Withdrawing cash with a credit card

lisyloo

say since my last statement date I have spent £400 on my card, I still have to pay off the whole lot (£400 + £100 cash withdrawal) in order to avoid interest - is that right?

No.
If you paid off £100 then Halifax would allocate it to the cash first, so you only need to pay £100.
If you pay it quickly then you'll avoid interest altogether, but do not put in your banking details on a shared computer to save the cost of a cofee/beer.

Personally I can never remember the rules, so I pay off the whole lot to be on the safe side.

Bear in mind also if you you're abroad then you won't know the exact amount after currency conversion. I personally use google and add on a little to make sure I've covered the cash amount. I sometimes go into credit a little which is technically wrong but they've never queries amounts that are tiny (hardly qualifies as laundering my ill-gotten gains).

Will paying interest affect my credit rating?

It's really hard for us to say what every lender will do in future, but those of us who take our cash abroad and pay interest have in general not had any issues.
Lenders are looking for BAD debt.
Taking cash out in not bad on it's own, neither is paying interest.
So I'd say you have nothing to worry about.

maxthepolarbear

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

And also assuming an APR of 12.9% for the 0.5% monthly cost.

Lot of assumptions. Let's hope the OP clarifies.

Thanks - yes 12,9% APR on Clarity

YorkshireBoy

maxthepolarbear wrote: »

Thanks - yes 12,9% APR on Clarity

So, even if you had a pre-existing balance from your last statement if you take out £100 in the arrivals hall, and settle it two weeks later when you get back home, you'll pay the grand sum of 40p in interest.

How much time are you going to spend either investigating other methods or running around trying to find some free wi-fi?

Like I said earlier, how much is a beer? And will you be shopping around for that too?

Enjoy your trip.

grumbler

lisyloo wrote: »

If you paid off £100 then Halifax would allocate it to the cash first...

It would allocate it to the unpaid previous statement balance (if any) in the first place.

maxthepolarbear

Thanks for all your reply. I'm a bit confused. So do I have to pay off my entire balance in order not to attract any interest or do I need to pay off just the bits relating to the cash withdrawal.

The T&C of the Halifax clarity card seems to suggest that I only need to pay off the bits relating to the cash withdrawal. So any spending that is not cash withdrawal will be debited directly in full in the following month - is that correct?

6. ALLOCATION OF PAYMENTS

6.1 - We use any payments you make to pay off Transactions that appear on your statement starting with those on which we charge the highest rate of interest, and so on down to the lowest rate of interest. If the payment is not enough to pay off all Transactions at a particular interest rate, we will pay off Transactions charged at that interest rate in the following order:- Cash Withdrawals, Purchases, Balance Transfers and Cheques, followed by the charges in conditions 7.1, 7.2 and 7.3. If you pay more than the amount due shown on your statement, we will use any remaining payment to pay off Transactions that have not yet appeared on your statement in the same order as those that do appear on your statement. In this condition, "Transaction" includes the amount of the Purchase, Cash Withdrawal, Cheque or Balance Transfer plus any interest, charges or insurance payment charged as a result of that Transaction.

grumbler

maxthepolarbear wrote: »

I'm a bit confused. So do I have to pay off my entire balance in order not to attract any interest or do I need to pay off just the bits relating to the cash withdrawal.

Possibly, neither.

grumbler wrote: »

If it [statement balance ] wasn't £0 or haven't been paid, you have to pay £100 plus the statement balance

What exactly is unclear here?
"statement"="monthly statement".

The T&C of the Halifax clarity card seems to suggest that I only need to pay off the bits relating to the cash withdrawal.

No, they don't.

6. ALLOCATION OF PAYMENTS

6.1 - We use any payments you make to pay off Transactions that appear on your statement .... If the payment is not enough to pay off all Transactions ..., we will pay off Transactions charged at that interest rate in the following order:- Cash Withdrawals, Purchases, Balance Transfers and Cheques, ...

I can only repeat (is it 3rd time?) that "statement"="monthly statement".

Pay your last statement balance in full before going abroad - and you will have to pay back cash withdrawals only to avoid interest. As simple as that.

maxthepolarbear

Thanks - but do I not have 56 days interest free period for the purchases (so this is the £400 on my statement)? However since there is no interest free period for cash withdrawal, I only need to make a payment to cover my cash withdrawal amount in order to be charged interest?

@grumbler - I get your point that I have to pay off the entire sum that appears on my statement. I was just confused as to why the 56 days interest period that I have on my £400 purchase suddenly disappears once I make a cash withdrawal.

grumbler

Because they don't have a crystal ball to know your intentions.
And it doesn't disappear. You just don't have it on cash advances.

Say, the statement balance (or the minimum payment due) is £100, you withdraw £100 and pay £100.

You want this to be cash. Other people may want not to be penalised for a missed payment if £100 goes towards the withdrawal and the statement balance remains unpaid.

Take it or leave it. It's the T&C after all, not a topic for discussion.

jennifernil

How long will you be away and how much cash will you take out?

On a 2 week holiday and a bit of spending money, for the sake of saving a few pence per day, it really is not worth all the confusion and hassle, just leave things be and let your DD take the payment if it happens when away, or check on your return and sort it out then.

Personally, we just let the DD do the job as we are away 3-4 months at a time using our cards for both spending and cash. The most interest we have paid was about £10 over 4 months as we were in Germany where CCs are not widely accepted and we needed a lot of cash.

Relax, enjoy your trip. The interest will be tiny compared to your other costs!

dresdendave

jennifernil wrote: »

How long will you be away and how much cash will you take out?

On a 2 week holiday and a bit of spending money, for the sake of saving a few pence per day, it really is not worth all the confusion and hassle, just leave things be and let your DD take the payment if it happens when away, or check on your return and sort it out then.

Personally, we just let the DD do the job as we are away 3-4 months at a time using our cards for both spending and cash. The most interest we have paid was about £10 over 4 months as we were in Germany where CCs are not widely accepted and we needed a lot of cash.

Relax, enjoy your trip. The interest will be tiny compared to your other costs!

My thoughts exactly, the OP seems to obsessing over avoiding paying literally pennies in interest. If money is that tight, perhaps one shouldn't be going abroad in the first place.