcement from Virgin Money is finally coming next week:

https://twitter.com/VirginMoney/status/ ... 9415303174

[buns]

That explains why MBNA sent a renewal card last week even though my current card expires in June

buns

That explains why MBNA sent a renewal card last week even though my current card expires in June

buns

Mine expire in May and having called them I found out they’ve not even been sent yet

That explains why MBNA sent a renewal card last week even though my current card expires in June

buns

I got mine three weeks ago and my current ones expire in September!!

[mitchja]

Here's hoping when it does switch over, Virgin Money offer the zero foreign transaction fees some of their credit cards already offer.

I still have a black VS AmEx card but I got myself a Travel Virgin Money credit card last year because of this. It's surprising what a difference it makes not paying foreign transaction fees!!

That explains why MBNA sent a renewal card last week even though my current card expires in June

buns

I got mine three weeks ago and my current ones expire in September!!

Me too

Got the ones they sent out Thursday in the post today

I use my MBNA (now part of Lloyds) for everything. I will be watching closely how they migrate customers or whether its a case of reapply with Virgin Money - also, if you have a Virgin Money 0% travel credit card can that be upgraded to the VS card. Lots of questions, fingers crossed V Money have the answers!! Biggest Q will be whether we will FINALLY see TPs added to the mix based on spend (fingers crossed)

If that happens I would be amazed.

I suspect we’ll be seeing fewer benefits if anything, not more, given Amex is now out of the picture.

And for anyone thinking of switching to the dark side, BA have just pulled virtually all First Class reward availability from 1 Jan 2019, which will hit people with 2-4-1 Amex vouchers, with rumours that this is the first phase of a major change to the Avios programme.

This is going to be a big year of change in the world of UK frequent flyer schemes, not necessarily for the better.

[mitchja]

I would imagine it'll be the same as when Virgin Money ran the VS card first time around. Simply 1 or 2 miles for every £1 spent for the white or black M/Card, doubled up on VS or V Hols purchases.

When it switched to MBNA, they automatically switched accounts, transferred any balance and matched the credit limit on the account.

I would guess the same will happen again as it sounds like newly issued MBNA cards are only getting short expiry dates.

I hope Virgin Money start to offer ApplePay/Android Pay/Google Pay at the same time as well. There's not even a Smartphone app for Virgin Money either. It's just an mobile-friendly website.

My VS card has always had a short date weirdly. I got it in July 2016 and it was only valid till April 18. Card was reissued in December with an end date of April 2020. I have some cards that have 5 years on them!

I've had a look at HfP and Virgin Money's websites and Twitter and no news yet!

[mitchja]

My current VS MBNA card that was re-issued last year came with a long expiry date (2020).

Noticed my VAA credit card companion flight voucher was added to my Flying Club account yesterday. No sign of my Premium Upgrade voucher yet though?

Looks like the news embargo has been lifted today as Virgin Money have started Tweeting to a few people this morning about how they are now the official VS card partner.

Mitchja the Y-PE upgrade vouchers are only awarded on the anniversary of your account opening whereas the Companion reward is awarded when you hit the spend threshold.

Yeah I noticed that too! I wonder if they are having some big event to launch it?

[mitchja]

Thanks ColOrd. I thought my anniversary was actually somewhere around this time of year, having just checked it's actually next month. Well, May is always the month I pay the annual fee anyway.