Santander Zero v Fair FX

leicsmarkyr

I shall be going on holiday in a few weeks and will be spending circa £500. I have both a Fair FX card and a Santander Zero card.

The Fair FX charges 1.4% of the transaction and an additional £1 for ATM transactions.

My Santander card is APR 29.9% cash.


Which would be the best to use to reduce the amount it will cost in fees/interest depending on the card based on £500? I know the Fair FX will cost circa £7 fees and £x for ATM depending on how much I withdraw so lets assume £10.

Wondering if I use cash of £500 with Santander and it is paid within a week what sort of interest it would be

Roger1

I think you're trying to compare borrowing with Santander at 29.9% APR and using your own money with FairFX at 1.4% loading + £1 for ATM use.

If it were me, I'd be using the FairFX card to get cash and the Santander card for purchases. Messing around with borrowing and trying to repay in time to avoid much in interest would be a waste of time.

1Amigo

Can't you pay off your santander card early (so it is £500 in credit) and then avoid all interest charges?

apt

It's against the Santander Zero card terms and conditions to have a positive balance, but in practice I've found it works and you can then use the card without paying interest.

Beaver991

Simply put If you are going to pay your bill back on time guaranteed the zero card is a better deal If there is any chance you might miss a payment get the FairFX card. simple as that.

leicsmarkyr

I have the £500 now to pay back and can do but as said the card could be stopped for a positive balance.

I would easily be able to pay the £500 as soon as I came back. So at most the balance would be £500 for a max of week

firsttimestudent

It is definitely cheaper with Santander Zero.

If you withdraw all £500 by cash (the worst case scenario - you mentioned you will be using the card for purchases too), it is only going to cost you £0.41 per day. Furthermore, Santander doesn't charge interest from the day you withdraw, rather Santander charges interest from the day it gets debited to your account (usually takes c. 2 days) - hence if you withdraw all £500 from day 1, and repay on day 8, you only get charged at most 5 days of interest.

But remember the payment hierarchy - payments will be made to Statement-ed transactions before new transactions.

So, if your most recent Statement has a balance of £650, and like you said, you spent £500 on your holiday - make sure you settle all £1150, not just £500 - otherwise you will be shocked to discover that the £500 actually went to reduce the £650 and not the £500 (of cash advances that you want to setle)!

leicsmarkyr

I have a zero balance currently and will have a zero balance when I start my holiday.

In the past using my FairFX card I have just withdrawn cash at a cost of 1.4% and additional £1; never used for purchases (apart from RyanAir).

I anticipate for argument stake using £300 for cash and £200 purchases [subject to change] and paying back within a week of coming back from holiday so at most no more than 14 days having a balance. In fact I could pay a bit of whilst on holiday.

firsttimestudent

In that case using the Santander Zero for everything is definitely cheaper than your current strategy of using the FairFX.

Have fun in your travels!

leicsmarkyr

Thanks

That was my thoughts too.

buckster

I have a Zero card and an FX card and I'm confused about these currency charges. If I want to add say £500 to my fairfx card using my current account debit card which the funds will come from, will I get charged a loading fee from my bank or from fairfx? I have a current account with Santander.