Halifax Clarity Cash Withdrawals Abroad

P1Fanatic

We are off to the USA for 3 weeks in May and will take some dollars in cash but if we need more later on I am looking at the best way to do this.

We have a Halifax Clarity Credit Card already but will be using it for card payments purchasing meals, tours, fuel etc. Cash withdrawals are free but interest is charged straight away. I can of course transfer money onto the card same day. I am trying to work out if doing that will work. T & Cs say cash withdrawals paid off first and if multiple oldest first. But is that real time - so say we have bought goods already and our balance is $500, then withdraw $500 from an ATM and I transfer £x to cover it but it arrives before the withdrawal shows - will they pay off the purchase first and leave me still paying interest on the withdrawal?

I hope that makes sense. I guess what I am saying is if I take cash out in the US will it show up immediately on my balance like it would in the UK or will their be a delay?

Thanks
Simon

grumbler

No, cash withdrawals may take time to show.
It will work if

• the previous statement balance is £0 or already paid in full

and

• you make payment after the cash withdrawal shows in the online statement (recent transactions)

That said, there is no point in rushing to pay as the daily interest is very small.

YorkshireBoy

grumbler wrote: »

That said, there is no point in rushing to pay as the daily interest is very small.

Indeed. If my maths are right, withdrawing an equivalent £2,000 linearly over a 2 week holiday and settling immediately on return costs just over £7 in interest at the representative rate of 18.9% APR.

There are far better things to do on holiday than looking for free Wi-Fi!

P1Fanatic

grumbler wrote: »

No, cash withdrawals may take time to show.
It will work if

• the previous statement balance is £0 or already paid in full

and

• you make payment after the cash withdrawal shows in the online statement (recent transactions)

That said, there is no point in rushing to pay as the daily interest is very small.

Thanks. Yes previous months balance is always paid in full.

P1Fanatic

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Indeed. If my maths are right, withdrawing an equivalent £2,000 linearly over a 2 week holiday and settling immediately on return costs just over £7 in interest at the representative rate of 18.9% APR.

There are far better things to do on holiday than looking for free Wi-Fi!

I guess I am overthinking it. I just hate paying fees I can avoid. I have free data out there with Three but weather I had signal or not is another matter. I think I am better off just logging in once a week and transferring the withdrawals that have made it onto my account at that point (and I will then be able to see what the £ value is exactly rather than go by MasterCard daily rates).


Other option was one of these prepaid cards but they seem to involve a lot of fees.

YorkshireBoy

P1Fanatic wrote: »

Thanks. Yes previous months balance is always paid in full.

If this is by DD, then there's a danger that any payments you make whilst abroad will go towards your UK purchases statement balance rather than the cash you just withdrew.


For this reason, many people choose not to have a DD set up on Halifax Clarity.


If you do have a DD set up, you'd need to settle the statement by other means prior to going on holiday if you were travelling between statement date and payment due date...and then you'd need to understand if your DD would still be called, thereby meaning you pay twice (and incur their wrath by creating a positive balance).

P1Fanatic

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

If this is by DD, then there's a danger that any payments you make whilst abroad will go towards your UK purchases statement balance rather than the cash you just withdrew.


For this reason, many people choose not to have a DD set up on Halifax Clarity.


If you do have a DD set up, you'd need to settle the statement by other means prior to going on holiday if you were travelling between statement date and payment due date...and then you'd need to understand if your DD would still be called, thereby meaning you pay twice (and incur their wrath by creating a positive balance).

Thanks but its ok I don't use DD. Prefer to have full control of what is taken and when

eDicky

P1Fanatic wrote: »

I think I am better off just logging in once a week and transferring the withdrawals that have made it onto my account at that point (and I will then be able to see what the £ value is exactly rather than go by MasterCard daily rates).

The Halifax mobile app shows a withdrawal in 'Pending transactions' right after it's made, with the amount in GBP. It may be a new feature, I've only noticed it recently.

So at least you don't have to spend holiday time looking up rates and calculating, if you do want to pay it off quickly.

knightstyle

Any payment to the Clarity card will go to pay off the outstanding debt with the highest interest.
We use the card exclusively to draw cash, make purchases when abroad and this always happens.
You can also arrange for your bank to make a one off payment on a given date. So travel on 10th, withdraw cash and make purchases on 12th and 13th and payment to cover the cash pre arranged on 14th is what we do.
Purchases paid by monthly dd for full outstanding amount.

andyfromotley

I used my clarity in the states, simply paid by online banking a couple of days after every cash withdrawal. TBH the interest is so minimal that i would just pay it on your first day back to save the hassle, it really is peanuts.

darkidoe

Any chance of getting hold of an other travel credit card and use it as a purchase card whilst using halifax as a withdrawal card?

I used the Halifax mobile app and the balance appears to be taken off the available credit limit within hours so I can always just top it back up to the credit limit immediately.