New UK credit cards issue by Virgin Money

TBH, I've never really seen the point of those lounges anyway (not that there's any near where I live), in fact, I don't really see much need for any local high street bank branches these days

There’s no point to them as such, and they’re not just bank branches. They’re a comfortable place to get out of the rain, kill half an hour, have a quick meeting or just chill with a coffee. You will never be sold anything or be expected to make a transaction (I don’t even know if you can).

Presumably the aim is to increase brand loyalty and make people believe VM isn’t just another faceless bank that doesn’t care about its customers.

Judging how busy they get, it’s working.

Clair,

On my MBNA page it keeps flashing up your cards are changing on the 7th July. Presume thats the same for everybody have a look on your account and see what it says, you can't miss it.

Thanks Linda - my account does indeed now flash up a red message, just says it’s changing and to refer to letter! I guess I’ll do just that

I fear the rose-tinted glasses views of the BA 241 deal may be glossing over the relative impossibility to use them on the dates/route you want, in any decent premium cabin.

(And by "decent premium cabin, I'm referring to BA's business class - or as they market it, "First"...)

My experience has been similar to that of redeeming VS miles, have always been able to use them when wanted, using a bit of flexibility and patience.

I just got the new Reward+ card, I held off for a while but as the end of the MBNA one is imminent I figured I'd better get a move on. The sign up bonus will be a nice boost to the account anyway.

I applied for, on behalf of my hubby, and he got the Rewards+ card a couple of months ago. All went nice and smoothly as expected, and he got his bonus etc.

In the last few days I have also applied since the MBNA card, which I hold and he doesn't, is coming to an end and I don't think I'll take the new MBNA card. I did the eligibility checker first and was told I'm guaranteed to be accepted then clicked through to apply. At the end of the application I got a message saying they couldn't give me an answer and would have to review and would contact me in due course. Yesterday I got an email asking me to call, so I did, and they had a 'concern' since the mobile number I'd given matched that of another person, whom I confirmed to be my husband - and confirmed that the address and other telephone number were identical too. It seems they thought it might be a fraudulent application and whilst it wans cleared up in just a couple of minutes it seems it hadn't occurred to anyone that more than one person at the same address might apply for a card and therefore share contact details (of course the different surname probably did it too). Anyway, I'm still waiting to hear if I've been accepted. Ho hum...

Sounds like very sensible security precautions on VM’s part to me.

Mobile numbers are generally assumed to be unique to one person, not shared, so I say credit to VM for being suspicious and checking.

Card arrived yesterday and instantly paid off the 5 grand I owe on a trip to Thailand next year. Works fine!

I just logged into my MBNA account and I am not getting a popup about any form of bonus. Is it a generic link that someone can provide if possible please?

All VS MBNA cardholders are, supposedly, being emailed in the next week (if they haven’t been already) with the bonus offer.

You earn the bonus for spending on the new Virgin Money cards so if you haven’t yet applied for one you can do so at virginatlantic.com/special

However you might want to wait until you get the email as some people seem to be getting sent a better offer than the ones advertised there.

I bit the bullet and applied for the normal Reward card last night along with a balance transfer from my MBNA-issued cards, got accepted first time round with a more generous credit limit than what I have at present.

I will close my MBNA cards down in due course once the new card has been received and the balance transfer has gone through. Can anybody who has already applied and received their VM-issued cards shed any light how long this takes?

I won't keep the Horizon card as one major benefit of that (0% foreign transaction fee) I already enjoy with my Nationwide Select Credit Card.

TBH, I've never really seen the point of those lounges anyway (not that there's any near where I live), in fact, I don't really see much need for any local high street bank branches these days

There’s no point to them as such, and they’re not just bank branches. They’re a comfortable place to get out of the rain, kill half an hour, have a quick meeting or just chill with a coffee. You will never be sold anything or be expected to make a transaction (I don’t even know if you can).

Presumably the aim is to increase brand loyalty and make people believe VM isn’t just another faceless bank that doesn’t care about its customers.

Judging how busy they get, it’s working.

It wouldn't surprise me if we see more of them once the CYBG takeover of VM is complete, as it's been reported they are intending to ditch the Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank brands from the high street branches and they are paying SRB royalties to use the Virgin brand under licence. It will also greatly increase their presence in towns/cities where VM do not already have a branch, particularly in northern England and Scotland (though Yorkshire Bank have closed branches in smaller towns recently).

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... -bank-cybg

[mitchja]

I bit the bullet and applied for the normal Reward card last night along with a balance transfer from my MBNA-issued cards, got accepted first time round with a more generous credit limit than what I have at present.

I will close my MBNA cards down in due course once the new card has been received and the balance transfer has gone through. Can anybody who has already applied and received their VM-issued cards shed any light how long this takes?

I won't keep the Horizon card as one major benefit of that (0% foreign transaction fee) I already enjoy with my Nationwide Select Credit Card.

It's anywhere between 7 -14 days between applying and receiving the card.

The balance transfer should be complete before you receive the card in the post (you will receive a faster payment received email message though from MBNA once Virgin Money process the balance transfer). That's what happened with mine anyway.

I won't keep the Horizon card as one major benefit of that (0% foreign transaction fee) I already enjoy with my Nationwide Select Credit Card.

I think you get 0.5% cashback on foreign purchases too. I have the 0% foreign fee Post Office credit card which I only use when travelling but I might just ditch that for the MBNA card.

My card took 14 days to arrive and I recently applied for an additional card and that took 11 days to arrive.

Just a quick question regarding the Horizon card. I've already got the new (free) Virgin Money card, all good there. I'm also still using my existing Virgin Black Amex/Visa. Am I supposed to have been offered the new Horizon card or have they worked on the basis that, as I have the new Virgin Money one, I don't want the Horizon? I'm keen on the latter due to the free non-Sterling fees. Thanks

James

[mitchja]

If you leave your MBNA account open, the existing card will get automatically replaced so I don't think it matters if they have emailed you or not about the new Horizon card as that's what everyone is getting anyway.

Thank James, hopefully then I should be receiving the new card shortly - given that the current one closes in a few days.

As anyone yet received their Horizon card? If our current Amex/Visa cards cease this coming Friday I’d have thought we should have been sent the replacement Horizon?

It's anywhere between 7 -14 days between applying and receiving the card.

The balance transfer should be complete before you receive the card in the post (you will receive a faster payment received email message though from MBNA once Virgin Money process the balance transfer). That's what happened with mine anyway.

Thanks James. I've since received an e-mail to say the payment has been received for the balance transfer and it appears to have been processed.

As anyone yet received their Horizon card? If our current Amex/Visa cards cease this coming Friday I’d have thought we should have been sent the replacement Horizon?

I've not received anything so far, but I am intending to close my MBNA account down so I may or may not get a Horizon card.

As anyone yet received their Horizon card? If our current Amex/Visa cards cease this coming Friday I’d have thought we should have been sent the replacement Horizon?

I wondered this and I've just reread the letter they sent out. Miles earning ceases on the 6th but the cards will still work until 11th Oct. Horizon cards with arrive 'from July'.

Boingo works perfectly on-board VS flights When you get to the screen offering the choices for buying WiFi access just choose the Roaming Partner option and then Boingo is available in the list and you just login with your Boingo details. Also no 150mb limit like the paid option so you can happily use it however much you want.

That's great news. Thanks for the info. I was hoping this would be the case

Just discovered that the Boingo access isn’t all flights. I’m on VS9 right now, which is GoGo, who don’t have a roaming agreement with Boingo.

[mitchja]

The on-board Boingo option is only available on the B789's which use the T-Mobile hotspot system rather than GoGo which is used on everything else.

I have the new VA card but have seen no info on how to sign up for Boingo

anyone got any pointers?

Thanks

[mitchja]

To get the Boingo access with the Rewards+ version of the card, you need to confirm your eligibility by entering your 16 digit card number here

It's nice to see that Virgin Money are finally releasing an app. I received an email a couple of weeks ago inviting me to roadtest the new app using Apple's TestFlight beta testing system. The app itself is quite easy to use with a smart, simple layout and I can log in using my iPhone's Touch ID fingerprint scanner. It also lets you see the number of FC miles awarded from your last statement. The only thing it seems to lack is seeing statements themselves. Instead it just shows the list of card transactions going back 4 months. There's also the ability to make payments and balance transfers as well as a list of Virgin Money lounges

[mitchja]

I’ve also been testing the Virgin Money app here too.

Whilst it’s basic, it is at least functional and has FaceID to log in so no more counting on fingers to remember your password characters

We still need ApplePay though