Halifax Clarity holiday question.

smaug1979

Can you transfer money to your credit card before you go on holiday?

Example:

Transfer £400 by BACS prior to leaving UK then withdraw £400 worth of currency from destination @ perfect exchange rate?

Since you do not go into debt there should be no interest?

meer53

It's against the T & C's to do this.

Herbalus

BACS is technically a central payment system that processes lots of different types of transaction, usually direct debits and direct credits (salaries, tax credits, and other company payments etc). Faster Payments is now the default setting for one off transactions and standing orders, so this is what you would be using.

As Meer53 pointed out, you are not allowed to deliberately credit a credit card like this. For perfect exchange rates for cash you would need a debit card, such as Metro Bank or Norwich and Peterborough Building Society. However, the interest incurred on £400 for two weeks is minimal. Someone will probably have the figures but it's going to be less than £3-4.

edit: just found on another thread that the daily interest rate is 0.035424 - which is 14 pence per day on £400. A weeks holiday money for less than a pound!

AMG762

So would you need to wait for the monthly statement to be produced, or just wait until the transactions show against the account?

Herbalus

AMG762 wrote: »

So would you need to wait for the monthly statement to be produced, or just wait until the transactions show against the account?

I don't actually have this card (student...), but I'm reasonably certain you can make a transfer immediately after using the card, as I don't know how long it takes for transactions to show on the Clarity. My student-friendly, sub-prime card (Aqua Reward) takes a couple of days.

In any case, you certainly don't have to wait for the statement to be produced.

reclusive46

Herbalus wrote: »

I don't actually have this card (student...), but I'm reasonably certain you can make a transfer immediately after using the card, as I don't know how long it takes for transactions to show on the Clarity. My student-friendly, sub-prime card (Aqua Reward) takes a couple of days.

In any case, you certainly don't have to wait for the statement to be produced.

You can make a payment for it once the payment has cleared onto the account. Don't make a payment until its actually showing though, otherwise it could pay off another transaction, rather than the cash withdrawal.

YorkshireBoy

reclusive46 wrote: »

You can make a payment for it once the payment has cleared onto the account. Don't make a payment until its actually showing though, otherwise it could pay off another transaction, rather than the cash withdrawal.

For clarity (no pun intended!), this means showing on your statement...not simply appearing on your recent transactions list.

http://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/low-rate-no-fee/clarity-card/terms/ (see condition 6.1)

_gav_

I have this card and as soon as I am back in the UK I check online, see what the balance is and then clear it. I don't wait for the statement, saves a few £'s by clearing the balance ASAP.

Herbalus

Yes, if you have a balance from the previous statement then any payments you make will go towards that, and not towards any cash withdrawals you made after the statement production. In this case your options are to:
a) wait for the next statement to be produced, when your payments will be allocated to cash withdrawals before other types of purchase, or
b) when withdrawing cash, transfer this amount plus any other balance you have on the card. That will clear the whole balance and reduce your interest payments.

Doshwaster

Herbalus wrote: »

edit: just found on another thread that the daily interest rate is 0.035424 - which is 14 pence per day on £400. A weeks holiday money for less than a pound!

I recently used my Clarty card in Spain for the first time. I withdrew €200 then paid the balance off a few days later. I was charged a grand total of 17p in interest. Not bad at all.

Even if I had left the payment until it was due it would have still come to less than £2 which is still cheaper than most regular debit cards for withdrawing cash abroad.