I already have the IHG Premium Credit Card for collecting max points; I deem the annual fee to be worth paying, as it gets me a free night anyway, plus gives enhanced points on spending. But they just offered me the standard IHG credit card, with no annual fee, and the offer of 10,000 points for spending £200 in the first few months. So that's what I will be doing. And then maybe even taknig advantage of their tempting balance transfer after the spend to get the points. Anyone else had a similar offer ?
Hi John, I've also wondered whether you can have both cards - I have the Premium already. I usually apply for about 4 cards per year and would normally want more than 10k IHG Points as one of those sign up bonuses (given amex churning etc), but with the way the UK rewards credit card market has gone over the least year or 2, can potentially see myself doing something similar before too long.
Not that I've seen. To be honest, even if there was I wouldn't trust Creation to be able to manage the process properly without creating a huge headache for all involved.
that's a shame - with the current ANA status match opportunity, I'm guessing they're going to see a sudden uptick in applications
Hello John I got offered this deal also by email, it was a while back and I have a few Credit Cards on the go so havent taken it yet sounds a good card to get, Stevie
Has anybody tried churning the standard Creation IHG card? I'm wondering whether it's possible to get the 10,000 point sign-up bonus again after having cancelled it around six months ago. With a spend threshold of £200 to trigger the bonus I'd like to rinse and repeat twice a year, but it would be good to know whether anybody has tried this already?
I'm afraid I haven't heard anything about this yet - if you decide to be the guinea pig,let us know how it goes!
I would be very interested to hear what other cards you think are valuable enough to add to the wallet as I feel the UK card market is very limited. I just opened the premium IHG credit card two months ago and have already earned a free travel night simply by paying my taxes to HMRC. I also have the Gold Amex Charge Card that I will swith to the credit card when the annual fee shows up on my statement. Thanks for your input.
Hi Nico - welcome to InsideFlyer! I currently have Amex Gold Credit, Amex Plat Charge (I was told by Amex I could get the sign up bonus despite already having the Gold, because it's a charge card rather than a credit and therefore technically a different product family, but I'm still waiting to find out if the info was actually accurate), BA Amex, SPG Amex, Hilton Barclaycard (not open to new applicants), IHG Premium Mastercard. If you have the Gold Charge card at the moment, I'd be tempted to upgrade to Platinum for the 20k upgrade points and elite status with hotel chains etc, then cancel it for a pro rata refund, then get the gold again 6 months later. Perhaps get the SPG card or BA Premium Plus in the middle of that 6 month gap.
Hi Joe. Thanks for the welcome and for all the insightful input throughout the forums. There is a lot to take in but all extremely interesting. Also, thanks for sharing your cards which I will need to look into further. In regards to the Gold Card upgrade to Plat. That might be the way to go if I can't get any bonus points for switching from the Gold Charge card to the Gold Credit card.
My pleasure! Remember that the crucial thing with the Plat is that although there is the £450 annual fee, if you cancel before the end of the year you get a pro rata refund. I normally keep mine for a few months (when I've got a heavy travel schedule the Priority Pass lounge access is nice), so get a refund of ~£300, but plenty of Points/Miles collectors, just hit the minimum spend for the upgrade bonus straight away, transfer the Points out to their chosen programme, then cancel the card - all in the first month, which means no fee at all (or a refund of 11 month's worth depending on how quick they are).
Seems like a good plan. If I cancel the Platinum card will the Priority pass still work for the remainder of the year or is it cancelled at the same time?
Cancelled at the same time (well, officially anyway - there are occasional reports of people benefiting from glitches, but I have no first-hand experience of that). The hotel status lasts for ages though - just as if you'd earned it 'properly'. Hilton Gold, for example, would be all the rest of this year, all of 2019 and until 31st March 2020 - and it's actually pretty useful:free breakfast, bonus points, upgrades, late checkout etc.
