Halifax Clarity Vs Nationwide

pjjafc

Morning,

I have just got a Halifax Clarity card but my brother is saying is Nationwide Credit card is better as when we go to the States he gets a "business" rate??

Anyone know what he is talking about???

d61mts

You'll be getting a better rate than your brother. The Halifax card uses the Mastercard rate with 0% comission, while the Nationwide card uses the Visa rate with 1% comission. Both rates will be very good rates. The differences between the rates Visa and Mastercard use will be very marginal (and probably change daily as to which one is best). In terms of how these cards work, Nationwide is not getting 'business rates'. Thus on the whole your brother will be paying 1% extra for his purchases.

chexum

pjjafc wrote: »

Anyone know what he is talking about???

About the good old times, when Nationwide *was* proud to be different.

Outside the EU, Nationwide is charging 1% in addition to the "wholesale" (that's the business part) rates:

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/current_account/foreigntransactions.htm
http://www.visaeurope.com/en/cardholders/exchange_rates.aspx

Halifax adds nothing to the Mastercard reference rates:

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

In theory, the rates should be quite similar, if it were not for the 1% plus with NW. See for yourself who's better off...

lisyloo

when we go to the States he gets a "business" rate??

Nope no idea what he's talking about.
He'll get visa rate plus 1%.

Cards that charge 0% are cheaper than Nationwide that charges 1% outside Europe.

Any

I think he has just given new name to the Visa rate that Nationwide charge.

Not all cards I believe give the actual rate they are getting from the provider, some have worse rates and mases of charges. Nationwide used to be one of the best cards because of these good rates without any adding to it and that made them different.

But I believe Halifax also puts accross that charge and that is it.

And Nationwide charges the 1% extra outside Europe.

BenL

Your brother needs to sign up the MSE e-mails so he is kept aware of the best deals and that nationwide have changed policy recently.

I am in the process of cancelling my Nationwide CC and moving to the Halifax card for foreign use.

Ben

pjjafc

Many thanks my friends!

I can now go back to him with some ammo!

Thanks again

andys15

I have both cards, but just cancelled my Nationwide one. I got the Clarity card for my August holiday after reading about it on here. I foolishly had to draw cash out on it when I had gone for a meal on a beach, and they didn't accept CC. I thought I would be stung for massive charges, but alas just 12.9% on cash advances, and it was free to withdraw, so I was very happy. The Clarity card is much much better than the Nationwide is now.

rb10

And on top of the better rate, you will be getting £5 per month from the credit card (if you have a Halifax current account) which your brother will not be getting from Nationwide.