FairFX vs Halifax Clarity for US$ spending

lampard

HI All

Just looking for some advice on what would be the better card to use for spending in the US.

FairFx gives me access to an ATM with free withdrawals which would be useful but then I believe the clarity's interest rate is the lowest possible.

Anyone had this choice to make in the past? What have you opted for?

Thanks

benjus

Halifax Clarity will be cheaper unless you leave the cash withdrawals unpaid for some time to accumulate interest. If you pay them off by direct debit at the end of the month they will still probably amount to less than the FairFX charges (you don't specify if you are talking about the FairFX USD card or the FairFX Anywhere card; rather counter-intuitively the Anywhere card is actually cheaper than the USD card, even in the USA). If you can pay off the cash withdrawals before the end of the money via online banking, the interest will amount to almost nothing.

NiftyDigits

Free ATM withdrawals with FairFx? Are you sure? Honestly....

Neil49

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Free ATM withdrawals with FairFx? Are you sure? Honestly....

Quite right. FairFx charge $2 for atm withdrawals plus whatever the US bank adds on top of that (typically $3 from what I have found). With the Clarity card you just pay the US bank fee.

Caxton do not impose an atm charge but their exchange rate is less competitive than FairFx to compensate.

When we were in New York last October we found that TD bank didn't charge an atm fee.

Personally I would use a Clarity card and pay off the balance as soon as you get back to the UK (or go online while in the US and do a transfer to clear the balance incurred to date). What you can't do is preload the Clarity card before going away.

NiftyDigits

Neil49 wrote: »

Quite right. FairFx charge $2 for atm withdrawals plus whatever the US bank adds on top of that (typically $3 from what I have found). With the Clarity card you just pay the US bank fee.

Caxton do not impose an atm charge but their exchange rate is less competitive than FairFx to compensate.

When we were in New York last October we found that TD bank didn't charge an atm fee.

Personally I would use a Clarity card and pay off the balance as soon as you get back to the UK (or go online while in the US and do a transfer to clear the balance incurred to date). What you can't do is preload the Clarity card before going away.

Good info.

lampard

Thanks so much for the great advice guys

I have applied for a Clarity this morning and while a full decision has not been reached yet I got a graphic telling me the rate is 21.9%

I remember their being a discussion about which rate is offered, I think I have the higher rate but lets hope not when the actual letter comes out to say accepted

Thanks for your help :T

NiftyDigits

lampard wrote: »

Thanks so much for the great advice guys

I have applied for a Clarity this morning and while a full decision has not been reached yet I got a graphic telling me the rate is 21.9%

I remember their being a discussion about which rate is offered, I think I have the higher rate but lets hope not when the actual letter comes out to say accepted

Thanks for your help :T

Why should you care about the rate?? Just pay the cash withdrawals off ASAP or just get a decent debit card in the first place and just use the Clarity for purchases.

Delree

I use a Fairfx card in the States and whilst I certainly pay the $2 fee for using the ATM I have never been charged extra by the bank I used. Never ever ever and I must have conducted 20 ATM withdrawals in the last year from loads of different banks, in honestly I don't even look what the bank is just whether they take Mastercard.

Neil49

Delree wrote: »

I use a Fairfx card in the States and whilst I certainly pay the $2 fee for using the ATM I have never been charged extra by the bank I used. Never ever ever and I must have conducted 20 ATM withdrawals in the last year from loads of different banks, in honestly I don't even look what the bank is just whether they take Mastercard.

I went to use a Chase atm in New York and it advised me prior to processing that their would be a $3 charge for using the atm and did I want to proceed.

I'm also aware that there have been previous postings on this site where people have been asking which banks didn't impose an atm charge. Such charges seem to be the norm now that most US banks charge their customers a monthly fee for operating their accounts (with free atm usage as one of the benefits) but not customers such as us get charged.

If you can remember which banks you used it would be worth posting on here to help others avoid any charges.

As I mentioned in my post above I found that TD bank didn't charge, but they are a Canadian bank (Toronto Dominion) which may explain why.

Gloomendoom

zapasowe1 wrote: »

Yes, you can. I've been pre-loading HAlifax Clarity c. card every time: 2-3 days before I travel. Just phone your bank and say you are paying your Halifax Clarity card bill - Halifax doesn't return the transaction. The money stays 'in credit'

While pre-loading is possible, it is against the terms and conditions that you agreed to abide by when you applied for the card.

Can I put money on my card to increase my available credit whilst on holiday?

Credit cards are not designed to be used this way. Using the card in this way breaches the product's Terms & Conditions, which state:

7.7 You must not make payments or transfer funds from another credit or store card to your account that would leave a credit balance on your account. We may return any funds that exceed the balance owing on your account to the account from which the money was sent.

halifax.co.uk