Halifax Clarity Card

Andy_Philpott

A few weeks ago I used my Clarity card to draw 300 Euro from an ATM. Their exchange rates are spot on and at the time came out at 1.25 to £.

As soon as the amount appeared on my account (using on line service) I made a transfer from my UK bank account to cover it. Interest cost just 48p (i.e 6 days interest on the sterling amount). That is far better than using a pre loaded payment card - I have a Caxton card which loads the exchange rate by 2.5% (effectively reducing 1.25 to 1.218) and have noted others on the MSE site which go down to 1.49% but even that is more expensive as it would have "cost" around £3.50 via the exchange rate.

Downside is that if you also use the card for purchases you need to repay the full amount outstanding and not just the cash element. So I now have a card in my wife's name which I will use solely for cash!

Note that the terms of the card do not allow you to pre load the card with cash.

Also, if you do repay in full you have to tell them or the direct debit for the previous statement will still go through. They then refund the DD amount back to your card a few days later. This will rarely be a problem if you use the card just for cash and repay as soon as the sterling amount hits your account, generally no more than 2 days later.

I have yet to come up with a more cost effective way of getting currency but if anyone knows better please speak up!

Gloomendoom

I find it much more reassuring carry thousands of pounds in cash on me when I'm in foreign parts so I prefer to take a huge thick wad of 'spends' in Sterling. I reckon can get a better rate from the dodgy looking bloke down at the docks.

Not!

NFH

Andy_Philpott wrote: »

Downside is that if you also use the card for purchases you need to repay the full amount outstanding and not just the cash element. So I now have a card in my wife's name which I will use solely for cash!

That used to be the case but not any more. They now have to apply any payments first towards the most expensive debt, i.e. the cash withdrawals.

NiftyDigits

Honestly, what a load of ...writing.

Metro Bank Debit card or the N&P Gold account removes the need for that palaver.
Clearly no idea about how the Prepaid card thing works either.. How does he get a 1.49% card to become more expensive that a card that charges 2.5%?

Andy_Philpott

Nifty Digits. I said that the Caxton prepaid Card is 2.5%, and there are others at 1.49%. The comparison I made was between the 1.49% card (flat "fee") and the few days interest at 12.9% per annum on the Clarity Card. 48p interest is certainly less than the exchange rate "loss" on the 1.49% cards.

I do not know how the Metro debit card or N&P Gold accounts work. Could you explain?

Gloomendoom

Andy_Philpott wrote: »

I do not know how the Metro debit card or N&P Gold accounts work. Could you explain?

They both require opening a current account with Metro or N&P. It's horses for courses as not everybody wants to change banks or have multiple accounts. Metro also requires a trip within the M25 to open.

Wammer

NFH wrote: »

That used to be the case but not any more. They now have to apply any payments first towards the most expensive debt, i.e. the cash withdrawals.

However if there are purchases on the card from the previous month which have been statemented, any payment goes towards them first before the cash withdrawal.

zagfles

Gloomendoom wrote: »

They both require opening a current account with Metro or N&P. It's horses for courses as not everybody wants to change banks or have multiple accounts. Metro also requires a trip within the M25 to open.

N&P also have some strings - think you need to make something like 5 transactions a month. Someone here said they have 5 SO's for 1p each or something like that

Re the DD on the Clarity - why bother, if you're mainly going to use it for getting foreign cash having a DD to pay it off just complicates matters. I just pay it off as soon as I get back off holiday.

Obviously if you're going on a long holiday eg over 3 weeks you may have to make arrangements to get it paid while you're abroad, either DD or secure internet access abroad, but for long holidays it'd be well worth getting a MetroBank or N&P account.