Halifax Clarity Exchange rate

raggatip

Hello everyone,

I have a Halifax Clarity credit card and was wondering what their exchange rate is when I use it in Europe. Is there anywhere on the internet I can see the daily rate that is used on this card specifically?

Thanks for your help

fifeken

Looke here for Mastercard conversion tool:

https://www.mastercard.com/us/personal/en/cardholderservices/currencyconversion/index.html

arkay21240

I went to get clarity card last friday, but asked for their conversion rate for that day. local travel agents quoting 1.20 euros to the £. business rate in newspapers 1.22. clarity rate 1.15!!!. I will be staying with nationwide.

dzug1

arkay21240 wrote: »

I went to get clarity card last friday, but asked for their conversion rate for that day. local travel agents quoting 1.20 euros to the £. business rate in newspapers 1.22. clarity rate 1.15!!!. I will be staying with nationwide.

I very much suspect that that was NOT the Clarity rate but the instore rate to exchange cash.

Even if you were told it was the Clarity rate I don't believe it - just staff ignorance. All too common, and not only in the Halifax.

adindas

arkay21240 wrote: »

I went to get clarity card last friday, but asked for their conversion rate for that day. local travel agents quoting 1.20 euros to the £. business rate in newspapers 1.22. clarity rate 1.15!!!. I will be staying with nationwide.

[FONT=&quot]As far as I am aware, Halifax Clarity as well as other Credit cards is using the same conversion Rate e.g. Master Card Conversion Rate on that day. This is one of the best that you will ever get. The only different from one credit card to another is the fees/ Charges, which of course will affect the final conversion rate that you will get. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Halifax Clarity has no Foreign currency conversion charges (aka Loading Fee) neither ATM/Cash withdrawal fee (aka ATM charges) for foreign transaction withdrawal, but apply Interest rate for cash withdrawals: 12.9% from the day of withdrawal, (even if you repay in full). So in the theory it cannot be worse than local travel agents. It could happen that they show high conversion rate but they hide the commission fee which could be high.[/FONT]

raggatip

The only thing now that concerns me is that the card issuer i.e. Halifax can choose a date, which is not necessarily the transaction date, for when the currency rate applies. They could in effect choose a date 5 days after the transaction occurred because the £ is worth less against the Euro (if I'm going to the Euro zone that is). However, checking the xchange rate on the Mastercard website compares favourably to XE.com so on the whole this card makes good sense to use abroad aslong as you're disciplined and don't overspend.

dzug1

raggatip wrote: »

The only thing now that concerns me is that the card issuer i.e. Halifax can choose a date, which is not necessarily the transaction date, for when the currency rate applies. They could in effect choose a date 5 days after the transaction occurred because the £ is worth less against the Euro (if I'm going to the Euro zone that is). However, checking the xchange rate on the Mastercard website compares favourably to XE.com so on the whole this card makes good sense to use abroad aslong as you're disciplined and don't overspend.

They can't 'choose a date' to suit the exchange rate. They use the date the transaction is processed by Mastercard - something over which they have little or no control


5.3 If you make transactions in a foreign currency, we will change the amount to sterling at the exchange rate used by the payment system on the date it passes us the transaction

The choice is Mastercard's/the merchant's/the overseas bank's or any combination - not Halifax

raggatip

OK thanks dzug1...I need to find out what the daily cash limit is on this card now as the place I'm staying in Sardinia will only accept Euro cash and I don't want to blow my limit all in one day!

jojo5987

" The choice is Mastercard's/the merchant's/the overseas bank's or any combination - not Halifax "

..... But how do you know which rate they will use? Are they all still generally better than the rate you would get by taking cash?

luci

I am using the Clarity card in the US at the moment. It appears that the rate applied is the rate on the date of the transaction, not the date it is entered on your account.

I have also had different rates applied to transactions made on the same date so it appears that they use a "live" rate and not just one rate for the whole day.

However the Mastercard rate appears to be a couple of cents below the wholesale rate.

CountryGoose

luci wrote: »

However the Mastercard rate appears to be a couple of cents below the wholesale rate.

23/10 £/$ Xe.com 1.5725 M/C 1.5699

I would say about 1/4 cent off.