FAO halifax clarity card users

zagfles

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

If you're on the representative rate of 12.9% APR it's 3p per day per £100 withdrawn (just under 6p if you're on the highest 21.9% APR rate).

Let's assume 12.9% APR and £500 withdrawn linearly over a fortnight and settled immediately on return to the UK, so the interest is...

Average balance x annual non-compounded rate / 365 x 14 =

£250 x 12.2% / 365 x 14 = £1.17

Now how much were you paying for a beer/coffee in resort?

Or compare it with a typical forex place with a 5% charge hidden in their "tourist rate", ie about £25 "charge" for changing £500. 20 times more expensive!

YorkshireBoy

zagfles wrote: »

Or compare it with a typical forex place with a 5% charge hidden in their "tourist rate", ie about £25 "charge" for changing £500. 20 times more expensive!

Thanks for putting another perspective on it.

I don't use Clarity myself...I have Metro debit (for Europe) and Santander Zero (and Nationwide Select as back up for purchases). Even the 27.9% APR on the Santander card doesn't concern me, for the once or twice a year it gets used towards the end of a holiday. And I've never settled the card whilst abroad...always do it on my return.

Claremac

That's great, thanks all. I will have access to the internet while away (thanks, Three!) so can repay the transactions immediately.

zagfles

Claremac wrote: »

That's great, thanks all. I will have access to the internet while away (thanks, Three!) so can repay the transactions immediately.

If you're just going to pay off cash withdrawls and not purchases, bear in mind the following:

1) Wait till the ATM transaction hits the account, may take a day or two.
2) If your last statement hasn't been paid off, you must pay it off in full before you can pay off any cash advances in the current statement period. Even if you pay by DD. Otherwise payments will go towards the statement balance not the cash advance.

Though even if you ignore this you'll just pay a bit more interest than you were expecting. It'll still be better than almost any other way of getting cash.

Claremac

Thanks for the tip. I don't usually use the card unless abroad or for paying for something in foreign currency online so there shouldn't be any outstanding transactions but I'll check before I go.

laplandmad

If you know you are going to be withdrawing a large amount of cash abroad would it make sense to make a payment to your card before you go? (Assuming there is a zero balance)

I know the interest is minimal but would this be a way of avoiding it all together?

PeacefulWaters

laplandmad wrote: »

If you know you are going to be withdrawing a large amount of cash abroad would it make sense to make a payment to your card before you go? (Assuming there is a zero balance)

I know the interest is minimal but would this be a way of avoiding it all together?

Breaches the T&Cs.

I'd rather not run the risk of my account being frozen to try and save a daily interest charge of 3p per £100.

laplandmad

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

Breaches the T&Cs.

I'd rather not run the risk of my account being frozen to try and save a daily interest charge of 3p per £100.

That's a good enough reason not to do it then!!

Doshwaster

laplandmad wrote: »

That's a good enough reason not to do it then!!

Another reason is that if your card is lost or stolen then it may be hard to get access to the money stored on the account. If the card was cloned would Halifax be liable if someone else spent the positive balance?

For the pennies it would save in interest it really isn't worth it.

whoschuffed

If myself and my partner know we have more than enough money in our bank account to cover our holiday spending (as we have saved up specifically for it in the run up to the holiday), could we not just spend as normal on the Clarity card and have it set to pay off the balance in full each month?

Thereby needing no intervention at all from us really?

We will mostly be withdrawing cash from ATMs as flights, hotels, transport and most tours have been pre-paid, so it will just be cash spends for meals etc.

You get charged interest on cash withdrawals from the day they are made don't you so am I right in thinking we will still incur some small charges even when just setting it to automatically clear the balance in full?