Do you think my plan to avoid overseas credit card fees will work?

Swesus_2

This summer I am travelling to California and St Lucia.

I have seen that the Halifax Clarity Credit Card has no usage fees:

No cash withdrawal fee
No fee to use it anywhere worldwide
No annual fee

My plan is to bring only this card, and use it to take out local currency from an ATM once I am there.

The obvious pitfall is that they would charge me interest as soon as I take out the cash. So I intend to preload the credit card with money, by making an overpayment. That way the card would never have go into debt, so there would be nothing to charge interest on.

So this way I won't have to pay any fees at all.

What do you think? Will my plan work, or would the bank still charge me regardless?

nickcc

Check the terms and conditions, must cards prohibit pre loading the card.

YorkshireBoy

nickcc wrote: »

Check the terms and conditions

Specifically, condition 16.9

Attackthebanks

Swesus wrote: »

This summer I am travelling to California and St Lucia.

I have seen that the Halifax Clarity Credit Card has no usage fees:

No cash withdrawal fee
No fee to use it anywhere worldwide
No annual fee

My plan is to bring only this card, and use it to take out local currency from an ATM once I am there.

The obvious pitfall is that they would charge me interest as soon as I take out the cash. So I intend to preload the credit card with money, by making an overpayment. That way the card would never have go into debt, so there would be nothing to charge interest on.

So this way I won't have to pay any fees at all.

What do you think? Will my plan work, or would the bank still charge me regardless?

Halifax wont charge you atm fees, but almost every single atm in the usa charges $3 for non usa residents/banking customers.
So if your gonna lift $400, better to do it once and get charged $403, rather than $203 + $203 = $406.

I have not found a way round these charges yet imposed by ALL the atms in the states.
Having said that, $3 is approx £1.80, and your still getting the mastercard exchange rate of currently £1 = $1.64.

reclusive46

Attackthebanks wrote: »

Halifax wont charge you atm fees, but almost every single atm in the usa charges $3 for non usa residents/banking customers.
So if your gonna lift $400, better to do it once and get charged $403, rather than $203 + $203 = $406.

I have not found a way round these charges yet imposed by ALL the atms in the states.
Having said that, $3 is approx £1.80, and your still getting the mastercard exchange rate of currently £1 = $1.64.

There is one ATM network that is surcharge free. They are normally the ones outside of Publix but I can't remember what the network is called.

To be perfectly honest though Its really quite rare for me to even use cash in the US. Far more convenient to pay by card even for small value transactions, you just swipe and go usually (US still uses the magnetic stripe for most transaction and you don't usually need to sign if the transaction is under 50 dollars). All tips in restaurants can be don e by card, you just add it on the credit card slip when you sign.

CLAPTON

I would always take at least two ways of paying in case the CC gets refused / lost etc

in nay event the interest is peanuts as long as you pay asap after you get back (or by internet banking whilst there)

Attackthebanks

reclusive46 wrote: »

There is one ATM network that is surcharge free. They are normally the ones outside of Publix but I can't remember what the network is called.

To be perfectly honest though Its really quite rare for me to even use cash in the US. Far more convenient to pay by card even for small value transactions, you just swipe and go usually (US still uses the magnetic stripe for most transaction and you don't usually need to sign if the transaction is under 50 dollars). All tips in restaurants can be don e by card, you just add it on the credit card slip when you sign.

I always prefer tipping cash, that way the server/s get the money in HAND without having to rely on their employer to pass the tip to them .
If you do tip cash, remember to mark 0 on the credit card bill next to tip, and enter the full balance of the meal only.

jonesMUFCforever

CLAPTON wrote: »

I would always take at least two ways of paying in case the CC gets refused / lost etc

in nay event the interest is peanuts as long as you pay asap after you get back (or by internet banking whilst there)

You beat me to it - take as many different cards as you can.
I would rather pay a few quid to get my money than rely on just one card.

dzug1

You may get away with preloading the card, or it may get blocked (no access to funds at all) or the excess returned


It probably depends on by how much


Not worth the risk

Swesus_2

Halifax cover this in their Common Enquires section:

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.

I think I will get the card anyway. So long as I pay the money off with a month it looks like I won't be charged more than 1% anyway, which is ok.

jonesMUFCforever

Swesus wrote: »

Halifax cover this in their Common Enquires section:


I think I will get the card anyway. So long as I pay the money off with a month it looks like I won't be charged more than 1% anyway, which is ok.

You don't have to wait a month or even your statement to be produced. You can pay back as soon as the transactions hit the account.