Halifax Clarity - can I pay off / pay in early

zagfles

KingL wrote: »

Clarity, indeed!

Yup! Or the easy answer. Go on holiday, spend and withdraw cash. When you get back, check the balance and pay the whole lot off.

You'll pay a little interest on the cash advances but it'll be trivial unless it's a long holiday or you withdraw vast amounts of cash.

indiekiduk

zagfles wrote: »

Yes No. Unstatemented cash advances are paid before unstatemented purchases, regardless of which was first.

For instance, you get a statement for £500 on 1st June. You make £300 of purchases on 5th June and £200 cash withdrawal on 8th June. Your balance is therefore £1000

You need to pay £700 to stop the interest on the cash advance, ie the statement balance plus the cash advance. You don't need to pay off the £300 unstatemented purchases.

So is the best strategy for this card to ensure previous statement was paid before travelling, then make an online payment for the cash withdrawal the same day?

So for example if statement was 1st June and direct debit to be taken 15th June, if going on holiday on 7th June then pay the full statement online then. And usually if balance has been paid then they take nothing via direct debit so no risk of a double payment taken again on the 15th.

zagfles

indiekiduk wrote: »

So is the best strategy for this card to ensure previous statement was paid before travelling, then make an online payment for the cash withdrawal the same day?

So for example if statement was 1st June and direct debit to be taken 15th June, if going on holiday on 7th June then pay the full statement online then. And usually if balance has been paid then they take nothing via direct debit so no risk of a double payment taken again on the 15th.

Make sure it's hit the account first. But IMO there's money saving and extreme money saving. I simply CBA paying off cash withdrawals straight away to save 3p per day on a £100 withdrawal. I just pay the lot off when I get back. Or at least enough to stop interest on cash withdrawals.

I don't have a DD as it could complicate things eg if you made a payment just before the DD was about to come out you might make a double payment.

Rudii84

Hi, I wanted to ask about withdrawing money on the Clarity credit card. I've always thought that withdrawing cash on a credit card is a bad thing to do as it may affect your credit score. Does this not apply to a foreign currency credit card?

EDIT:
Martin twitted a link to this article today which answers my question. As a new user I can't post links, but you can find the article if you search for "60 seconds on withdrawing cash abroad"

Gloomendoom

Rudii84 wrote: »

Hi, I wanted to ask about withdrawing money on the Clarity credit card. I've always thought that withdrawing cash on a credit card is a bad thing to do as it may affect your credit score. Does this not apply to a foreign currency credit card?

EDIT:
Martin twitted a link to this article today which answers my question. As a new user I can't post links, but you can find the article if you search for "60 seconds on withdrawing cash abroad"

This...

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/withdrawing-cash-abroad-credit-record