Virgin Credit Card

[Miffy2003]

Hi guys,

Anyone got one of these?

Looking for any feedback, good and bad.

I don't mind about the interest rate as I always pay the balance off in full every month but what I am interested in is earning points which may give me money off flights.

Can you do this and is it worth it? Some loyalty schemes give you money off but charge you more in the first place for the product, so you don't really end up saving any money

Thanks for any opinions or help

Karen

 

[Netty]

Hi Karen,
I am also thinking of applying for one of these, i probably will go for the double flying club miles one. But i haven't decided yet! here is some info

http://uk.virginmoney.com/vaa-credit-card/

 

[Frances999]

Hi Karen

DH and I have a Virgin CC which was use just for paying for petrol. It is surprising how many flying club miles you can accumulate.

There are two different cards - one gives you 1 mile for every £1 you spend, plus an introductory 2000 mile introductory bonus. The other gives 2 miles for every £1 you spend, plus a 4000 mile bonus instead of 2000. The second card has an £80 annual fee, making the interest rate higher, but if you pay off your balance then it should not be a problem. We have the second option and we have accumulated a lot of miles since we have had it. There is a "members shop" as well with other Virgin group products that you can "spend" the miles on, although we have never done this and tend to save all the miles for flights!

 

[carolfoy]

I have the type with no annual fee, it definately is surprising how quickly the points add up but of course do be aware it takes more points than you think to get a free flight.

 

[Pootle]

I'm very interested in this one too but have delayed getting one for a while now because we build up miles with BA Amex to get a free companion flight with every £20,000 spent.

I see that with the Virgin card the free companion ticket comes with every £15,000 spent - so far so good.

But - and maybe Frances can answer this one - let's say you join in May and by the following May you have spent 'only' £14,000. By July, say, you have made the £15,000 - but you are now in your second year of owning the card. Is it like BA (now) where your miles would only begin to count for another 'free' flight after your joining anniversary, in May in the third year?

I realise you would still be acquiring miles each time you spend, but it is the 'free' companion ticket I really want details of.

I hope I've expressed this clearly, but I have my doubts

 

[Tron[ADS]]

Its not as good as it used to be as they now charge a commission on balance transfers.....but if thats not going to apply to you, then dont use that as a criteria.

Consider also a Co-op Travelcare Visa if its loyalty points/discounts on holidays / disney passes etc you are after. Details are on the co-op website.

 

[carolfoy]

I thought the virgin c/c was 0% interest on balance transfers for the first 9 months??? that was the deal when I got mine back in august.

 

[Tink78]

I've got one, but they do charge you to transfer your balance and unfortunately you only earn miles on new purchases, not balance transfers.

 

[carolfoy]

I earned miles for the 4K balance transfer I first put on it, this may have been a promotional offer though.

 

[Frances999]

But - and maybe Frances can answer this one - let's say you join in May and by the following May you have spent 'only' £14,000. By July, say, you have made the £15,000 - but you are now in your second year of owning the card. Is it like BA (now) where your miles would only begin to count for another 'free' flight after your joining anniversary, in May in the third year?

That is correct. The £15,000 must be on card purchases (it does not include balance transfers) and must be spent within one year of the joining anniversary. It cannot "roll over" to the following year.

 

[Frances999]

I thought the virgin c/c was 0% interest on balance transfers for the first 9 months??? that was the deal when I got mine back in august.

The Flying Club Card only gives 0% interest on balance transfers (for 9 months) but it does charge a handling fee. I'm not sure how much this is as we didn't transfer a balance to the card. The balance transfer amount does not benefit from FC miles.

 

[Pootle]

That is correct. The £15,000 must be on card purchases (it does not include balance transfers) and must be spent within one year of the joining anniversary. It cannot "roll over" to the following year.

Thanks for that Frances. I now know I was right to hold off getting a Virgin cc until we can give it most of our spending. Because of DH's job, we are hefty cc users (which we get back as expenses), so once the next BA companion ticket has been 'earned', we will probably go with Virgin.

 

[Miffy2003]

Wow, great responses thank you!

Luckily I don't have a balance to transfer. I am not sure I would EVER get a companion flight though as pretty unlikely I would spend as much as £15k on my CC in one year. Never mind!

The airmiles are appealing to me as I have only recently discovered how good the miles plus money deals are - I assume these are the "same" airmiles you earn from flying with Virgin normally thorugh the Flying Club?

Frances, I remember you saying once you were able to earn "miles" flights for your whole family each flight rather than individually - is that linked to the Credit Card at all or was a completely separate issue?

Tron, I will look in to that, thank you! We only ever buy flights though and usually Annual Passes direct from Disney so it may not fit us. Thank you very much though

 

[Frances999]

I assume these are the "same" airmiles you earn from flying with Virgin normally thorugh the Flying Club?

Frances, I remember you saying once you were able to earn "miles" flights for your whole family each flight rather than individually - is that linked to the Credit Card at all or was a completely separate issue?

Yes, they are exactly the same as miles you earn from flights. The only thing is that you cannot gain tier points from the credit card.

The family account which allows children to also gain miles and have them all added to same account is only available for flying club gold members - it isn't linked to the credit card.

Hope that helps!

 

[Miffy2003]

Thanks Frances, I thought it was probably wishful thinking on my part !

 

[Hilary]

We have NatWest and Tesco ccs which earns us Airmiles (fairly slowly!).

I have just booked Virgin flights using Airmiles because I got a better deal than using Virgin miles on the dates I wanted. I'm not saying this is always the case, but I do like the flexibilty of being able to use Airmiles on more than one airline (I was also offered miles / miles plus money / money prices for a few other airlines).

 

[Tron[ADS]]

Wow, great responses thank you!
Tron, I will look in to that, thank you! We only ever buy flights though and usually Annual Passes direct from Disney so it may not fit us. Thank you very much though

The travelcare points can be spent at any Co-op travelcare branch or online. You could use it for car hire, your other tickets (Flexticket etc), diner show tickets, holiday insurance, or just plain old flights. Travelcare's prices are reasonably competative.

I find the Co-op staff to be very pleasant, and this card does not charge a commission for Balance Transfers.

Unfortunately, travelcare points are no longer (since 5th December) awarded for Balance Transfers, and consequently my 5 other credit cards that i was bouncing money between are now being shut down as they are no longer required...it was good while it lasted mind.

 

[carolfoy]

The Flying Club Card only gives 0% interest on balance transfers (for 9 months) but it does charge a handling fee. I'm not sure how much this is as we didn't transfer a balance to the card. The balance transfer amount does not benefit from FC miles.

Mine certainly did - I checked on it immediately as was happy to see a further 4000 miles added, I don't pay a handling fee or an annual charge either! maybe as I said it was a promotion, the interest charge for non-balance transfers is 15%

 

[Frances999]

Mine certainly did - I checked on it immediately as was happy to see a further 4000 miles added, I don't pay a handling fee or an annual charge either! maybe as I said it was a promotion, the interest charge for non-balance transfers is 15%

Like I said, I do not have first-hand experience of this as we did not transfer a balance. The paperwork I have states that no miles are awarded for balance transfers and there is a handling fee. Like you say - it must have been a promotion, or you just got lucky!

Regarding you not paying an annual fee, this must be because you chose the "option 1" card which gives 1 mile per every £1. The "option 2" card (which definitely charges an £80 annual fee) gives 2 miles for every £1.

 

[Tron[ADS]]

Mine certainly did - I checked on it immediately as was happy to see a further 4000 miles added, I don't pay a handling fee or an annual charge either! maybe as I said it was a promotion, the interest charge for non-balance transfers is 15%

Virgin introduced a 2.5 (i think) per cent handling charge for balance transfers for new accounts opened from around October last year. Existing cardholders were ok though.