Halifax mastercard

bitsandbobs

Hi

Just got a Halifax Mastercard as Im going on a trip to New York next month and was planning on using it for my purchases as there is no foreign fee.

The card terms state that I will have to pay interest from the first day however my question is this

Currently there is zero balance on the card, if i were to make a payment to it from my bank account of £1000 (so it was a thousand in credit) could i then spend on it with zero foreign fees and no interest as i would be spending what i had put the card in credit?

Hope the question makes sense, im sure there will be something within the rules for me not being able to do this but i thought i would check.

Thanks

bitsandbobs

grumbler

bitsandbobs wrote: »

The card terms state that I will have to pay interest from the first day however my question is this

Currently there is zero balance on the card, if i were to make a payment to it from my bank account of £1000 (so it was a thousand in credit) could i then spend on it with zero foreign fees and no interest as i would be spending what i had put the card in credit?

If you read the terms more closely, you are likely to find that you are not allowed to put the card in credit. However, nothing stops you from making payments to the CC soon after withdrawing cash instead of waiting for the statement due date. A few days' interest isn't a big deal.
To make sure that the payments go towards cash transactions, not purchases, you have to make sure that cash transactions appear in your online statement first.

Why do you want to draw cash from a CC? Is it Halifax Clarity one?

bitsandbobs

grumbler wrote: »

If you read the terms more closely, you are likely to find that you are not allowed to put the card in credit. However, nothing stops you from making payments to the CC soon after withdrawing cash instead of waiting for the statement due date. A few days' interest isn't a big deal.
To make sure that the payments go towards cash transactions, not purchases, you have to make sure that cash transactions appeared in your online statement first.

Why do you want to draw cash from a CC? Is it Halifax Clarity one?

Hi

Thanks for reply, yes it is the Clarity. Wasent really going to withdraw cash from it, i was using it for spending through my trip and was trying to do it without any charges. I have a natwest current account and found to my cost last year when i went to the States it cost me money everytime i spent anything or withdrew cash so im trying to find a cheaper way of doing it.

grumbler

With Clarity spending (purchases) doesn't cost you anything if you pay your statement balance in full and on time (and have done this in the previous months).
On withdrawals you do pay interest, but can minimise it by making extra payments to the CC.

bitsandbobs

grumbler wrote: »

With Clarity spending (purchases) doesn't cost you anything if you pay your statement balance in full and on time (and have done this in the previous months).
On withdrawals you do pay interest, but can minimise it by making extra payments to the CC.

I thought I'd read you pay interest on all purchases abroad from day one? Hence why I wanted to put money on to the card before I spent on it

grumbler

You've got it wrong. It's cash withdrawals only that you pay interest on.

bitsandbobs

grumbler wrote: »

You've got it wrong. It's cash withdrawals only that you pay interest on.

Many thanks for that.

Just need to find a cheaper way of withdrawing cash abroad now and im sorted :beer:

YorkshireBoy

bitsandbobs wrote: »

Just need to find a cheaper way of withdrawing cash abroad now and im sorted :beer:

You'll struggle!


Metro Bank may be an option for this trip, but from mid-March they will charge for withdrawals outside Europe.


But just to put it into context, if you get the representative 12.9% APR, a £1,000 cash balance will cost you around £10 in interest...if it's held for a full month.


Settle immediately on your return (after a week?) and the cost will be around 0.25%, so £2.50...that's all!

grumbler

bitsandbobs wrote: »

Just need to find a cheaper way of withdrawing cash abroad now and im sorted

Don't look hard. Clarity is one of the best ways. Just make payments to the CC soon after withdrawing cash.

pvt

bitsandbobs wrote: »

Many thanks for that.

Just need to find a cheaper way of withdrawing cash abroad now and im sorted :beer:

Bear in mind that you don't need a lot of cash in the US. It is commonplace there to use credit cards to pay for even small transactions such as Starbucks/taxis/subway tickets. In most cases they just swipe your card and don't even expect a signature or PIN - so it's easier and quicker than cash.

You'll really only need cash to pay tips to hotel porters etc.

Y'all have a dandy trip now.

bitsandbobs

grumbler wrote: »

Don't look hard. Clarity is one of the best ways. Just make payments to the CC soon after withdrawing cash.

To be honest this was the conclusion i was starting to get to. Im going for 5 days and will be taking about $500 with me and will be using clarity for every transaction possible, ive got the money here to pay for what we spend when we are over there its just a case of how we actually pay for things over there. Was horrified how many charges were on my Natwest debit card when we went last time. Find it totally insane that it costs me less to use a credit card with the companies money compared to using debit card with my own money.
Guess that shows how crap the banks are.

Thanks for all the replies