Santander Zero vs Halifax Clarity

daz9643

Can anyone tell me why Martins latest e-mail has the new Halifax Clarity Card as the best for using overseas. Martin goes on to say that if you already have the Santander zero card its almost as good. So what are the differences between the 2 cards and does anyone know if both cards use the exchange rate set by Visa/Mastercard or if they set their own rate as Tesco Bank do.

System

Hi, there is not a lot to choose between the two cards, however if you are a halifax current account customer then you can get £5 cashback if you spend over £300 on the credit card in a month. Also the APR is lower - 12.9% for the Halifax card for on ALL transactions and 18.9% on purchases for Santander's (27.9% for cash withdrawals).

Hope that helps.

cabbageprince

daz9643 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me why Martins latest e-mail has the new Halifax Clarity Card as the best for using overseas. Martin goes on to say that if you already have the Santander zero card its almost as good. So what are the differences between the 2 cards and does anyone know if both cards use the exchange rate set by Visa/Mastercard or if they set their own rate as Tesco Bank do.

I've read somewhere that they use the exchange rates from xe.com but like you I cant find anything official from the card issuer.

Not sure why Visa can show their rates but mastercard cant....

scottishblondie

Santander is no good if you plan on visiting more than 3 countries or going away for more than 3 months, as you can only authorise it for the that many/that long. My parents only discovered this when they rang up to tell Santander they were going away for almost 5 months and visiting 5 countries.

I suppose this wouldn't be a problem for most people, and I don't know the terms on the Halifax card (tho I plan to apply for one so I'll find out!), but it is something to bear in mind. Plus it's with Santander, who aren't great IMO.

jonthedog

A bit late, I know, but as touched on above, the main difference in the interest rate for cash withdrawals. As there is no way of avoiding this, effectively this means that for every £100 you take out abroad on Halifax clarity it will cost you £1, whereas the same amount will effective cost you a little over to £2 in interest on the Santander 'Zero' (this is of course assuming you pay off the full amount every month). For the sake of completeness, the rough calculation is to take the APR and divide by 12 to get the approximate percentage you will be forced to pay on cash withdrawals each month, so 12.9/12 for Halifax and 27.9/12 for Santander. Technically you have to take a little off as the APR accounts for compound interest, but in practice this is negligible, just round down.

There is no 'loading' of the exchange rates, so the rate you get with both is to all intents and purposes the rate you will see on the day on xe.com, not 'tourist rates'.

System

MasterCard do disclose their exchange rates - they just hide them better

One thing to remember - whilst Halifax Clarity has a lower APR for cash withdrawals, they currently don't accept Faster Payments, so payments will take 2/3 days to arrive - Whereas Santander Zero do accept Faster Payments so payments will normally arrive within minutes

cabbageprince wrote: »

I've read somewhere that they use the exchange rates from xe.com but like you I cant find anything official from the card issuer.

Not sure why Visa can show their rates but mastercard cant....

eagleeye

the halifax clarity gives the best exchange rate.i have used both santander and halifax on same day & time to find out the exchange rate.The rates which i recvd are as follows
10/9/10
halifax 1gbp= 71.08 INR
Santander 1 GBP-70.80 INR
Oanda rate -71.67 INR
Mastercard rate - 71.08 INR
11/09/10 Halifax - 1GBP-71.13

13/09/10 Halifax-1GBP-71.47
Mastercard-71.47

jonthedog

As I understand it, where banks do not apply their own fixed loading % to the exchange rate, such as halifax clarity, santander zero and the nationwide debit card, the rate you will get should be the same as the 'wholesale' rate advertised by Visa or Mastercard, whichever companies logo is on the card. Both of these state that their rates are set as to be as close to the 'wholesale' rate as possible (there is actually no such thing as an official 'wholesale' rate, just the average of what people are prepared to buy and sell at the time), so any discrepancies should be down to timings or average out eventually.

chattychappy

scottishblondie wrote: »

Santander is no good if you plan on visiting more than 3 countries or going away for more than 3 months, as you can only authorise it for the that many/that long.

They said something like that to me too. So I just ignored them and have never had a problem. Have spent thousands in multiple countries. Never phone them in advance.

I know different cards have different policies, but I think alot of it comes down to risk assessment at the time of the transaction - eg the location, cardholder present/not present/chip'n'pin, the amount, previous history.

The upshot is, whatever you do including phoning in advance, you might get a inexplicable decline. So you must take backup cards - even a 2.75% loading is better than emergency Western Union transfers etc.

I've used Nationwide (visa/debit), Zero, and Post Office extensively (mostly Asia) without a problem. Barclaycard has given me declines even in this country.

chattychappy

eagleeye wrote: »

the halifax clarity gives the best exchange rate.i have used both santander and halifax on same day & time to find out the exchange rate.The rates which i recvd are as follows
10/9/10
halifax 1gbp= 71.08 INR
Santander 1 GBP-70.80 INR
Oanda rate -71.67 INR
Mastercard rate - 71.08 INR

I don't have a halifax card. But I've found that both Santander/Post Office give pretty much the Oanda rate on average - sometimes a little better, sometimes a little worse. I have also done "same day" tests - but you really do have to do a few of them. Timing (even within a day) seems to make a difference - 2 transactions with the same card on the same day can give slightly different rates. I doubt whether there is any difference between halifax and santander - though obviously when you did it halifax was ahead by 0.4%.

Toe-Jam

eagleeye wrote: »

the halifax clarity gives the best exchange rate.i have used both santander and halifax on same day & time to find out the exchange rate.The rates which i recvd are as follows
10/9/10
halifax 1gbp= 71.08 INR
Santander 1 GBP-70.80 INR
Oanda rate -71.67 INR
Mastercard rate - 71.08 INR

This is not an accurate way of determining the exchange rate, the exchange rate changes every second of every day. It could have gone up or down 10 points by the time I finish writing this. And the exchange rate you see on your statement is not the exchange rate at the time you used your card, it is the exchange rate when the transaction is posted to your account, which is usually the next day, or sometimes even longer.

Here is the small print, and its the same for all organisations, credit or debit.

Santander Credit Card
3.2 All Transactions in currencies other than sterling will be converted into sterling on the day they are added to your Account at an exchange rate set by the payment scheme provider. The exchange rate used may differ from the rate when the Transaction was made as exchange rates vary on a daily basis. The exchange rate used when such Transactions are made and the amount of the Transactions in sterling following application of the exchange rate will be set out in your Statement. Details of the exchange rates to be applied are available at 0845 602 1582.