Unhappy with your Halifax Clarity card interest rate?

baby_frogmella

Simply close your account and apply again after 30 days. Like many i was surprised to be given an APR of 17.9% last year despite having a perfect credit history - of course the interest rate is irrelevant for those who only make purchases AND pay off their statement balance in full but since many like me also use their card for overseas cash withdrawals then obviously you want the APR to be as low as possible (ie 12.9%). Obviously i'm aware that paying off the cash withdrawals ASAP minimises the interest charged but from my experience even doing this the the same day (by faster payments) still means that Halifax charge a days interest. For regular large cash withdrawals the interest charges can mount up.

Anyway i closed my clarity account last month and re-applied online last week and after calling them this morning to enquire about the status of my application, was told i'd been accepted and offered their headline rate of 12.92%! Wasn't told of my credit limit (previously was 8.5k) but even its 2-3k i'll still be happy. Obviously there's risks attached with applying again since

a) you might get rejected
b) you might get a higher APR
c) you might get a lower credit limit

But for those of you who have a squeaky clean credit history and don't have a habit of applying for a new credit card every 2 days then IMHO its worth re-applying for the Clarity card - especially if you have a APR > 15% :T

fozmcfc

Is a month enough time between closing down an account and applying as a new customer? With many companies it is longer than that.

If not, you might still find that during further checks you may get a refusal or they may close the card down very shortly after you receive it.

Of course you may just get away with it lol, even if one month isn't enough.

baby_frogmella

fozmcfc wrote: »

Is a month enough time between closing down an account and applying as a new customer? With many companies it is longer than that.

Before closing the account, i asked Halifax how long would i need to wait before i could apply again; they said just a minimum of 30 days. So i applied after 33 days and was accepted I think Tesco say you must wait around 10 months before you can re-apply for their card, so yes Halifax's waiting period is quite short. Also if you're thinking of closing your Clarity account, its best to make sure you've had your account for at least 6 months so that you've at least got some sort of history with them.

callum9999

Wouldn't it be easier to just get a fee-free debit card for cash withdrawals? That way you don't risk losing the Clarity card altogether.

CLAPTON

baby_frogmella wrote: »

Simply close your account and apply again after 30 days. Like many i was surprised to be given an APR of 17.9% last year despite having a perfect credit history - of course the interest rate is irrelevant for those who only make purchases AND pay off their statement balance in full but since many like me also use their card for overseas cash withdrawals then obviously you want the APR to be as low as possible (ie 12.9%). Obviously i'm aware that paying off the cash withdrawals ASAP minimises the interest charged but from my experience even doing this the the same day (by faster payments) still means that Halifax charge a days interest. For regular large cash withdrawals the interest charges can mount up.

Anyway i closed my clarity account last month and re-applied online last week and after calling them this morning to enquire about the status of my application, was told i'd been accepted and offered their headline rate of 12.92%! Wasn't told of my credit limit (previously was 8.5k) but even its 2-3k i'll still be happy. Obviously there's risks attached with applying again since

a) you might get rejected
b) you might get a higher APR
c) you might get a lower credit limit

But for those of you who have a squeaky clean credit history and don't have a habit of applying for a new credit card every 2 days then IMHO its worth re-applying for the Clarity card - especially if you have a APR > 15% :T

well that's a difference of 5%

so on a £100 balance that's 100 x 5%/365 = 1.4 pence per day
I guess very little helps

Joe_Bloggs

If the Rate is 20% per annum then £1000 borrowed for 1 day is 50p.
I risk losing the £5 per month for spending just £300 on the card whilst it is cancelled. It is not easy to justify the loss of income for a potential future benefit if you pay the card off every month. That is unless the amount borrowed is very large.
J_B

chattychappy

baby_frogmella wrote: »

Wasn't told of my credit limit (previously was 8.5k) but even its 2-3k i'll still be happy.

CLAPTON wrote: »

well that's a difference of 5%
so on a £100 balance that's 100 x 5%/365 = 1.4 pence per day
I guess very little helps

Well... I'd much rather not risk the lower limit/rejection for a new card. If you travel alot, it could cost you dearly to have to use a card with 2/3% loading and, perhaps, a fee for ATM withdrawals. Could be as much as £6 on £100, which blows away 1.4 pence a day. I'd stick with 1.4p/day. OK my ATM withdrawals are typically £300 and I pay back a few days later. So call that 20p. I'm still happy! As for 2k/3k limit, I've bought flight tickets that cost that much...

But not arguing about the principle. Just that people should think very carefully about closing a card with a such a decent limit and 0% loading if they travel alot.

baby_frogmella

CLAPTON wrote: »

well that's a difference of 5%

so on a £100 balance that's 100 x 5%/365 = 1.4 pence per day
I guess very little helps

You did read this right?

baby_frogmella wrote: »

For regular LARGE cash withdrawals the interest charges can mount up.

I have on a few occasions drawn as much as £3k from a HSBC branch in Dubai per day - obviously told Halifax about this beforehand so didn't have any problems (£300 daily limit is only from cash machines).

Compare the difference in interest charges for 3k:

£3000 x 0.179/365 = £1.47 per day

£3000 x 0.129/365 = £1.06 per day

That's quite a big saving isn't it? I'm pretty sure not everyone makes manual payments to their account, many people just have direct debits setup to pay off their statement balance in full so in the above example can be £12 worse off per month.

callum9999 wrote: »

Wouldn't it be easier to just get a fee-free debit card for cash withdrawals? .

I did have N&P Gold current account last year and it was fantastic - as well as free cash withdrawals overseas, N&P's customer service is on a par with First Direct's (whom i've now rejoined). Since i only like to have one current account, problem was that N&P do not accept CHAPS/overseas payments directly into their accounts ie you have to send them via Barclays. So had to close my account as i get a lot of overseas payments and they were going missing, thanks to c0ck-ups from Barclays :mad:

Roger1

CLAPTON wrote: »

I guess very little helps

When I read this, I thought it was a typo, then realised it was very subtle.

chattychappy wrote: »

Well... I'd much rather not risk the lower limit/rejection for a new card. ...

But not arguing about the principle. Just that people should think very carefully about closing a card with a such a decent limit and 0% loading if they travel alot.

I agree.

baby_frogmella wrote: »

Compare the difference in interest charges for 3k:

£3000 x 0.179/365 = £1.47 per day

£3000 x 0.129/365 = £1.06 per day

That's quite a big saving isn't it?

No, it's a bargain either way for cash on a credit card and much less than most customers pay whether on debit or credit cards.

callum9999

baby_frogmella wrote: »

I did have N&P Gold current account last year and it was fantastic - as well as free cash withdrawals overseas, N&P's customer service is on a par with First Direct's (whom i've now rejoined). Since i only like to have one current account, problem was that N&P do not accept CHAPS/overseas payments directly into their accounts ie you have to send them via Barclays. So had to close my account as i get a lot of overseas payments and they were going missing, thanks to c0ck-ups from Barclays :mad:

Ok then, but I don't think many people would be remotely bothered by having 2 accounts. In which case opening an additional N&P account (or even just making that their main account if they really only want 1) is a far better option than gambling over losing your Clarity card.

eschaton

I applied once the other week - got 21.9%.

Never had a card at 21.9% in my life. Told them to cancel my application.

Apply again? Never.