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Paying 0% interest on ATM withdrawal Halifax Clarity ?

I'm going abroad this year for a couple of weeks, I already have a Halifax Clarity Mastercard.

I know that I can use it to pay for goods/services and it's almost a perfect way of spending abroad, NO LOAD, ATM FEES etc,etc...

As far as I understand the only fees for cash withdrawals(assuming the ATM doesn't charge) are the interest charges between the withdrawal date and the repayment, which if you left till the statement date still would only be minimal.

The question I have could these interest charges be negated completely?

My first thought was to credit my Clarity card with £1000 cash to leave an in-credit balance. Don't think that would work because Halifax may refund that, read the t and c's.

What about a refund from a retailer leaving an in-credit balance ? I have my own business!


Or how about making credits to my Halifax Clarity card via on-line banking while abroad ?

If anyone has tried any of the above or has any thoughts, please post.

Cheers,

NoviceAngel
After reading PtL Vaubans Guide , please don't desert us, hang around and help others!

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Comments

  • bsms1147
    bsms1147 Posts: 2,264 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I would avoid pre-loading or finding ways to get refunded to your card.

    If you pay off the cash withdrawals as soon as they appear on your online statement, you should pay no interest.

    Saying that even if you leave it for a few days or weeks, you're still talking only tens of pennies of interest for each £100 taken out as cash, which isn't going to break the bank.
  • andyfromotley
    andyfromotley Posts: 2,038 Forumite
    Just jump on internet banking and transfer it the day you take out the money. You may cop for one days interest but that will literally be pennies.

    This has cropped up on here before and im sure that you are in breach of clarity t&c's if you preload it, but plenty seem to have done so with no problem.
    £1000 Emergency fund No90 £1000/1000
    LBM 28/1/15 total debt - [STRIKE]£23,410[/STRIKE] 24/3/16 total debt - £7,298
    !
  • NoviceAngel
    NoviceAngel Posts: 2,271 Forumite
    Thanks for your posts, yeah I'll probably transfer it on the same day Andy.

    Would they apply the manual credit to the previous months transactions first, or do cash withdrawals always take precedent?
    After reading PtL Vaubans Guide , please don't desert us, hang around and help others!

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  • andyfromotley
    andyfromotley Posts: 2,038 Forumite
    I'm fairly certain that all credit cards have to apply payments to your most expensive debt first, ie, the cash withdrawal. You may want to do the transfer the day after the withdrawal just to make sure that its on your account and not applied to old debt as the cash withdrawal isnt yet there. (although this may just be me being ultra cautious)
    £1000 Emergency fund No90 £1000/1000
    LBM 28/1/15 total debt - [STRIKE]£23,410[/STRIKE] 24/3/16 total debt - £7,298
    !
  • NoviceAngel
    NoviceAngel Posts: 2,271 Forumite
    Thanks I'll probably just settle the balance manually before I go away, to make sure there's no normal transaction debt outstanding.
    After reading PtL Vaubans Guide , please don't desert us, hang around and help others!

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  • chattychappy
    chattychappy Posts: 7,302 Forumite
    What about a refund from a retailer leaving an in-credit balance ? I have my own business!

    I wouldn't mess around in this way. You could risk losing your merchant facility, or at least have some explaining to do. Perhaps once or twice would be OK, but there are systems on the look out for this kind of thing.

    Secondly, I always avoid this sort of thing in my own business. Anything like this creates a couple of transactions on the books. Something to process, something that could be looked at, something requiring some paperwork etc etc. If we were talking about thousands it might be worth it. But the cost to the business in terms of bookkeeping is likely to be greater than the few pence saved.

    Keep it simple!
  • SuperHan
    SuperHan Posts: 2,269 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    I'm fairly certain that all credit cards have to apply payments to your most expensive debt first, ie, the cash withdrawal. You may want to do the transfer the day after the withdrawal just to make sure that its on your account and not applied to old debt as the cash withdrawal isnt yet there. (although this may just be me being ultra cautious)


    You may find that the credit is applied to statemented transactions first, then cash post statements (otherwise, when you make your minimum payment, if they were to apply it to post statement cash withdrawals you would miss your minimum payment and there would be penalties for this).

    But as the OP suggests, manually clearing the balance before you go away then paying off cash transactions as soon as they appear/are made is the best way to minimise the cost.
  • chattychappy
    chattychappy Posts: 7,302 Forumite
    Yep. Money is money, but it always seems worse when it's labelled interest.

    Eg I'll happily pay a few quid more to get a taxi if I can't face a packed bus. I'll happily pay extra for a starter in a restaurant which I probably don't need. I'll often pay a few quid for a coffee in a coffee shop when with a bit more effort I could use a thermos and the machine in my office.

    But for many years, every penny of interest on a CC just seemed wrong! I've grown up a bit since.

    Now a few quid on Clarity (and it is rarely as much as that) is something I've got used to. A couple of pounds for the "service" of getting up to £500/day from a foreign ATM and paying a couple of weeks later is rather good value. If it suits me I log on next day and pay off the balance. But I don't worry if I can't.
  • glider3560
    glider3560 Posts: 4,115 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    If you're going abroad regularly (especially to places where cash is still king), as I have this year, it could be worth opening a N&P Gold Current Account and shifting £500 in+out of it each month.

    I use this for cash and my Clarity for purchases.

    Saves messing around clearing the balance after each withdrawal and worrying whether the statemented balance gets paid off first.
  • rjhfandclf
    rjhfandclf Posts: 32 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    I'm going abroad this year for a couple of weeks, I already have a Halifax Clarity Mastercard.

    I know that I can use it to pay for goods/services and it's almost a perfect way of spending abroad, NO LOAD, ATM FEES etc,etc...

    As far as I understand the only fees for cash withdrawals(assuming the ATM doesn't charge) are the interest charges between the withdrawal date and the repayment, which if you left till the statement date still would only be minimal.

    The question I have could these interest charges be negated completely?


    I use this card regularly for both ATM and purchase payments abroad and it works very well and cheaply. I am afraid however that the information on the MSE website is not correct as (unless it has changed very recently) you cannot avoid interest on ATM withdrawals by refunding the amount directly unless you have already paid off any balance brought forward on your account. This is because Halifax always applies any such payments made towards balances b/f before cash w/d - which comes second. I complained about this to Halifax and they confirmed it a month or so ago (and also refunded all fees as a gesture). As I understand it, you would have to pay off the balance brought f/w at the same time as the cash w/d to avoid any interest. After that, later cash w/ds should not be a problem - unless you cross a month end, when it all starts all over again. I decided that the hassle of trying to avoid the few pence interest incurred was not worth it!!

    However, another warning: on each of my recent trips abroad, I have suffered the embarrassment of having a purchase payment declined using Clarity. On the first occasion in Spain, I irately phoned Halifax at some expense by mobile to be told that they had declined nothing and the card was fine. This has just happened again in France on a larger bill which has cost me £4.50 in fees by having to use an MBNA card (which worked perfectly, as always). I am about to phone Halifax again, as a card that is this unreliable (whoever's fault it is) is annoying and embarrassing. I have never had a refusal via any other card, so they need to resolve whatever the problem is.

    Hope this helps.
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