I Just Arrived In Barcelona And My Halifax Clarity Card is Blocked!!!!!

cupboardie

Please could someone give me some advice?

I have a Halifax Clarity card just for holidays as it has no commission, load or fees for overseas spending - Martin Lewis champions it as the perfect card for holidays.

However... unbeknownst to me until I landed in Barcelona this morning, the card has been locked because I forgot to tell Halifax I'd moved house and they got some returned mail.

I called Halifax and there is absolutely no way they can unlock the card without me going in to a branch (n the UK)

Uh oh!!!!!!!!!

So I've got absolutely no euros, and the following credit/debit cards:


Halifax Debit
Santander Credit
Amex Credit
HSBC Debit
Virgin Credit
Tesco Clubcard Credit
Barclays Debit

All of them are rubbish for using abroad - I have checked the rates/commission/loads and fees.

So, what do I do now?

Can I go somewhere and buy a prepaid card?

But then how do I load it without using my cards?

Can anyone help?

Thank you

warehouse

Use the HSBC debit card. The rest will cost you more.

Candyapple

Sorry it's no use to you now OP, but this is why you should never have just one card for use abroad.

Have a look here to see what is the best of a bad bunch from the cards you have left:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/travel-credit-cards

GingerBob_3

I called Halifax and there is absolutely no way they can unlock the card without me going in to a branch


Why not, I wonder. This sounds like they are lying and just trying to make things awkward for you.

societys_child

Why not, I wonder.

To confirm that the fella in Barcelona, with the card, is who he says he is? perhaps, maybe?

GingerBob_3

societys_child wrote: »

To confirm that the fella in Barcelona, with the card, is who he says he is? perhaps, maybe?

Well if he isn't, how come he managed to speak to them on the phone? These days they won't even give you the time of day until you've revealed your inside leg measurement and other "security" details to the call centre worker. First I've heard about having to go into a branch for this sort of thing. How do MBNA, for example, handle it then? I don't recall ever seeing an MBNA branch.

InsideInsurance

GingerBob wrote: »

Why not, I wonder. This sounds like they are lying and just trying to make things awkward for you.

Because they've had mail returned "addressee unknown" or "addressee gone away" etc and so this raises issues with Know Your Customer and other anti-money laundering issues.

As the OP has failed to inform them of a move and allowed things to stand they probably want to repeat these checks and that would be going to the bank with original documents.

societys_child

GingerBob wrote: »

First I've heard about having to go into a branch for this sort of thing. How do MBNA, for example, handle it then? I don't recall ever seeing an MBNA branch.

:huh:
It's a Halifax Clarity card, think they have quite a few branches dotted around the UK . . .

Robin9

Does it matter much which card you have to use ?

If you are spending £1000 what is the difference between the best and the worst. - £50? - a small price to pay for forgetting to update Halifax.Hopefully you have told the others !!!

dj1471

The issue is that Halifax won't accept a change of address over the phone, even once you've gone through all the security and extra security - you have to send them a signed letter or go into branch.

Quite annoying given most other cards allow you to update your address online...

Best option for now is to use the least-bad card, try to make purchases rather than getting cash.

GingerBob_3

societys_child wrote: »

:huh:
It's a Halifax Clarity card, think they have quite a few branches dotted around the UK . . .

Read what I said a bit more carefully. I was comparing Halifax to MBNA and in so doing I was postulating how MBNA might deal with a similar problem, given that they don't have branches. Now it's possible they might say "we'll send you a new card to your new address", but why? These companies have more than sufficient personal information, passwords and the like to enable them to verify who you are over the phone. Why didn't Halifax do this?