Halifax Clarity - Using to withdraw from ATM's overseas

tiero3

Hi all,

I am going to be in Japan for a couple of months later this year and spent some time looking into the best credit card to take with me. I have got the Halifax Clarity card which seems good for buying things overseas with the 0 fees. I will be able to pay off the card before the end of each month whilst away with no problem so will avoid any fees.

My question is regarding using it to withdraw money from ATM's whilst in Japan. I understand there is no fees to withdraw money, but I will be charged interest at the moment I withdraw the money from the ATM? The APR is 12.9%, and if I understand what I read correctly, that means basically every £100 I withdraw I will pay £1 on it.

Does this mean if I withdrew £1000 worth of Japanese Yen, I would pay £10 fee on this, but if I paid it off my card before the end of the month there wouldn't be any additional fees?

I just want to figure out the best way of getting cash whilst I am away. I think my Natwest debit card is something like 5%, so this still seems like a more cost effective way to do this, I just don't know if I am missing something here.

Also I am considering changing a very small amount of cash before I travel, and using the credit card to get cash out from the ATM when I arrive in Japan, as the rate that MasterCard provides is better than any online currency brokers.

Thanks for any help!

YorkshireBoy

tiero3 wrote: »

I understand there is no fees to withdraw money, but I will be charged interest at the moment I withdraw the money from the ATM?

Not quite. Interest will accrue from the date the transaction is posted to your account, which could be 2-3 days after the actual withdrawal.

The APR is 12.9%, and if I understand what I read correctly, that means basically every £100 I withdraw I will pay £1 on it.

The interest works out at 3p per day per £100 withdrawn.

tiero3

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Not quite. Interest will accrue from the date the transaction is posted to your account, which could be 2-3 days after the actual withdrawal.The interest works out at 3p per day per £100 withdrawn.

Thanks a lot that's very helpful. I have read up everywhere about foreign currency and speniding whilst abroad, but the only thing I haven't seen mentioned is withdrawing currency from overseas ATM's using a 'specialist card' like this one vs. pre-buying more currency online before I go away. It seems to me since the MasterCard rate is the closest to perfect you can get, even with this 3p per £100 per day, so long as I pay off the card before the end of the month (ideally ASAP) it's going to work out to be a better deal than pre-purchasing more cash before I go.

chattychappy

tiero3 wrote: »

so long as I pay off the card before the end of the month (ideally ASAP) it's going to work out to be a better deal than pre-purchasing more cash before I go.

Oh yes, it will do.

As YB says, interest is calculated daily. At APR 12.9%, you don't need to panic. Nevertheless, the sooner you pay it off, the better and you don't need to wait for a statement to be issued first. Bear in mind, that if you are mixing purchases onto the card, then the safest thing is to clear the entire balance.

Cards do get blocked overseas, so take backups - even a purchase at 3% loading is better than getting stranded. Post Office Mastercard offers loading-free purchases (but cash works out expensive). Ditto Nationwide Select. For cash, Barclaycard isn't too bad. They do charge a "flat" fee of about 3%, but then they treat it like a purchase, so you get up to 56 days interest free.

Have a great trip. I really like Japan and must get back there myself some time.

andyfromotley

just hop online and pay what you have taken out of the atm from your bank account to the credit card, this way you will avoid virtually all interest.

pvt

tiero3,

Just a word of advice based on my own experiences in Tokyo. I tried to withdraw cash from ATMs there using a Halifax Visa Debit Card and had to walk a VERY long way before I finally found an ATM that would part with some cash. I must have been declined at more than a dozen different ATMs before I finally found a Citibank branch with an ATM that dispensed.

Stuart107

pvt wrote: »

tiero3,

Just a word of advice based on my own experiences in Tokyo. I tried to withdraw cash from ATMs there using a Halifax Visa Debit Card and had to walk a VERY long way before I finally found an ATM that would part with some cash. I must have been declined at more than a dozen different ATMs before I finally found a Citibank branch with an ATM that dispensed.

This echoes my experience also... I found ATMs in banks in Japan to be very unlikely to accept overseas cards. However I've had much better luck with ATMs in 7-11 convenience stores; they're everywhere in Japan and, at least when I was there last year, I was charged no additional fees over-and-above a normal ATM.

gt94sss2

I'm currently in Japan and the only ATM's which will accept foreign credit cards are those in 7-11 stores, Japanese post offices and Citibank branches.

Foreign cards won't always work in stores either - as some stores only accept domestic cards and others have difficulty with chip and pin (i.e. They try and swipe it instead)

However, Citibank have already announced they are pulling out of retail banking in Japan.

The government is trying to improve the position 'sometime before the Olympics'

Regards
Sunil

tiero3

Stuart107 wrote: »

This echoes my experience also... I found ATMs in banks in Japan to be very unlikely to accept overseas cards. However I've had much better luck with ATMs in 7-11 convenience stores; they're everywhere in Japan and, at least when I was there last year, I was charged no additional fees over-and-above a normal ATM.

Yeah I understood 7-11 and the Post Office was the best place for foreign cards.

gt94sss2 wrote: »

I'm currently in Japan and the only ATM's which will accept foreign credit cards are those in 7-11 stores, Japanese post offices and Citibank branches.
Foreign cards won't always work in stores either - as some stores only accept domestic cards and others have difficulty with chip and pin (i.e. They try and swipe it instead)
However, Citibank have already announced they are pulling out of retail banking in Japan.
The government is trying to improve the position 'sometime before the Olympics'
Regards
Sunil

I know they won't work in all stores, if I am able to withdraw cash using the card from 7-11 and it's effective cost wise it should be ok!

chattychappy wrote: »

Oh yes, it will do.

As YB says, interest is calculated daily. At APR 12.9%, you don't need to panic. Nevertheless, the sooner you pay it off, the better and you don't need to wait for a statement to be issued first. Bear in mind, that if you are mixing purchases onto the card, then the safest thing is to clear the entire balance.

Cards do get blocked overseas, so take backups - even a purchase at 3% loading is better than getting stranded. Post Office Mastercard offers loading-free purchases (but cash works out expensive). Ditto Nationwide Select. For cash, Barclaycard isn't too bad. They do charge a "flat" fee of about 3%, but then they treat it like a purchase, so you get up to 56 days interest free.

Have a great trip. I really like Japan and must get back there myself some time.

Thanks! Yes, since it's interest each day, paying it off ASAP is definitely a good idea which I should be able to do, once I see the transactions pop up on the card. I have informed Halifax of my travel dates, so hopefully it won't get cancelled. I have my Natwest debit card as a backup as well as my Natwest credit, but they are both pretty horrendus with the rates compared to this 'specialist' card for overseas use. I just can't justify openinig a brand new current account for a backup debit card for favorable rates...hopefully the Halifax one works!

I'm finding it tricky as to work out wether bringing a smaller amount of cash and withdrawing more using my credit card is a more cost effective way of doing things vs. changing more cash before I go with an online berau. I'm pretty sure as long as I pay off the card transactions from the ATM withdrawls within the month it will still work out cheaper. Confusing me a lot to be honest though!

Another thing that I'm not sure about is if you are able to send money to a credit card so you have a positive balance? That would make it easier, but I don't think you can do that.

pvt wrote: »

tiero3,

Just a word of advice based on my own experiences in Tokyo. I tried to withdraw cash from ATMs there using a Halifax Visa Debit Card and had to walk a VERY long way before I finally found an ATM that would part with some cash. I must have been declined at more than a dozen different ATMs before I finally found a Citibank branch with an ATM that dispensed.

7-11 and the JP Post Offices are the best places for withdrawing cash on a foreign card.

gt94sss2

tiero3 wrote: »

Another thing that I'm not sure about is if you are able to send money to a credit card so you have a positive balance

This is against their T&C and if you do it, they may block your card.

You should also ensure your Halifax credit limit is large enough - from memory, you can only withdraw 50% of it in cash..

Regards
Sunil

tiero3

gt94sss2 wrote: »

This is against their T&C and if you do it, they may block your card.

You should also ensure your Halifax credit limit is large enough - from memory, you can only withdraw 50% of it in cash..

Regards
Sunil

Glad I asked then! The woman I rang yesterday just said "we don't advise it" she was very unhelpful on all counts though. I won't be doing that then anyway! Yes you are correct re: 50% cash. Am I right in assuming this means 50% of my credit limit until I have paid it off in full? I can't imagine what else it would be, probably silly question :T