Saga or Halifax Clarity?

NiftyDigits

lisyloo wrote: »

As alreay stated it's 12.9% for a whole year, if you pay off in zero days then the interest is small.
You need to work out how quickly you can make the repayments e.g. are you sat by a safe computer or are you up a mountain without internet access?



It a very cheap and safe way to get money when travelling.
Apart from that the only reason would be a very short term (and quite expensive) loan.

I use a debit card for precisely that purpose. No rush to get to a computer or telephone to cover the Clarity usage and no possible comeback on one's credit file for using a CC to make cash withdrawals.

N&P, Cumberland BS and Metro Bank debit cards are all suitable to the task.

NiftyDigits

izools wrote: »

I don't understand the protracted conversation going on here,

analyst - if you don't like the Halifax card, don't use it. It's very simple.

It's still the cheapest way of withdrawing cash abroad, but whatever. In regards to payments, I can pay my CC by faster payments from my phone and it takes barely any longer than actually using the thing in a chip and pin machine, and whatever I transfer using my Building Society's mobile banking app appears as available credit on my third-party credit card within minutes.

My credit card, incidentally, is an Aqua card, which uses Halifax' systems, so the same would count true for your card - in so much as they accept faster payments and make any transfers almost immediately available.

And just to pre-empt what we all know you're going to say - nearly all mobile operators provide enough daily usage free abroad these days for you to use your mobile banking app, not to mention you're bound to find wireless access points around wherever you're going now and again.

It's all far simpler than you make it out to be.

EDIT: This is all completely pointless to discuss anyway, as Saga's 0% introductory offers don't apply to CASH ADVANCES, and even if you clear the bill in full, you'll still pay interest on the cash withdrawal from the date you make it to the date it's paid.

So Clarity remains the best option.

No, it is not the cheapest way(unless you use it in conjunction with a Reward account and pay off in full immediately as used). It is one of the cheapest ways. The cheapest? That accolade is reserved for certain debit cards.

Really? Mobile networks nearly all give free data allowances abroad??

I suppose a little bit of hyperbole makes a story more interesting.

izools

I had a look through the Saga T&C before posting and couldn't find the excerpt about cash withdrawals also being free when the statement was cleared in full, so well done for finding it and apologies for the minor inaccuracy in my post.

Nevertheless, if you have a mobile banking app and FP any cash withdrawal back to your clarity card when you make it the interest charged will be as good as non-existent compared with the Saga 2% fee.

And yes, more and more mobile operators are giving free data abroad. I used a Vodafone SIM when I went to Denmark last summer and the provided 25MB a day free of charge, which was ample as long as I didn't upload photos to Facebook etc.

NiftyDigits

izools wrote: »

I had a look through the Saga T&C before posting and couldn't find the excerpt about cash withdrawals also being free when the statement was cleared in full, so well done for finding it and apologies for the minor inaccuracy in my post.

Nevertheless, if you have a mobile banking app and FP any cash withdrawal back to your clarity card when you make it the interest charged will be as good as non-existent compared with the Saga 2% fee.

And yes, more and more mobile operators are giving free data abroad. I used a Vodafone SIM when I went to Denmark last summer and the provided 25MB a day free of charge, which was ample as long as I didn't upload photos to Facebook etc.

Please provide the links to back up this statement. I'm sure a huge amount of people would be interested.
I think that you will find that you are completely wrong.

You have to pay for this. Usually a daily fee. What on earth are you thinking? Free??

As an aside, the SAGA card does not charge interest on cash withdrawals as long as you pay in full by your statement date.
The Clarity charges interest from the day that you withdraw the cash, until you pay in full.
But the SAGA card has a 2% cash withdrawal charge(which was only recently introduced. Before that it was actually the best CC for overseas usage.)

izools

NiftyDigits wrote: »

As an aside, the SAGA card does not charge interest on cash withdrawals as long as you pay in full by your statement date

Yes I know we're already been over this.

Re-read my last post. Properly this time. I stated that the 2% fee charged by Saga far outweighs any interest charged by a Clarity card as the monthly rate is under 1% on a 12.9% APR.

Free data abroad?

http://www.vodafone.co.uk/campaigns/price-changes/going-abroad25/index.htm?cid=rdr-6982-04

Next?

Apology accepted.

NiftyDigits

izools wrote: »

Yes I know we're already been over this.

Re-read my last post. Properly this time. I stated that the 2% fee charged by Saga far outweighs any interest charged by a Clarity card as the monthly rate is under 1% on a 12.9% APR.

Free data abroad?

http://www.vodafone.co.uk/campaigns/price-changes/going-abroad25/index.htm?cid=rdr-6982-04

Next?

Apology accepted.

Seems that you are not carrying a full pack of cards....

Further to your link.....

Vodafone Data Traveller:

Travelling outside Europe? Planning to browse the web, email or go on Facebook and Twitter while you’re away? Opt in to Vodafone Data Traveller and you’ll only pay £5 for 25MB for every day

Link

Within Europe:

Vodafone EuroTraveller

Stay in touch when you're out of the country. Vodafone EuroTraveller gives you the freedom to take your UK price plan (excluding extras) with you anywhere in our Europe zone for just an extra £3 a day (midnight to 23:59, local time). So there's no need to worry about huge bills when you get home.

Link

Did you think that it was free? Poor boy.

Still waiting to see the more and more mobile operators to which you were referring.
You haven't shown me one yet.

As to SAGA, what your 'brain' cannot comprehend is that even if you pay the Clarity statement in full via DD, that doesn't mean that you have paid the whole bill.

Simple example for you. Withdraw £500 on one day, but your actual payment date may not be until 56 days later. That is closer to two months of interest payable.
Add to that not everyone being offered 12.9% APR and it doesn't look at all attractive for those who are borrowing. Could total more than 3%.

Get my point?

Seems that you are not as smart as you appear to imagine.

Don't just read, comprehend.

Never mind, better luck next time.

analyst_2

That roaming phone discussion above, which I won't bother to quote and requote, all rather pre-supposes I have a smart phone and/or 3G, which I don't . . . and have no intentions of ever getting.

My existing phone does everything I need. It makes phone calls, it cn snd txt msgs, I can, and do, listen to the radio, it has a great mp3 player, and it has a camera/video mode.

If I want to browse the web I have a computer or two at home, where I can see it all on a good sized screen. And if I want pictures, I'd use my decent camera not a phone anyway.

I can think of little, if anything, that occurs in my day (and most peoples' if they were honest to themselves) that won't keep till the evening when I can access the web at my leisure.

But thanks for your information regardless.

EDIT:
Since the discussion did drift into this area, my use abroad would be outside of Europe . . . despite the plummeting £-v-$ situation

lisyloo

But my point was that I was seeing it as a form of 'withdrawal penalty' to be imposed regardless of any other calculation/consideration.

You need to get your information straight rather than making up conpsiracy theories of your own.
There is NO penalty.
The interest is charged until you pay the money off.
If that's zero days then that equals ZERO interest. That's not a theory I've done it dozens of times.

I ahe much sympathy for not wanting to be tied to a PC on holiday, further more some people may be on a remote diving boat or some such or even on a sandard cruise where the satelite internet is very expensive.
Even then the 12.9% ANNUAL interest is very small (but you need to do the maths for your period of time).

FWIW - 2 weeks of interest is probably less that the cost on a latte and quite possibly less that the cost of internet access.

p.s. there is a standard warning about putting in banking details on shared computers on holiday. If you're not sure then my recommendation is to pay off when you get home (for less than the cost of a latte). I know this is an MSE site, but being it's not worth giving away your banking details.

NiftyDigits

analyst wrote: »

That roaming phone discussion above, which I won't bother to quote and requote, all rather pre-supposes I have a smart phone and/or 3G, which I don't . . . and have no intentions of ever getting.

My existing phone does everything I need. It makes phone calls, it cn snd txt msgs, I can, and do, listen to the radio, it has a great mp3 player, and it has a camera/video mode.

If I want to browse the web I have a computer or two at home, where I can see it all on a good sized screen. And if I want pictures, I'd use my decent camera not a phone anyway.

I can think of little, if anything, that occurs in my day (and most peoples' if they were honest to themselves) that won't keep till the evening when I can access the web at my leisure.

But thanks for your information regardless.

EDIT:
Since the discussion did drift into this area, my use abroad would be outside of Europe . . . despite the plummeting £-v-$ situation

The data 'discussion' only took place because izools is making a habit(at least on this thread) of posting erroneous information and the rest of us are having to correct it, lest someone reading takes it for gospel.

Anyway, if living within the M25, put the Metro Bank Debit and Credit card on your list. Their debit card is the natural replacement for the Nationwide card that once was and the credit card is equal or better than the Clarity(due to there being really only one interest rate offered(13% APR).
You'll have the debit card in your hand(hopefully) on your first visit.

analyst_2

Calm down kids, calm down. Its only a commercial!

Metro Bank? what Metro Bank?
I try to avoid visiting anything within the M25 car-park as much as possible.
Having said that, I do need to get to Heathrow to take wings, dammit!
That leads us into airport car parking, a whole new kettle of stinking fish.