View Full Version : New Virgin Card
Aiminghigh
30-07-2006, 19:51
Ok, I am prepared to be laughed at here, but I must ask[msnembarrased]
Until recently, I have used my Virgin mastercard on every possible occasion, with the aim of amassing the maximum number of "miles"[msnsmile]. However, since Virgin have replaced it with an American Express card, this is obviously not as widely accepted due to higher merchant costs.
I presume, however, that due to its name, American Express is accepted all over the USA, as widely as Barclaycard and Visa are here (or do the apparently punitive retailer charges make it as just as unpopular there?)
Thanks
Carole
AmEx is accepted widely in the USA, as are MasterCard and Visa. However, using a UK credit card usually incurs around 2.75% commission on purchases made in a foreign currency (unless you have a Nationwide credit card which doesn't).
Aiminghigh
30-07-2006, 20:30
Thanks Blott
Out of interest, does a UK debit card incur the same charge?
Carole
With a UK debit card you may find that you have a transaction charge. It really depends on your bank so you'd be best to ask them about your specific card.
jackie greaves
31-07-2006, 02:31
The new Virgin card is proving to be a pain in the butt. I have tried using it in several shops only to be told they don't accept it.[msnmad]
Southsider
01-08-2006, 01:49
I have not received a new Virgin Card, I hope I wont loose my airmiles as that was the only reason I signed up for it and paid £80 to have double miles too.
jackie greaves
01-08-2006, 01:51
Tricia you should have received a letter from Virgin by now. They are stopping the air miles on the old cards soon, so if you want to carry on collecting your air miles you need to switch to the new card. Any miles you have already earnt will transfere to your new card.
vanessag
01-08-2006, 01:56
I went to a Virgin Vie (Virgin make-up party) the other evening, guess what?...they take all credit cards except my Virgin AMEX card!!!
LOL Vanessa that is terrible. I can't decide what to do. I know the big spends we do on our cards will not take AMEX so I am thinking we might have to go back to using Tesco and then use the points for deals with Virgin holidays[msnscared]
Southsider
01-08-2006, 03:27
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by vanessag
I went to a Virgin Vie (Virgin make-up party) the other evening, guess what?...they take all credit cards except my Virgin AMEX card!!!
[/quote]
LOL Vanessa!!!!!!!
well i've just become a victim of a rather nasty, sneaky little credit card sting from Virgin using my new black card[msnmad]
this is what has happened so be wary anyone thinking of using a 0% balance transfer with them
i'm the sort of person who uses my card for everyday purchases (to save up those miles) and then pay my balance off in full every month
i transfered a balance at the end of June and then paid my usual spending for that month off about a week later
now i just received my next statement only to find that i've been charged interest[msneek]
strange i thought "how can i be charged interest when i paid my bill in full for all my retail purchases" and the only balance left on there at the end of the month was the 0% transfer
now after a good 40 minutes onto them last night going round and round in cirles with the lady saying the interest is for retail purchases and with me insisting that all retail purchases had been paid for, and all that was left on the statement is a 0% transer, a manager comes onto the line and the words "PAYMENT ALLOCATION" are mentioned
basically they have taken my payment off the no interest item (the balance transfer) and then charged me interest on the retail purchases i have made for that month
i was totally unaware that they could do this and at no point during the balance transfer which i did online was i made aware of this rather "sharp and sneaky practice"[gun]
as you can imagine i'm hopping mad[msnmad][msnmad][msnmad]
so if your thinking of using their balance transfer BE WARNED
Mizzy
Sounds like a card to be avoided from all of this. Mizzy - thought about asking the credit regulators if this is allowed?
Joyce
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by mizzy
basically they have taken my payment off the no interest item (the balance transfer) and then charged me interest on the retail purchases i have made for that month
[/quote]
I'll think you'll find that all UK credit card companies do the same thing. It would not be in THEIR interest to pay of your retail purchases first.
jillizzy
01-08-2006, 17:27
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by wilfy
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by mizzy
basically they have taken my payment off the no interest item (the balance transfer) and then charged me interest on the retail purchases i have made for that month
[/quote]
I'll think you'll find that all UK credit card companies do the same thing. It would not be in THEIR interest to pay of your retail purchases first.
[/quote]
This is true and legally needs to be stated in the small print. However, there is one BS who don't do this and advertise the fact on their very silly adverts (you know the one - 'brand new customers only').
Jill
yes i know which one you're talking about Jill, i've just got a credit card from them because they don't charge you for foreign transactions etc
i'm going to wait until i get my 10,000 bonus miles from virgin for switching to this new amex card and then when it gets close to paying the next years fee, close the card[msnmad]
Mizzy
jackie greaves
01-08-2006, 20:39
Mizzy total agree with you. Once we have our bonus miles the card will be getting the chop. Its useless[msnmad]
vanessag
02-08-2006, 19:50
I really cant understand why Virgin have changed from Mastercard to AMEX, not happy at all with it.
I have rencently transferred my visa to a building society NBS and their rate is 0% for 9 months on purchases and 4.9% on balance transfers for 12 months. May be well worth looking into, if your not to worried about the Air Miles.
jackie greaves
02-08-2006, 20:34
Thanks for that Janice, but it's the air miles that I want. Also if you spend over £10,000 in a twelve month period you get a free compainion flight. This was really good with the old card, but I will be strugling to spend it on the new card as no one accepts it:D
jillizzy
02-08-2006, 21:49
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by jackie greaves
Thanks for that Janice, but it's the air miles that I want. Also if you spend over £10,000 in a twelve month period you get a free compainion flight. This was really good with the old card, but I will be strugling to spend it on the new card as no one accepts it:D
[/quote]
Jackie I'm not defending the card as I much preferred MC over Amex but when you say no one accepts it, who exactly do you mean?
So far I've been OK with Tesco, Sainsburys, Waitrose and any on line bills and purchases I've made. I know John Lewis don't take it and that's my biggest gripe but are there other large retailers you're having problems with?
I don't want any big surprises.
Jill
jackie greaves
02-08-2006, 23:17
Jill,
I have found alot of the smaller shops in our local town don't take it, as well as Wilkinson. Martins golf club won't accept it and also I tried to buy some items online on a golf site and they wouldn't accept it. The village pub wouldn't let me pay for my meal with it and I've only had it two weeks!!
I will keep trying though[msnwink]
well i'm giving mine the chop next feb which is just before that annual fee will be due[msnwink]
i might, just might consider transfering to the white no fee card, depending on how generous i'm feeling at the time
Mizzy
I've had a lot of emails about this card, glad I didn't respond.
ALR
I did think about getting the black card as I pay off the bill every month on our BMI Mastercard. This seems to be ok as Mastercard is accepted everywhere. Only drama is I really need to use the miles to go to Florida, but they only fly via Chicago etc. I find it hard to think why such a popular route (orlando) has not been snapped up by BMI.
You can use the BMI miles to also book Virgin and Star Alliance airline tickets.
jackie greaves
03-08-2006, 23:27
Managed to book some BA flights with it today[msnwink]
jackie greaves
04-08-2006, 18:48
I can now add another two stores to the list that won't accept the new card. Budgens foodstore in our town and Countrywide stores where I buy my horse feed.
Getting very annoyed[msnmad]
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by jillizzy
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by jackie greaves
Thanks for that Janice, but it's the air miles that I want. Also if you spend over £10,000 in a twelve month period you get a free compainion flight. This was really good with the old card, but I will be strugling to spend it on the new card as no one accepts it:D
[/quote]
Jackie I'm not defending the card as I much preferred MC over Amex but when you say no one accepts it, who exactly do you mean?
So far I've been OK with Tesco, Sainsburys, Waitrose and any on line bills and purchases I've made. I know John Lewis don't take it and that's my biggest gripe but are there other large retailers you're having problems with?
I don't want any big surprises.
Jill
[/quote]
Only had it a short while but got my 10000 miles for changing over. Found more places that I use that take than who will not take it but the fact that I get 4 miles per pound for the first year (6 miles in buy a Virgin flight or holiday) and that I only have to spend 7500 pounds to get a companion fare is well worth the 115 pounds annual fee in my opinion.
Can anyone tell me if the Virgin Amex card will help with establishing a credit rating in the states in the way that the Amex platinum cards does. I have an ordinary Amex card at the moment and would change over to Virgin for the air miles but only if it help with my credit rating.
Any ideas?
jackie greaves
16-08-2006, 18:59
Kimi, I wouldn't have thought it will help with your credit rating in the states. When we applied for our second US mortgage, the fact that we already had a US mortgage and had made regular payments for over two years, didn't even help our credit rating.
Does anyone know if they do a dollar version of this new card. It seems to me that a lot more places in the US will take it than where I live.
jackie greaves
17-08-2006, 00:51
Liesel you can use in in the US no problems, not sure if you can actual get a Virgin credit card in America, I wouldn't have thought so as its an English company.
Thanks Jackie
I was actually wondering if they did one denominated in US dollars instead of sterling. I think we are going to use our mastercard for as long as possible as even with the 10,000 bonus miles for changing we won't earn anywhere near as many miles with the AMex, because we can't use it anywhere[V]
Liesel
jackie greaves
17-08-2006, 02:15
Liesel,
we have the new Amex card but are still using the old mastercard as well.
Oooh! That's good to know - I will get on the phone tomorrow!:)
Liesel
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by jackie greaves
Liesel,
we have the new Amex card but are still using the old mastercard as well.
[/quote]
That won't last for long unfortunately.
Don't forget you get double miles for the first year and only have to spend half of what you had to on the old card to get a FREE companion fare. Most of the major supermarkets take it and everywhere I have used it in Florida takes it.
I threw out the letter I got from Virgin about this card but an now considering opening a black card account, I have always collected airmiles but to be honest it is so limiting when you can use them. Also the airmiles are via Natwest credit card and it annoys me that you cannot pay your bill online. They are also very quick to charge a late payment which of course they would have less chance to do if you could pay online!
With the companion reward it states that it has to be a full qualifying flight. Does this not mean that it may be you end up paying full whack for the 1st flight to get the free one when you might be able to do better with special offers?
Also for those who have already got the cards which is the best way to do it? white/black card, pre payment or not?
Joyce
Yes, which is why I have not managed to use a companian flight yet:(
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by joyce roberts
With the companion reward it states that it has to be a full qualifying flight. Does this not mean that it may be you end up paying full whack for the 1st flight to get the free one when you might be able to do better with special offers?
[/quote]
Ruth - if the airlmiles are allocated only to the card holder can this person book flights for other people using their airmiles?
Joyce
Yes, both Wayne and I have a card and I use my points to get tickets for the whole family. I am not sure if the person has to be one of those travelling though?
jackie greaves
18-08-2006, 01:16
We got a good deal with Virgin flying to Antigua next Easter using our free companion seat and we also used some of our miles to get cheaper seats for other family members. The miles are definetly worth having Joyce, you just need to get in as soon as the flights are released to get the best prices.
freddiehollie
17-09-2006, 15:41
Just booked car park at Manchester Airport for holiday at Christmas. Tried to use Virgin Amex card and guess what? They don't take it. :(:( What's all that about? Virgin Atlantic must be one of their biggest customers. Why change to a card that airports don't take when your an airline company??:(
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Ruth
Yes, which is why I have not managed to use a companian flight yet:(
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by joyce roberts
With the companion reward it states that it has to be a full qualifying flight. Does this not mean that it may be you end up paying full whack for the 1st flight to get the free one when you might be able to do better with special offers?
[/quote]
[/quote]
Ruth, what are doing wrong[msnwink]
I used 30000 airmiles 2 years in a row (for flights in July/Aug) without any problems.
With regards to the full fare, yes that's what we have done. Paid £1240 for a seat in PE and then £123 taxes (and 30000 airmiles) for the second one.
I have amassed over 100000 airmiles since getting my Virgin CC last September and have also been credited a FREE companion fare because I spent the qualifying amount on my card.