Unexpected problem with the Halifax Clarity Card

Biggles

Sealegs wrote: »

Between the statement being issued and the bill being paid the daily interest on the cash withdrawal is still being added to what you owe. However when the payment date comes Halifax doesn't use the direct debit that you set up to clear all the owed monies at that point... it just takes as payment what was on the last statement. As there will always be a gap between the date your statement is issued and the date they take their payment you can never pay off the full amount from the direct debit that you set up specifically to pay off what you owe in full every month. There will always be days between the issue of the statement and the date of the payment and in these extra days interest added onto the next months bill. The amount you owe will get smaller but will always, and continue, to accrue.

If you do travel frequently, you are presumably drawing cash every month; that is why there will always be interest payable. That's what the problem is, and that will happen with any credit card. It's nonsense to say that an interest payment will accrue for ever; you are paying every month because you are taking cash out every month and are paying interest on different cash withdrawals!

For less frequent users who pay in full by DD, there is a small (0.033% a day last time I looked) interest charge till the first statement date, and the charge for the remaining days is cleared on the next month's statement. The amount is so small that I only bother to make an extra payment for any longer/more expensive stays.

eDicky

jumperabv3 wrote: »

... never heard of "Cumberland" before, is it a good bank?

The Cumberland BS offers a range of accounts with the totally fee-free overseas use debit card, but only for residents of Cumbria, Lancashire and Dumfries & Galloway.

chattychappy

OP I also travel alot. I probably make 100 ATM withdrawals a year from Clarity and Zero.

On MSE, there is a near-religious like fervour around DDs. But as you have found, they don't work particularly well when you are paying interest.

Interest is low on Clarity. Even if you delay a couple of weeks before paying off your ATM withdrawals, you will only pay around 0.5% of the transaction value. If you leave Clarity, you have to consider what other methods are available and how much they will cost you. When making an ATM withdrawal on Clarity, I do pay off asap, but I'm not paranoid about leaving it for a few days if I'm busy. With Zero I'm more prompt, I'm paying 2.5%/month with them.

Personally I use the following cards when travelling:

Cash
Halifax Clarity (£500/day, no loading, no fee, interest runs immediately)
Santander Zero (£300/day, no loading, no fee, interest runs immediately)
Barclaycard as a backup (£500/day, 2.99% loading, no fee, up to 56 days interest free - NB this is foreign ATMs only)

Purchases
Nationwide Select (no loading)
PO Mastercard (no loading)
Halifax Clarity (no loading, as a backup)

By keeping Clarity just for cash, I am free to pay this off asap after the withdrawal, whilst enjoying maximum credit on purchases which I put through Select. If you mix transactions onto Clarity, bear in mind that any payments will be first applied to statemented transactions before unstatemented transactions. Ie you might be "forced" to pay for your purchases before you can then pay for your ATM transactions.

I challenge anyone to come up with a more efficient way of doing things when travelling frequently.

As I say, OP, what alternatives do you have that are easier?

fifeken

jumperabv3 wrote: »

And I also recommend anyone who travels the US to consider the MBNA card because it has the best FX rate for GBP-USD, I made a topic about it here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/69455273#Comment_69455273

Forgive me if I've missed something in your other thread, but Halifax still seems to win in the ILS example you gave, and I can't see example rates for USD.

bsms1147

Pay it off manually in full.

jumperabv3

fifeken wrote: »

Forgive me if I've missed something in your other thread, but Halifax still seems to win in the ILS example you gave, and I can't see example rates for USD.

Sorry, I probably linked to the wrong topic, there was one where someone discussed its US charges, but anyway with ILS currency - yes, the Halifax Clarity wins - but if you compare the Clarity to the MBNA Everyday+ in the United States - then the MBNA wins by all means, simply because MasterCard rates can't beat the American Express rates in the US (hence it's called "American" Express). Hope it helps.

chuckley

Im not even a Halifax Clarity customer but even I can clearly see they've spelled it out from A-Z that interest is paid from withdrawal to repayment. outside of the billing cycle. so if you're not paying the full statement balance anyway you're just creating a noose around your neck with this added cash advance interest.

This is one thing I disagree with the card

jumperabv3

chuckley wrote: »

Im not even a Halifax Clarity customer but even I can clearly see they've spelled it out from A-Z that interest is paid from withdrawal to repayment. outside of the billing cycle. so if you're not paying the full statement balance anyway you're just creating a noose around your neck with this added cash advance interest.

This is one thing I disagree with the card

You don't have to ....

jumperabv3 wrote: »

I actually pay it off the very same day I take out the money, why do I need to pay interest even for 1 day?!

chattychappy

Nooses just aren't what they used to be.

On an ATM withdrawal of, say, £100 you will be paying typically 4p a day.

redpete

chattychappy wrote: »

On MSE, there is a near-religious like fervour around DDs. But as you have found, they don't work particularly well when you are paying interest.

As opposed to your near-religious fervour against the sin of DDs.

In what way did the DD contribute to the OP's problem (apart from his misunderstanding of how they work)?

You can still use DDs to pay the statement balance off in full and pay off any cash withdrawals ASAP.