Halifax Clarity Card - Best Way to Use it?

Any

DJFearRoss wrote: »

Couple of things...

I withdrew money on Sunday on my card (i'm abroad), I checked it on online on Sunday & Monday and it was still not showing. I wanted to pay it off immediately and I was ensured by the girl on the phone i could to keep my interest payment down.

Then today (Tuesday) it is now showing, says the Transaction date is Sunday (correct) and the Date Entered is Monday (incorrect!)
When I went to make payment it says I need to select a date in the future to make the payment i.e Wednesday!

Therefore, will i now be charged 3 days interest? I never read anything about this on any forum before getting the card.

Also, what is the maximum cash withdrawl? I assume it is the same as my Halifax debit card?

Really? Which forums were that?
Can you tell us how much you withdrew? Are we talking £500?
The interest for 3 days for that would be... let me see... whole 18 pence!!!

Now seriously... what you have or haven't read on forums is one thing... But what about your T&C when you signed for that card? Those are the words you MUST read before you sign anything.

Did you seriously think that the transaction appears immediately online?

YorkshireBoy

DJFearRoss wrote: »

Also, what is the maximum cash withdrawl? I assume it is the same as my Halifax debit card?

This is a financial product. Never "assume" anything!...

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

DJFearRoss

Any wrote: »

Really? Which forums were that?
Can you tell us how much you withdrew? Are we talking £500?
The interest for 3 days for that would be... let me see... whole 18 pence!!!

Now seriously... what you have or haven't read on forums is one thing... But what about your T&C when you signed for that card? Those are the words you MUST read before you sign anything.

Did you seriously think that the transaction appears immediately online?

LOL.. your a moody one arn't you.? :T

It its not possible for me to list all the forums where this information was NOT on. I didn't find it on this one though, i did search.

I wanted to withdraw 850 euros. The lady told me taking out £300 and paying it off at the end of the money would be around £4.50 in interest. I don't know about you, but that seems like alot to me, which is why I wanted to try to pay off 850 euros, as soon as i had the chance.

No i didn't think the transaction appeared online immediately. I was simply pointing out that I would be charged a minimum of interest of 3 days regardless of my any effort to pay of the balance immediately. I think that information might be usuful to someone.

Any

DJFearRoss wrote: »

It its not possible for me to list all the forums where this information was NOT on. I didn't find it on this one though, i did search.

Did you search as far as post #2 of this very thread where Lisyloo gives her advice, mentioning charges etc?:rotfl:

DJFearRoss wrote: »

I wanted to withdraw 850 euros. The lady told me taking out £300 and paying it off at the end of the money would be around £4.50 in interest. I don't know about you, but that seems like alot to me, which is why I wanted to try to pay off 850 euros, as soon as i had the chance.

Completely understandable. However what did you expect, as you say yourself you did not expect it to appear online immediately.

Any

http://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/clarity.asp#How_much_will_I_be_charged
:whistle:

No disrespect

eegg7777

Like many others in this forum, I took a Clarity card to use instead of Nationwide (but didn't close my Nationwide account yet, just in case).

I just returned from vacation in Argentina, and this is what I found by comparing different cards/options (best option first):

1. Halifax Clarity gave the best exchange rate, 6.22 Argentine Pesos (ARP) per Pound Sterling (GBP). The Argentine ATM network charged a fee (about £2.50). I hadn't read the T&C and preloaded the card; luckily nothing happened (won't do it again!).
2. Next option was to exchange cash (6.20 ARP per GBP).
3. Next was Nationwide (6.14 ARP per GBP). They hadn't started charging a fee, but the ATM network did (£2.50).
4. Last was my Lloyds Visa Debit (6.00 ARP per GBP). I withdrew from an ATM in a bank that is part of the Lloyds group, so the ATM did not charge a fee, but Lloyds did (again, £2.50).

I resent the ATM fee charged by the network, but there is little one can do about it. I guess I'll keep the Clarity card, and make online payments on the same day I make a withdrawal (I noticed that the payment arrives one day after the debit appears on the account).

rb10

Roger_Hemming wrote: »

I'm going to keep this Halifax Clarity card solely for use abroad, and I'll set up a D/D to repay the total balance every month.

As you mention that your current account is with Halifax, I assume it's the Clarity Reward Credit Card that you've applied for?

If so, then it would be worth using this for your normal (UK) purchases, as when you spend £300 per month you get a £5 Reward.

DJFearRoss

Amy - can't be bother replying to your posts, you've obviously just looking for confrontation..

Did you search as far as post #2 of this very thread where Lisyloo gives her advice, mentioning charges etc?

- not relevant but thanks for trying.

anyway... tried to take out 500 euros today whilst in Spain and there appears to be some limit on the withdrawal (hence my question), it would only allow me to take out 300 euros, the same as my debit card (as per my question). Nothing to do with my credit limit. I couldn't even take more out later in the day.

Just so you know, you CAN see immediately online that your credit limit has gone down following a withdrawal but you can't see DETAILS of the individual transactions. There is an option to set a date to make the repayment but you can only have one advanced repayment at a time. So if you withdrew 300 euros everyday, you wouldn't be able to setup the next repayment once the first one has gone through.

Whilst travelling not everyone has easy access to an internet cafe and not everyone comes home in a week, so hope this info is helpful.

YorkshireBoy

DJFearRoss wrote: »

...it would only allow me to take out 300 euros, the same as my debit card (as per my question).

At around 1.10 to the pound you should have been able to take out 330 Euros. Did you try? And did you let them know you were going abroad? If not maybe that's why they've set a lower limit.

So if you withdrew 300 euros everyday, you wouldn't be able to setup the next repayment once the first one has gone through.

You could, but not the way you're trying to do it from the card end. You could 'push' money to the card from your (Halifax?) current account by bill payment.

adindas

Also
The real benefit if you use it for purchasing/buying while you are abroad. For instance to pay train ticket, meals, hotel, buying goods, stuffs from supermarkets, etc. It will cost you nothing.

For cash withdrawal it is just about 1% (o 12.9 APR), you will not be able to beat this with any other card unless you have an Overseas specialist debit Credit like NW it used to be.

FYI, having Halifax Clarity Card is a privilege as they are very picky in giving up their card.

ADINDAS

lisyloo wrote: »

I don't agree.
If you pay the card off in 2 weeks then the interest rate is 0.5%. For a month it's about 1%.
Do you know of any cards that are cheaper for cash?