Fair FX exchange rates

Parisii

Hi all,
I'm staying in Denmark for 6 months and will mostly use the Halifax Clarity card for purchaese but will also need some access to cash so got a FairFX Anywhere card. I can't find on their site what the exchange rate is for GBP to DKK apart from for their currency purchase service which I'm hoping is not the same rate as this is v low compared to my bank Co-op which is universally deemed to be poor for foreign exchange. All I can find is a reference to the cards offering 'business level rates of foreign exchange'. Does anyone know where I can find an actual exchange rate?
Thanks

neilbond007

Here's a comparison of rates for transferring 5000 GBP

http://www.fxcompared.com/Content/money-transfer-from-UK-Denmark-above-3000-amount-5000

benjus

Parisii wrote: »

Hi all,
I'm staying in Denmark for 6 months and will mostly use the Halifax Clarity card for purchaese but will also need some access to cash so got a FairFX Anywhere card. I can't find on their site what the exchange rate is for GBP to DKK apart from for their currency purchase service which I'm hoping is not the same rate as this is v low compared to my bank Co-op which is universally deemed to be poor for foreign exchange. All I can find is a reference to the cards offering 'business level rates of foreign exchange'. Does anyone know where I can find an actual exchange rate?
Thanks

The Fair FX Anywhere is a Mastercard, so the exchange rate applied is the Mastercard rate ( https://www.mastercard.com/global/currencyconversion/index.html ), with fees of 1.4% + a cash withdrawal fee of £1 per withdrawal.

I'm not sure why you have decided to get a separate card for cash withdrawals. The Halifax Clarity is great for cash withdrawals, and although you will have to pay interest, it is likely to be less than the fees on the Fair FX Anywhere card. Even if you have the worst interest rate available on the Clarity card you will probably pay less in fees as long as you pay off the cash withdrawals within a month. If you can pay them off faster than that the interest will of course be lower.

zagfles

Yes, use the Clarity for cash withdrawals, it'll be cheaper than any pre-paid card as there is no charge for cash withdrawals, other than interest, which you can minimise by paying it off as soon as you can. You get the Mastercard rate as linked above which is pretty much unbeatable.

Neil49

Assuming you have internet access while in Denmark, you could do transfers from your UK bank account to your Clarity account on a frequent (say weekly) basis to minimise interest charges. What you can't do is preload the Clarity with excess funds.

Also, you need to advise Halifax of your travel dates and location to avoid the card possibly being blocked.

Parisii

Thanks all for your responses. I hadn't thought that the interest on the credit card withdrawals would be cheaper. If I make a payment to cover the cash drawn out, will it actually cover that specific amount or just come off the balance? I don't want to be in a position where I effectively have to pay off all purchases in order to be able to draw out cash. Is there a way to differentiate?

zagfles

Parisii wrote: »

Thanks all for your responses. I hadn't thought that the interest on the credit card withdrawals would be cheaper. If I make a payment to cover the cash drawn out, will it actually cover that specific amount or just come off the balance? I don't want to be in a position where I effectively have to pay off all purchases in order to be able to draw out cash. Is there a way to differentiate?

It's a bit complicated...there are two rules:

1) Payments go towards statemented items before non statemented items

2) Payments go towards cash advances before purchases

Rule 1 trumps rule 2.

This means you can pay off a cash advance in the current statement period only once the previous statement is fully paid off. But once it is, you can pay off the cash advance even if you've also made purchases in the current statement period.

Remember also you may have to wait a day or two for the cash advance to appear. But don't worry about a few days interest, it'll be trivial. Even a whole month's interest is only about 1% if you have the 12.9%APR, less than you'd pay on the FairFX card.

Parisii

Got it! Thanks for the advice!