Saga or Halifax Clarity?

NiftyDigits

Calm enough not to post nonsense.

There is actually one in Hounslow. So if you are organised enough to give yourself a few hours before your flight, you can get yourself a debit card that rivals your original Flexaccount debit before you travel.

Metro Bank

They print the card on the spot. No ATM charges. No forex charges.

analyst wrote: »

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.

analyst_2

So if you are organised enough to give yourself a few hours before your flight, you can get yourself a debit card that rivals your original Flexaccount debit before you travel.
They print the card on the spot. No ATM charges. No forex charges.

Interesting and very commendable suggestion, but . . . sadly fraught with problems. (and please, no comments about my big but)
Timing has never been my strong point. Given that I have a 3 hour motorway journey in perfect conditions, + car parking and transfers, +check-in cut-off of 1hour, I'd be lucky to get to the plane on time, far less a banking spree in Hounslow.

And I doubt my Metro on-the-spot application would be smooth sailing. Given that I am an out-of-territory applicant and worse I have a huge credit application problem. (as you can see, at least as big as my but)

Not that I have a credit problem, far from it, but its the application process. You see, I am normally called by my middle name, and always have been since birth. All my accounts are therefore taken out in my middle name, the only one I ever answer to. However, all formal documents, e.g. passport, driving licence, and particularly electoral roll - the first point of credit reference, is inevitably held in formal First Name - Surname format. So the references never match up.

This has been fine for years, in the days when you actually met bank managers and B Soc. managers in the flesh. Can anyone remember those days? Sigh!

However, since our lives became nothing but 0's and 1's it has proved to be a living hell.
Hmmmm, am I beginning to sound less than calm now?

NiftyDigits

analyst wrote: »

Interesting and very commendable suggestion, but . . . sadly fraught with problems. (and please, no comments about my big but)
Timing has never been my strong point. Given that I have a 3 hour motorway journey in perfect conditions, + car parking and transfers, +check-in cut-off of 1hour, I'd be lucky to get to the plane on time, far less a banking spree in Hounslow.

And I doubt my Metro on-the-spot application would be smooth sailing. Given that I am an out-of-territory applicant and worse I have a huge credit application problem. (as you can see, at least as big as my but)

Not that I have a credit problem, far from it, but its the application process. You see, I am normally called by my middle name, and always have been since birth. All my accounts are therefore taken out in my middle name, the only one I ever answer to. However, all formal documents, e.g. passport, driving licence, and particularly electoral roll - the first point of credit reference, is inevitably held in formal First Name - Surname format. So the references never match up.

This has been fine for years, in the days when you actually met bank managers and B Soc. managers in the flesh. Can anyone remember those days? Sigh!

However, since our lives became nothing but 0's and 1's it has proved to be a living hell.
Hmmmm, am I beginning to sound less than calm now?

It's a current account, not a credit card. They only need to see your passport and perhaps a utility bill.
The territory is wholly unimportant, as long as you are from the UK.
You will be meeting them in the flesh, hence why you can have your card printed within the hour. Are you listening?
Give them a call in advance and get up a bit earlier. There are quite a few of them now. Perhaps you can visit another branch.
Now I now why you call yourself an analyst.

bigadaj

Dropping into a branch, opening an account, getting a card and then nipping off for your flight... What could possibly go wrong?

OP just chose whatever is most convenient and reasonable value.

I've just used a clarity card and all easy, could no doubt get marginally cheaper but for a few pence couldn't be. Bothered. Paid off within a couple of days of return, so 0.5% cost on cash withdrawals.

zagfles

NiftyDigits wrote: »

It's a current account, not a credit card. They only need to see your passport and perhaps a utility bill.
The territory is wholly unimportant, as long as you are from the UK.
You will be meeting them in the flesh, hence why you can have your card printed within the hour. Are you listening?
Give them a call in advance and get up a bit earlier. There are quite a few of them now. Perhaps you can visit another branch.
Now I now why you call yourself an analyst.

Do they give you the PIN on the day too? How would the OP get his money transferred into the new account? Cheque maybe, but wouldn't be able to withdraw it for a few days. Cash? Bit risky. Faster payments transfer, he'd have to log into his other account from somewhere.

All in all sounds like a daft idea to just save a few £ over the Clarity. But I know how obsessive you are

izools

NiftyDigits wrote: »

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

Never mind, better luck next time.

1. If you opt in to Vodafone Data Traveller, it costs £5 a month. If however you already have a data plan it's provided gratis.

It was given to me completely free of charge when I went to Denmark and I didn't have any additional packages or whatever, just a basic 600 minutes, unlimited texts, 500MB data plan.

But that's irrelevant, as many others have now observed.

What's important is this:

2. 56 days @ 12.9% APR = 1.88% which is of course still less than the 2% fee charged by saga.

I know it hurts to be wrong sometimes, but you're just making yourself look like an obstinate fool.

NiftyDigits

zagfles wrote: »

Do they give you the PIN on the day too? How would the OP get his money transferred into the new account? Cheque maybe, but wouldn't be able to withdraw it for a few days. Cash? Bit risky. Faster payments transfer, he'd have to log into his other account from somewhere.

All in all sounds like a daft idea to just save a few £ over the Clarity. But I know how obsessive you are

You get the PIN and an online account set up at the same time.
Why would cash be risky? The have ATMs in branch. Where are you? In the '70s?

Obessive? You mean rushing to cover your Clarity spends so that you can save on interest. Funny

jennifernil

Further to my original post.....

When abroad, you can get free Wi-Fi in lots of places should you wish to log on and pay off the cash advance on your Clarity.

We don't bother. Last year we were away in Europe for 2 months, we withdrew the equivalent of just over £1500 in cash, our charges were just under £15, leaving our monthly DD to take the full balance.

NiftyDigits

izools wrote: »

1. If you opt in to Vodafone Data Traveller, it costs £5 a month. If however you already have a data plan it's provided gratis.

It was given to me completely free of charge when I went to Denmark and I didn't have any additional packages or whatever, just a basic 600 minutes, unlimited texts, 500MB data plan.

But that's irrelevant, as many others have now observed.

What's important is this:

2. 56 days @ 12.9% APR = 1.88% which is of course still less than the 2% fee charged by saga.

I know it hurts to be wrong sometimes, but you're just making yourself look like an obstinate fool.

Indeed, if everyone was offered the 12.9% APR, your figures might make sense. But they aren't, so they don't.
Do all three projections for a balanced view.

Seems that is beyond your understanding.

I never at any point wrote that the SAGA was best, I just explained the difference. It's seems that you will write anything to make yourself look in the right..

As for your Data Plan nonsense.....

Vodafone users on tariffs over £40 monthly(bargain, eh?) got Data Traveller included with their plan.
Any tariff under £40 had to pay £10 per month to add it.
That tariff has been closed to new customers and replaced with the ones above.

Links here and here.

Still waiting for the more and more mobile operators info.

Irrelevant? The OP isn't the only member of this forum. There are probably others ready your nonsense and hyperbole.

You do post utter nonsense and it appears that you will continue to do so, regardless of how wildly inaccurate your statements may be.

Obstinate fool....there's irony for you.

NiftyDigits

jennifernil wrote: »

Further to my original post.....

When abroad, you can get free Wi-Fi in lots of places should you wish to log on and pay off the cash advance on your Clarity.

We don't bother. Last year we were away in Europe for 2 months, we withdrew the equivalent of just over £1500 in cash, our charges were just under £15, leaving our monthly DD to take the full balance.

The Clarity is good....if you need to borrow money. A suitable debit card is better.