halifax clarity credit card

voddyman

Hi, I have a Halifax Clarity credit card and as most people in this forum will know it's one of the best for using abroad. My hypothetical question is and it probably sounds a bit daft to knowledgeable people in here :-) , if i were to pay say £500-1000 into the credit card BEFORE I went on holiday and therefore making my card in "credit" would I still have to pay the interest charge that would be incurred before the next due payment date and would this be the same for ANY credit card?
Many Thanks
:beer:

jackieblack

This is against the T & C of the account and others who've tried it have had their accounts suspended for 'suspicious' activity.

11.7 You must not make payments or transfer funds from another credit or store card to your account that would leave a credit balance on your account. We may return any funds that exceed the balance owing on your account to the account from which the money was sent.

hillendale

Just back from a recent trip to the States preloaded my HC card with £2500k had no problems, I,ve done the same in the past and been fine

jackieblack

hillendale wrote: »

Just back from a recent trip to the States preloaded my HC card with £2500k had no problems, I,ve done the same in the past and been fine

Then you were lucky. There were at least half a dozen reports on here last summer from people who were stuck abroad with no access to funds because they had tried this and had their account frozen.
For the small amount it'll cost, if you pay it off immediately you get back, it's not worth taking the risk IMO.
Example of charges here
Of course, you will only incur interest charges for withdrawing cash, use the card to pay in shops and there'll be no charges as long as it's paid in full at next statement.

voddyman

I thought that with the Halifax Clarity credit card which is recommended by "money saving expert" that there are NO charges for cash withdrawls etc and that you only pay the interest accrued, which as has already been stated, is best to pay off the card whenever you arrive back home in the UK?

jen245

There are no charges for cash withdrawals, except if the ATM itself charges, you will only pay interest. And I wouldn't recommend preloading the card, you dont want to end up being stuck without access to your money.

jackieblack

voddyman wrote: »

I thought that with the Halifax Clarity credit card which is recommended by "money saving expert" that there are NO charges for cash withdrawls etc and that you only pay the interest accrued, which as has already been stated, is best to pay off the card whenever you arrive back home in the UK?

Sorry, poor choice of words (now edited), I meant interest charges, there are no withdrawal charges from Halifax, only (as Jen 245 has said) possibly ATM charges.

voddyman

Ok, thanks for all your replies Like I said, it was just a hypothetical question, but I now know that it's not a good idea to pre load my Halifax Clarity credit card. I thought it was to good/easy to be true,lol.
:beer:

lisyloo

You do have the option of setting up a BACS payment in advance if you have that facility. Out of the last 3 trips I've done my card has not worked at the airport on 2 occassions, so I would set it up for a little later than you expect in case of non-working ATMs.

You could ask someone to do BACS transfer for you if you have a joint account OR you could use computer facilities abroad although you need to be a little careful here. Shared/public computers are an unaccpetable risk to most people.

Or simply just pay it back when you get home.
For 2 week holidays I usually find it's about the price of a cup of coffee.

Do let Halifax know the dates and locations before you leave though.
It's not a guarantee but it may stop your card being blocked and it may save you spending £15 to call them from abroad.
Also take spare cards.