FAO halifax clarity card users

zagfles

whoschuffed wrote: »

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?

Yes you can but you'll get charged interest on the cash advances for somewhere between 25 to 56 days. It won't be a vast amount but you can save a few £ paying it off when you get back.

I don't have a DD, I just check the balance when I get back off holiday and pay the whole lot off, so I only pay interest for the length of the holiday at most.

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?

Yes as above. If you're not getting much cash out it won't be vast. If you're withdrawing £500 it might be £8 if you just let the DD do the job or £2 if you pay it off when you get back. That sort of amount, will obviously vary with length of holiday, APR etc.

YorkshireBoy

zagfles wrote: »

If you're withdrawing £500 it might be £8 if you just let the DD do the job or £2 if you pay it off when you get back. That sort of amount, will obviously vary with length of holiday, APR etc.

Not sure if you've included it in the above £8 figure, but if the balance is left to the DD to collect there will also be a small amount of residual, or trailing, interest on the next month's statement. Just something 'whoschuffed' should be aware of.

zagfles

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Not sure if you've included it in the above £8 figure, but if the balance is left to the DD to collect there will also be a small amount of residual, or trailing, interest on the next month's statement. Just something 'whoschuffed' should be aware of.

Good point, the £8 was a very rough ballpark figure, but yes the interest would likely be charged over 3 or possibly 4 statement periods, first one after the holiday would have interest from withdrawal date to statement date, second one interest on the cash plus interest, from previous statement date to DD date, and third one interest on the interest charged on the second statement (probably pence). There might be a fourth one but it's likely by then the interest due would be zero when round to nearest penny.

benjus

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

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.

I also have that combination. One of the things I've noticed with the Santander Zero card is that if I send a bank transfer to pay off a cash withdrawal, it is reflected in the available balance very quickly - often within a couple of hours - and usually appears on the statement the next working day.

gerfus

I was hoping to find a thread on this topic. I am thinking about using the Clarity card for cash withdrawls on our trip to Las Vegas.

I have heard that you can only withdraw cash to the value of 50% of your credit limit. Can anyone confirm this?

I suppose there is also a withdrawl fee from the ATM that you are using.

Thanks

benjus

gerfus wrote: »

I have heard that you can only withdraw cash to the value of 50% of your credit limit. Can anyone confirm this?

Yes - see the "Summary Box" on http://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/clarity-card/

gerfus wrote: »

I suppose there is also a withdrawl fee from the ATM that you are using.

Depends on the ATM. In the USA it's common for ATMs to charge foreign users. You might want to enquire on a US-specific forum where you can find fee-free ATMs in Las Vegas. Alternatively I think there's a LV thread on here somewhere - might be mentioned in there. However, in most countries most ATMs don't impose a charge of their own.

YorkshireBoy

zagfles wrote: »

Good point, the £8 was a very rough ballpark figure, but yes the interest would likely be charged over 3 or possibly 4 statement periods, first one after the holiday would have interest from withdrawal date to statement date, second one interest on the cash plus interest, from previous statement date to DD date, and third one interest on the interest charged on the second statement (probably pence). There might be a fourth one but it's likely by then the interest due would be zero when round to nearest penny.

I wouldn't have thought there would be so many lots. However, it's easily avoided...especially if it's purely used for once/twice/three times a year holidays, by deliberately overpaying the balance (including an estimate of the interest accrued to date) by a pound or two. It's what I do on Santander Zero. Yes I know it's against the T&Cs, but a pound or two won't get the card blocked...but if it did at least I'm in the UK to sort it!

YorkshireBoy

benjus wrote: »

I also have that combination. One of the things I've noticed with the Santander Zero card is that if I send a bank transfer to pay off a cash withdrawal, it is reflected in the available balance very quickly - often within a couple of hours - and usually appears on the statement the next working day.

I've noticed that too. I've also noticed that cash withdrawals made abroad on a Thursday don't appear on the statement until the following Monday, so a payment made Saturday/Sunday ensures no interest is charged for a Thursday ATM withdrawal. Not sure if that's peculiar to Santander, or if Clarity is the same?

whoschuffed

zagfles wrote: »

Yes you can but you'll get charged interest on the cash advances for somewhere between 25 to 56 days. It won't be a vast amount but you can save a few £ paying it off when you get back.

I don't have a DD, I just check the balance when I get back off holiday and pay the whole lot off, so I only pay interest for the length of the holiday at most.
Yes as above. If you're not getting much cash out it won't be vast. If you're withdrawing £500 it might be £8 if you just let the DD do the job or £2 if you pay it off when you get back. That sort of amount, will obviously vary with length of holiday, APR etc.

Ah I see. Well we're aware for about 26 days in total. We only use the card for holidays so its been sat at £0 balance for months.
I'm not sure what day the statement/payment date falls on the card to be honest.

Could it end up being in the middle of the holiday or would it be like 30 days from the first withdrawal?

Probably looking at no more than £1000-£1200 withdrawn for the entire holiday.