Paying off international cash withdrawals asap??

jtwitchett

Hi there,

Firstly I'd like to say how helpful this site has been in helping me decide about how to finance my upcoming travelling trip around the world, so thank you!

Having done lots of research I ended up applying for the halifax clarity card (my first credit card so bare with me) due to its 0% fees etc etc. I didnt get the 12.9% unfortunately but got the mid range apr %.

The card arrived today and I am now waiting on a letter for access to online banking,

My main question is about interest accrued on cash withdrawals (these will be regular on my trip), now I know that interest is charged daily, but having set up a direct debit for the full amount, can i still log onto online banking and pay off any cash withdrawals (separate to purchases) as soon as they show up on the account so as to reduce the amount of interest paid (circa 3 days instead of potentially 50 or so by the time you factor in the extra time for due date from statement date)???

I will probably not bother paying off purchases early if this is possible as it can hopefully be sorted by the direct debit, but mainly want to know if I can still pay off my cash withdrawals with a DD in place.

I'm assuming that if this is possible, the total balance on the statement will not include any of the cash amounts I have managed to pay off already (might not be able to pay them all off asap due to internet availability in countries like Laos etc)?

Any help would be much appreciated as I am a fully fledged newbie,

thanks

Jtwitchett

jonesMUFCforever

You can make payments online as often as possible as long as the account is not put in credit.
There are new rules now in force which determine how repayments are paired off your outstanding balance.

Basically the most expensive 'part' of your balance will be paid off first so you can't put your extra repayments specifically against the cash withdrawals unless the cash withdrawals are the most expensive part of the balance if you know what I mean.

zagfles

I've just got a Clarity card for the same reason - have tested it by making a cash withdrawal and paying it off a few days later. It took about 3 working days for the cash advance to appear in current transactions - and Faster Payments don't work so if you pay online it takes a couple of days.

I'm only going to use it for cash advances, and use my Nationwide CC for purchases, otherwise it gets too complicated...as below

Re order of payments - the T&Cs (2.2) says that the highest interest items on your statement are paid first, but where they are the same (as they are - on mine at least) cash advances are paid off before purchases. Then stuff not on your statement is paid, in the same order.

The bold bits are important because if you expect to able to pay cash advances straight away but leave purchases to get paid by the DD, you won't be able to do this for cash advances in between the date of your statement and the date of your DD, because your payment goes towards stuff on your statement before stuff not on your statement!

But it will work after the DD date and before your next statement!

So basically if you make cash advances between the statement and DD date you have to pay the whole statement plus the cash advance off to minimise interest - and hope they react quick enough to adjust the DD and not take the payment again!

chattychappy

I don't know about Clarity, but for some cards payments are applied to statemented transactions before unstatemented transactions. This is regardless of the APR.

If Clarity works like this then the safest option is to clear the entire balance after every cash transaction.

[zagfles as addressed this better than me- see his post!]

jtwitchett

Thanks for your helpful responses people,

I'm not planning on spending outside of my means so I guess I could just pay off cash withdrawals asap along with any other purchases that occur within those few days.

It all seems a bit much though and I would be annoyed if I paid off some money after the statement and they didnt adjust the DD, meaning I pay too much then have to sort out getting it back etc.

Would it maybe just be a better idea to leave it and let the DD do the full amount and pay a bit of interest? I woulda thought I will be withdrawing roughly £500 a month cash and im on the mid range APR 17.9 if i remember correctly, so maybe for the sake of roughly £7.50 a month it might be worth avoiding the headache?!

what do others think?

Jtwitchett

lisyloo

My personal experience is that a DD would be affected but only if it shows up before the DD instructions are produced.
They might be rpoduced in a batch 5 days before and sent to the bank on a magnetic tape (yes I know it sounds old fashioned).
So payments in the last few days might not be taken into account.

How difficult is it for you to use internet abroad?
Do you have to pay?
For example my internet bill recently was more than my interest.

How secure is it?
Are you using a shared computer?
You own computer on wifi?
or do you have a fairly secure enviroment e.g. office supported by a professeional T dept?

I have worked with SSL for a few years and my opinion is that the only safe option is the later.
Others take the opinion that your own computer on WIFI is ok if it's set up properly but don't use a shared computer.

Hence you need to weigh up costs, hassle and the security factor.

If you are on holiday, then I'd forget about it until you get back.

speedbird1973

If you just used the card for cash advances then there's no problem.. as you say, use the nationwide card for your purchases. If you're going to pay off the cash advance each time then just cancel the DD. You don't HAVE to have a DD!! the merits of DD payments are for people with more standard requirements from their credit card. Your use is a bit different.

jtwitchett

The holiday is backpacking for 4 months,

first 2 months is in SE Asia,

all internet access throughout the holiday will be in internet cafe's as I am not taking a laptop with me.

I appreciate that it may be better to have another creditcard for purchases but the process for getting this clarity was fairly drawn out as it is and I dont think I want the hassle with having to manage another card with another bank as well whilst I am meant to be on a relaxing trip.

The reason I wanted a direct debit set up was so that if I cannot get to internet for a while (may well be the case in Laos and northern vietnam etc) I know that payments will be made and I wont start paying interest or fines etc etc.

For the sake of roughly £5-10 a month (£20-40 for the holiday), I think I might just leave everything to the direct debit and save the headache.

Thanks for the input guys, much appreciated

lisyloo

I think all of the IT people that frequent these boards are in agreement that it isn't sensible to use a shared computer to input important banking details, so if you have another option then avoid doing this.

jtwitchett

I cannot really see another way around it to be honest? I will have to check my spending on a weekly basis at least in order to budget accordingly for the rest of the trip, thousands of people who are travelling must do online banking in cafes surely?

speedbird1973

So take your laptop, or pay it all by DD, or trust your life with internet cafes (as most people do who travel).

The only way to meet your financial requirements is to not travel... so take your pick