Overseas cc rethink - help

HGLTsuperstar

Let me start with the background info.
Currently have following cards (with these limits) and ALWAYS pay in full (use as a debit card - never had to make an interest payment)
Nationwide (£3300)
Virgin AMEX (£1500)
Egg Money (£2000)
BA Amex (£3000)

My spending strategy is currently put as much as poss on Virgin AMEX (as saving miles) and if AMEX not accepted put on EMoney for the cashback.
The Nationwide card I've had for years (had a flex account aswell since I was 17) and have used abroad without fees for years but now of course that's not happening.
What shoud I do as going to the US in September and want to avoid fees obviously.
Should I close the BA Amex (never use) and apply for Halifax or Post Office?
Is it worth keeping the Nationwide - I know their new "offer" about earning fee-free commission but lets face it - its pants!
And no, I'm not old for SAGA! LOL!
TIA

hunsbury0

HGLTsuperstar wrote: »

Let me start with the background info.
Currently have following cards (with these limits) and ALWAYS pay in full (use as a debit card - never had to make an interest payment)
Nationwide (£3300)
Virgin AMEX (£1500)
Egg Money (£2000)
BA Amex (£3000)

My spending strategy is currently put as much as poss on Virgin AMEX (as saving miles) and if AMEX not accepted put on EMoney for the cashback.
The Nationwide card I've had for years (had a flex account aswell since I was 17) and have used abroad without fees for years but now of course that's not happening.
What shoud I do as going to the US in September and want to avoid fees obviously.
Should I close the BA Amex (never use) and apply for Halifax or Post Office?
Is it worth keeping the Nationwide - I know their new "offer" about earning fee-free commission but lets face it - its pants!
And no, I'm not old for SAGA! LOL!
TIA

Have a look at Halifax Clarity card. It is the cheapest to draw out money at foreign atms but pay them back as soon you can see on the online scrren to minmise interest charges.

chattychappy

Zero/Clarity/PO are meant to be unloaded for forex.
Zero/Clarity there is no fee for ATM withdrawals, but you pay interest from date of withdrawal. The PO card has a dreadful online system.

Interest is minimal if you pay off in a few days/week - but the advertised interest rate is better on Clarity.

If you mix purchases and cash withdrawals on one card, bear in mind that payments may be applied to statemented purchases before your unstatemented cash withdrawal. So if you plan to send a payment just after making a withdrawal it may be better to wait for the statement date or put cash through one card and purchases on another.

I've used Zero/PO extensively - mostly Asia, but also Europe/US. From my experience they are truly unloaded. (Most of my spend is foreign and I put thousands through.) PO never been declined. After a couple of years without a hitch, Zero kept getting blocked in December. Been OK since. Totally random and unpredictable.

I haven't used Clarity. We had one unresolved report from somebody who reported getting an awful rate in Thailand. We also had a post reporting slightly better rates than Zero. I think more data is needed. It's often difficult to be exactly sure because you get the rate the transaction is settled between the banks which may not be the day of the purchase.

Other things to consider:
1) Cards get blocked very easily. It may help if you phone in advance to say where you'll be, but this is certainly no guarantee.
2) You are not allowed to pre-load in avoid interest charges. People have reported doing it, but have also reported having their cards blocked as a result. I wouldn't risk it just to save a few pence on interest.
3) Lost/stolen cards can be hard to replace whilst away.
4) ATMs often levy local charges. Occasionally this may even be different depending what card you shove in - mastercard or visa, debit or credit.
5) Take backups. Even paying 2.75% on an uncompetitive card could be cheaper than expensive calls back home to get a card unblocked, Western Union fees, taxis to friend's houses/embassies etc. Assuming your NW is a Gold Visa, then the 1% charged makes it a good backup. The Flex debit card is not so good - but if operating online banking whilst away I would keep it for use in the cardreader.
6) Try to keep cards separate in luggage. Eg one in a hotel safe, one in your wallet. Or if with a companion it can be sensible to each carry another's card. (Though there might be other implications - insurance etc.)

HGLTsuperstar

OK thanks for the points, but (and dont take this the worng way) your list of points does detract from my question really - I'm well travelled enough to know about where to pack my cards, ATM fees etc.
Cant get a zero account as not got an Abbey mortgage or £10k tosave with them.
So thinking PO card is the way to go, combined with my Nwide debit?

chattychappy

HGLTsuperstar wrote: »

I'm well travelled enough to know about where to pack my cards, ATM fees etc.

Fair enough! BTW I only recently discovered how ATM fees can vary depending on which kind of UK card you put in, despite being well travelled too.

HGLTsuperstar wrote: »

Cant get a zero account as not got an Abbey mortgage or £10k tosave with them.
So thinking PO card is the way to go, combined with my Nwide debit?

Yep. Keep an eye on Zero. It hasn't always been restricted this way - I got mine when it was available to all comers.

But in the absence of that, agree. But PO really does have an awful online system - I sometimes get timeouts and you have to be careful how you interpret what it says on the screen.

I would consider Clarity for cash (and purchase backup). It should be much cheaper than NW debit. Alternatively, if you are near one of their branches Metrobank. (Probably better to look in the banking forum.) They claim free forex debit card withdrawals but I know some posters found that their cards were simply not recognised due to local software not being updated.

You may also wish to consider http://www.nandp.co.uk/current-account/

hunsbury0

HGLTsuperstar wrote: »

OK thanks for the points, but (and dont take this the worng way) your list of points does detract from my question really - I'm well travelled enough to know about where to pack my cards, ATM fees etc.
Cant get a zero account as not got an Abbey mortgage or £10k tosave with them.
So thinking PO card is the way to go, combined with my Nwide debit?

By all means take po & natwide card, but I would use Halifax Clarity card as the primary card.
Have you looked into Halifax Clarity card?

HGLTsuperstar

I have looked into it, but I guess I really wanted to keep debit card as first choice, so no interest to pay on return, and of course then to get cash out of ATMs and pay that way.
The other point, do you think I should close my BA Amex (not used for couple of years) before applying for anything?

hunsbury0

HGLTsuperstar wrote: »

I have looked into it, but I guess I really wanted to keep debit card as first choice, so no interest to pay on return, and of course then to get cash out of ATMs and pay that way.
The other point, do you think I should close my BA Amex (not used for couple of years) before applying for anything?

Check what debit cards charge for cash withdrawls compared to Halifax Clarity.
I am going to Florida in April & will be using Halifax Clarity for cash withdrawls as there are no other charges apart from the interest.
2 years ago when I last went to Los Angeles, the ATMS used to charge $1 per withdrawl whether you used a debit card or a credit card.
Halifax Clarity works out cheaper than the debit card charges for cash withdrawls as long as you pay off asap. !!!!!!
Once again check on how much it would cost for cash withdrawls thru debit cards against Halifax Clarity credit card.
And paying off Halifax Clarity at the earliest opportunity, will work out cheaper than using nationwide debit card for cash withdrawls !!!!!!!!! CHECK CHECK CHECK !!!!!!!!!!!!!

chattychappy

hunsbury0 wrote: »

And pay offing Halifax Clarity at the earliest opportunity, will work out cheaper than using nationwide debit card for cash withdrawls !!!!!!!!! CHECK CHECK CHECK !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eg for $200 withdrawal (at $1.6) = £125

NW debit card - 2% + £1. = £128.50

So total charge = 2.8%

Clarity's standard rate for cash advances is 1.017% per month. So if you pay off within about 11 weeks, you are better off on Clarity.

If you get one of their inferior rates, you are still better off: for 1.385% it's about 8 weeks, for 1.667% it's about 7 weeks.

So even if you don't pay the cash off immediately, but just pay off the balance in full after the statement, you're still better off.

This all does assume that Clarity has a similar underlying rate to NW. One is Visa, one is MC. They should be similar, but we had one poster reporting that he did better on NW than Clarity.

Personally I would not use NW debit in a cash machine overseas. If it gets swallowed I lose the ability to make online banking payments since I need the card in the card reader for this.

HGLTsuperstar

I've never had my nationwide card stopped so far - I always email them anyway, despite what they say, with dates, locations and a little polite reminder that basically I'll sue the a£$ of them should any charges result from them ignoring my advance notice of travels. So far so good!
Anyway, should I cancel the BA Amex - now also wondering what to do about Egg Money if Barclaycard are taking over - there goes the cashback!

chattychappy

I too found NW cards (gold visa and the debit card) very good in that they were never rejected. (Don't use them much now, of course!)

HGLTsuperstar wrote: »

a little polite reminder that basically I'll sue the a£$ of them should any charges result from them ignoring my advance notice of travels.

Well you could sue, but you wouldn't get anywhere. It is a clear term in the agreement that declines can happen for a variety of reasons and really this is reasonable.