Shall I tell Halifax credit card that I am going abroad?

Frenc_Connection

Hi

Following the advice about those specialist credit card for travelling money on this website, I have applied for a halifax clarity credit card as I am going to travel to gran cnanaria in three weeks.

Now, I dont know whether it is best to tell them the dates I am going to be away so to avoid them to block the card for suspiscious transactions or not to tell them as they might not like the fact I have only applied for this card to benefit of non existing fee for spending and very low charges when withdrawing cash and make it hard for me to use the card?

I obviously intend to repay the full amount spend abroad when back in uk and they obviously not like that.

What do you think? what shall i do

Thanks

bargainbetty

If they have already approved the card, then there is absolutely nothing they can do about it. Tell them, or they may decide your card has been stolen and block it.

Stuff Halifax. As long as you are using the card within the terms offered, they can't do much to stop you.

Have a great trip

zerog

If they designed a product which is mainly useful abroad, then why would they make it hard to use abroad?

*Scarlett

I'm sure many people take this card for the reasons that you have.

They obviously promote these benefits to attract customers, so why should you not take advantage of them when you have been approved for the card?

You seem to be under the impression that you would be doing something sneaky by using the card abroad so soon after taking it out to take advantage of the benefits.

Rest assured this is not the case. They have accepted you as a customer with T&Cs, interest rates, etc and there is nothing to stop you using the card within the T&Cs.

It wouldn't do any harm to advise them of when you will be using the card abroad to avoid any issues.

I don't know how Halifax works with this, but when I logged into my Virgin card today I got a message to text them if I was going on hols and was intending to use the card.

You could just ring them and ask if it would be necessary to inform them of a "potential" trip abroad in order to use the card.

guesswho2000

Definitely tell them, they're one of the companies which notifying them makes a difference to help payments go through. This news article explains more http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/travel/2012/07/avoid-blocked-card-holiday-nightmare.

They won't care that you're going away, they're marketing a card that's aimed at foreign use - they make their money through interchange on the purchases and interest charged on cash withdrawals, so they don't lose out!

Have a good trip! :beer:

Frenc_Connection

thanks guys, I am going to call to let them know then.

sharpy2010

personally i'd tell them, but not expect them to do much about it. when i worked for them, all they did was put a note on the computer about it. fine in theory, but a computer doesnt read notes when deciding whether or not to authorise your transaction, so all a bit pointless really. they might have changed how they do things by now, that was ten years ago!

lisyloo

I would tell them.
I had my card blocked in Thailand and cost me £20 in mobile calls to get it unblocked.
Of course there is NO guarantee but I can't see why you wouldn't call them cheaply whilst in the UK.
Take spare cards as well.

Wammer

Definitely tell them. You can advise them of trips up to a year in advance.

I have always told them and used the Clarity card in Europe and the US without incident.

cautiousjon

Definitely tell them. I went to USA last April and told Halifax and not a single transaction got declined. I spoke with a rep and they said they use that information to ensure that they don't automatically start declining transactions when they see you start spending lots of money abroad.

What you may or may not know is that should you need to call Halifax when you are abroad, you can ask for a reverse chargeback call (i.e. Halifax will pay for the call). Enter 01 for the international operator and ask for a reverse chargeback to 00442920446001. I have been assured by a Halifax rep that Halifax will accept the call.

sharpy2010

It all depends which rep you get, some will say no just to be difficult. Silly, but I saw it happen plenty of times.