Halifax Clarity Card - cash withdrawal limit?

tashalove

Hi guys,

Sorry I posted this on the travel section but realised that this may be best answered in the credit section as you seem to know more the benefits of this card.

I am planning to use my Halifax Clarity Credit card for my trip abroad next week. I haven't used a credit card abroad before but was looking to withdraw cash at the ATMs once I get there rather than try and carry cash with me.

Does anyone know if there is a daily limit like debit cards to how much cash I can withdraw from this card at a cash machine? I am looking to withdraw around £2000?

Thanks in advance!

YorkshireBoy

The daily limit will almost certainly be the equivalent of £500, subject to the max cash balance at any time being less than 50%* of your credit limit.

If you're not planning on repaying whilst abroad (via internet banking/wi-fi etc) you'll need a £4K limit for £2K of ATM withdrawals.

Be mindful of DCC when making your withdrawals. You DO NOT want the bank behind the ATM to do the conversion. You DO want your card provider to do it.


* Check with Halifax because yours may be less than this.

chattychappy

I can confirm in practice it is £500/day equivalent, down to the £1 - at least on mine anyway. I have withdrawn £1500 over 3 days without a problem/block or whatever. If you are in a different time zone, bear in mind that "day" is according to UK time. If you try to withdraw over £500, then depending where you are you might get an unhelpful error*.

As my limit is £12000 and I only use this card for ATM withdrawals (and I pay by bank transfer soon afterwards), I have yet to reach any other limit (50% of credit limit etc).

In December I must have pulled out £2000 or so on Clarity. Total interest charge 17p !

When I need more than £500 in a day, I use Zero (£300/day limit, no longer available to newcomers), or Barclaycard (£500/day limit, 2.99% charge but they treat like a purchase so you get an interest free period).

Bear in mind that whatever card you use, some ATMs might have a locally applied limit. In this case you should be able to use another ATM to use up your remaining £500. If ATMs have their own local charge then this can be annoying. Also as Yorkshire Boy said, watch out for DCC.

(* this happened to me in Taiwan where because of exchange rate movements, an amount I had withdrawn the previous day was above the limit the following day.)

tashalove

Thank you YorkshireBoy and chattychappy for your replies.

I should be able to take out the £2000 in 4 blocks during my holiday. Regarding DCC, as long as I make sure I take out the cash in the local currency I should be okay? Is there any way to tell if the cash is being withdrawn using the ATM's rate or my card's rate?

YorkshireBoy

tashalove wrote: »

Regarding DCC, as long as I make sure I take out the cash in the local currency I should be okay?

An ATM in Benidorm will only dispense Euros!

Is there any way to tell if the cash is being withdrawn using the ATM's rate or my card's rate?

You'll be given the choice on the ATM screen. Be sure to read the message carefully.

baby_frogmella

chattychappy wrote: »

I can confirm in practice it is £500/day equivalent

I assume you're referring to ATM cash withdrawals? Cos quite often I've withdrawn AED 12000 (~ £2k) on my Clarity card in a single transaction over a bank counter in UAE, using my passport as ID. Though i do give Halifax advance notice of this. Just takes a 5 min call over skype

chattychappy

baby_frogmella wrote: »

I assume you're referring to ATM cash withdrawals? Cos quite often I've withdrawn AED 12000 (~ £2k) on my Clarity card in a single transaction over a bank counter in UAE, using my passport as ID. Though i do give Halifax advance notice of this. Just takes a 5 min call over skype

Yep, the OP did refer to cash machines, but this could be useful info if they need more.

dingdong3000

I have a dear £800 limit.. which i guess mean I'm only allowed to withdraw 50% of my limit which is £400pd at cashpoint if I use it abroad..

I only recently applied hence why such a poor limit i reckon so not great but it will do..