Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

Nessie23

hvaghela wrote: »

Am I missing something or is the only difference between the Rewards Clarity card and the Clarity card is the extra £5 (for me) for those who have a Halifax Rewards current account?

That appears to be the only difference.

Please note that to obtain the £5 reward on top of the £300 spend you will need a Halifax Ultimate Reward Account or pay at least £1000 into your Reward Account every month.

http://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/clarity-rewards.asp

Nessie

hvaghela

Thanks Nessie

I'm already rotating £1000 thru my Halifax Rewards current account (and getting £5 per month) thus the static balance in the account is minimal. A Rewards credit card seems best for me, but I would like to pay it off in full from a NON Halifax current account - - is that possible?

adindas

Dear hvaghela

Like any other Credit Card. You could pay directly or do direct debit from any a/c. There is no requirement that it must come from Halifax a/c.

I myselves pay DD my Halifax Clarity Card from my LLoyds TSB Vantage a/c because I have very few £ in my Halifax Rewards.

Hope this will clear your doubt

ADINDAS

hvaghela wrote: »

Thanks Nessie

I'm already rotating £1000 thru my Halifax Rewards current account (and getting £5 per month) thus the static balance in the account is minimal. A Rewards credit card seems best for me, but I would like to pay it off in full from a NON Halifax current account - - is that possible?

Nessie23

hvaghela wrote: »

Thanks Nessie

I'm already rotating £1000 thru my Halifax Rewards current account (and getting £5 per month) thus the static balance in the account is minimal. A Rewards credit card seems best for me, but I would like to pay it off in full from a NON Halifax current account - - is that possible?

Hi hvaghela,

I would second adindas' comment, you should be able to pay the balance from a non-Halifax account. A word of caution - Halifax generally don't like you having more than 1 credit card with them, so if you have any cards with Halifax it is worth closing them prior to applying.

london_6

HUNTING DOWN CUBAN PESOS

I am travelling to Cuba at the end of the month and cannot find many places where i can get them. could anyone give me some suggestions!

Thanks

dzug1

In Cuba.

The import/export of pesos is illegal

hvaghela

Nessie23 wrote: »

Hi hvaghela,

I would second adindas' comment, you should be able to pay the balance from a non-Halifax account. A word of caution - Halifax generally don't like you having more than 1 credit card with them, so if you have any cards with Halifax it is worth closing them prior to applying.

Thank you to both Nessie and Adindas for your help.

Cornishsurfer

Hi Everyone,

I have read so much on this forum and generally on MSE that I am now completely confused! I travel almost exclusively to the EU. For major items abroad, eg car hire, I pay by the good old Post Office credit card, as per MSE's advice. However the bulk of my spending is in cash, obtained up to last week by the Nationwide flex account debit card! I am reluctant to change this general method of spending. It doesn't seem right to pay for a couple of beers with a credit card, and of course the more often you use it there more likely it is that it will get skimmed.

So what is the best way of getting cash abroad? All credit and debit cards now appear to be bad news as regards ATMs. I could take euros with me, but then there is the danger of getting robbed, and I understand that all credit and most debit cards will charge interest on my purchase of euros, even though it is in the UK and I pay my full credit card bill by Direct Debit each month! Does this make it more sense to go to the local Post Office with cash...or are their exchange rates just too bad??

I suppose I could use a pre-paid card, but these all seem to use their own exchange rates which I presume are not very advantageous. And will my credit card company charge me when I load the pre-paid card?

I really would appreciate any advice on this please, there are so many variables involved! And a thousand curses on the Nationwide!!!!

Snapelover

My parents recently got a Halifax Clarity Card and used it while on holiday in Spain at the beginning of September.

They withdrew £300 on the card and then their first monthly statement arrived. The balance owing was £301.30 and was due on 26th Oct but they actually paid it (the full amount) on the 12th Oct. They have just received their latest statement and they found that they had a balance owing of £1.31 - listed as new transactions and interest - which was strange as the haven't used their card since the holiday. My Dad contacted them and they told him it was interest to cover the money owing on their first statement from the date of the statement to the date the full balance was actually paid.

I thought that as long as they paid the full amount by the due date that they wouldn't incur any extra charges.

adindas

For purchasing goods, Yes. But not for Cash Withdrawal. When you withdraw the money using Credit Card (NOT debit Card) you, the bank actually lend yiou money and for this you need to pay the interest.

The same thing if you withdrawa cash in the UK using your credit card rather then Debot card

ADINDAS

Snapelover wrote: »

I thought that as long as they paid the full amount by the due date that they wouldn't incur any extra charges.