Avoiding Interest on Travel Credit Cards

CLAPTON

Fletchasketch wrote: »

Eh? Charge-free? Please explain how!

interest free : that is what you are asking about.

CLAPTON

lisyloo wrote: »

I use Halifax clarity for cash abroad. I make faster payments the same day and pay no interest and no commission.

Btw - how would your employer know about commission? It's usually hidden by using a worse exchange rate.
Surely they wouldn't know as exchange rates fluctuate.

I think most (all) CC and debit cards now show fees separately and don't bundle fees into the exhange rate

zagfles

How long are your trips? If only a week or two, and you don't withdraw massive amounts of cash, the interest will be likely be trivial. Just check the balance and pay it off when you get back.

chattychappy

Consider Barclaycard. There will be a fixed 2.99% fee, but they treat it like a purchase so you get up to 56 days interest free.

So - your employer will pay the full cost to you, and you don't need to panic about interest.

Yep, 2.99% is still 2.99%. But many employees would be incurring that kind of loading on foreign spend anyway, let alone cash. As suggested earlier, 2.99% is a small price for the company to pay given they are relying on your personal card and are inflexible on interest.

CLAPTON

chattychappy wrote: »

Consider Barclaycard. There will be a fixed 2.99% fee, but they treat it like a purchase so you get up to 56 days interest free.

So - your employer will pay the full cost to you, and you don't need to panic about interest.

Yep, 2.99% is still 2.99%. But many employees would be incurring that kind of loading on foreign spend anyway, let alone cash. As suggested earlier, 2.99% is a small price for the company to pay given they are relying on your personal card and are inflexible on interest.

in general paying interest for a month would be cheaper than paying 2.99% fee

chattychappy

CLAPTON wrote: »

in general paying interest for a month would be cheaper than paying 2.99% fee

Yeah but the point is that the employer won't pay interest back to the OP.

lisyloo

CLAPTON wrote: »

I think most (all) CC and debit cards now show fees separately and don't bundle fees into the exhange rate

I think you are talking about fees and I am talking about commission. If the op has the money to put a credit card in credit then can't he take cash to travelex/marks & Spencer's/Thomas Cook and do a free fee exchange? There is commission but it's hidden in the exchange rate.

If the employer is actually asking the impossible then isn't this an issue to take up with the employer?

Fletchasketch

CLAPTON wrote: »

interest free : that is what you are asking about.

Yes, it is, but obviously the main objective is to pay less money. By using a debit card which charges load fees and commission, there's no interest to pay, but the overall cost would be greater.




I do have charges refunded by the employer, this isn't an issue, but where I'm making personal expenses, i.e. alcohol, presents, clothes, toiletries etc. which aren't covered by expenses it would be good to keep the cost down!

Fletchasketch

lisyloo wrote: »

I use Halifax clarity for cash abroad. I make faster payments the same day and pay no interest and no commission.

Btw - how would your employer know about commission? It's usually hidden by using a worse exchange rate.
Surely they wouldn't know as exchange rates fluctuate.

This is very helpful, thanks, exactly what I needed to know. I already have a Santander Zero card, so will use this and make sure I pay an amount to cover the cash payment the same day.


One more question...If I overpay this, say take out 500 pounds in cash and pay in 510 pounds to the account by under-estimating the rate, would this be a problem for the CC company?

lisyloo

Technically you aren't meant to put credit card into credit and larger amounts may trigger money laundering checks.
However anecdotally I can say that I've not had any issues with being a few £s in credit with Halifax as obviously you are guessing the amount without the exact exchange rate.
As an aside interest on Halifax is charged from the next banking day, so cash taken out on a Saturday would usually be dated on my account as Monday for interest purposes.
Note in some countries the bank owning the ATM May make a charge. This is nothing to do with your bank and is common in some countries. If it's a charge for using the ATM then there's not much you can do apart from minimise the number of transactions.