Halifax Clarity Credit Card for Travelling

[Deleted User]

jde-tv wrote: »

Please ignore trikzor, he has no idea what he is talking about. I have had this card for three years and use it abroad often. I have never paid any interest on purchases. And the interest on the cash is tiny... plus its off set by the good exchange rate (compared to buying cash before you go)

Obviously you can't read because I said you do not pay interest on purchases. Cash withdrawals on a credit card affect your credit rating so don't do it. The amount of ignorant fools in this thread is bewildering.


I do not promote buying cash from an exchange, if you're going somewhere where you can use a card for everything then obviously you don't need to. You do however have to take a little cash if you're going somewhere where you can't use your card. That's when you should really go to an exchange online with good rates beforehand.

shennan

meer53 wrote: »

Trikzor, you obviously don't understand how the Clarity Card works. I use mine to withdraw cash abroad, as do millions of others, plus buying currency before you travel often means you get a worse exchange rate.

That's not true of all bricks-and-mortar exchangers. My go-to exchange is in the middle of central London (a stratospherically expensive city) and it offers pretty much the same rate of exchange as Mastercard. According to the MoneySavingExpert.com article on the Clarity Card, if I was to make a €100 cash withdrawal and pay the balance at the end of the month, I would be charged around £1.50 in interest. That's £1.50 more than it costs to exchange cash at a good exchange.

BlondBoy

[Deleted User] wrote:

Obviously you can't read because I said you do not pay interest on purchases. Cash withdrawals on a credit card affect your credit rating so don't do it. The amount of ignorant fools in this thread is bewildering.

I withdraw cash on my Clarity overseas all the time. 12-15 withdrawals a month over the past 6 months while travelling in Asia. No effect on my credit rating at all as far as I can see - just applied for one of the more tricky-to-get cards and got it with a good limit. Does that make me an ignorant fool?

memberme

I have a query.
If you get a travel credit card as suggested by Martin etc etc etc.
If you happen to withdraw cash on the travel card abroad, does it still show as a huge negative credit card cash withdrawal on your credit ref sites like experian as it would on a non travel card?
My thoughts are that it probably will (perhaps trikzor's line of thought)

andypandylin

shennan wrote: »

That's not true of all bricks-and-mortar exchangers. My go-to exchange is in the middle of central London (a stratospherically expensive city) and it offers pretty much the same rate of exchange as Mastercard. According to the MoneySavingExpert.com article on the Clarity Card, if I was to make a €100 cash withdrawal and pay the balance at the end of the month, I would be charged around £1.50 in interest. That's £1.50 more than it costs to exchange cash at a good exchange.

Your go-to exchange offers a competitive rate precisely because it's in central London. Everywhere else you'd get a much poorer rate. Whereas with the Clarity card you are pretty much guaranteed to get the best rate possible, anywhere in the world.
Also you pay £0 in interest if you just pay off the balance on mobile banking on the same day you withdraw.

[Deleted User]

BlondBoy wrote: »

I withdraw cash on my Clarity overseas all the time. 12-15 withdrawals a month over the past 6 months while travelling in Asia. No effect on my credit rating at all as far as I can see - just applied for one of the more tricky-to-get cards and got it with a good limit. Does that make an ignorant fool?

Congrats to you on getting the tricky to get card. Every time you withdrew cash abroad, you made a small dent in your credit rating. If you're paying off other things like loans each month for example then you would be also making a positive impact on your credit rating. The positives are outweighing the negatives in your case. I'm not calling anyone an ignorant fool unless they blatantly call me out and say I'm wrong, I've only stated facts.

shennan

andypandylin wrote: »

Your go-to exchange offers a competitive rate precisely because it's in central London. Everywhere else you'd get a much poorer rate.

My comment about it being in Central London was in reference to a comment made earlier about bricks-and-mortar's having higher overheads.

bigadaj wrote: »

bricks and mortar services have far higher overheads and thei charges will be several per cent worse.

BlondBoy

[Deleted User] wrote:

Congrats to you on getting the tricky to get card. Every time you withdrew cash abroad, you made a small dent in your credit rating. If you're paying off other things like loans each month for example then you would be also making a positive impact on your credit rating. The positives are outweighing the negatives in your case. I'm not calling anyone an ignorant fool unless they blatantly call me out and say I'm wrong, I've only stated facts.

Thanks! I do take your point, but if I may be more serious than my previous signoff (which I should have added a smiley too), I wonder if the impact of cash withdrawals on credit ratings has changed of late.

You're right - I'm very lucky in that I'm demonstrably financially stable - low credit utilisation in percentage terms, I repay all cards in full each month - bar one which I'm effectively stoozing but paying 10% of the outstanding balance each month. So I'd guess lots of positives there.

I don't say that to show off - I'm trying to make the point that credit ratings MAY be less affected by cash withdrawals these days than they were. In my fortunate position, I don't think they've made a difference at all. Certainly no evidence of 'small dents'. The (indicative, I know) credit score i get from CRAs has been going up over this period, not down.

Just food for though, perhaps.

andypandylin

shennan wrote: »

My comment about it being in Central London was in reference to a comment made earlier about bricks-and-mortar's having higher overheads.

But bricks-and-motar's do have higher overheads. Sure it might not be immediately apparent at your go-to exchange or indeed any currency exchange in central London, and they are quite possibly making a net loss every time some cash was handed over the counter. But this is offset by them offering horrendous rates at shops outside London, where 90% of the rest of us lives...

[Deleted User]

BlondBoy wrote: »

Thanks! I do take your point, but if I may be more serious than my previous signoff (which I should have added a smiley too), I wonder if the impact of cash withdrawals on credit ratings has changed of late.

You're right - I'm very lucky in that I'm demonstrably financially stable - low credit utilisation in percentage terms, I repay all cards in full each month - bar one which I'm effectively stoozing but paying 10% of the outstanding balance each month. So I'd guess lots of positives there.

I don't say that to show off - I'm trying to make the point that credit ratings MAY be less affected by cash withdrawals these days than they were. In my fortunate position, I don't think they've made a difference at all. Certainly no evidence of 'small dents'. The (indicative, I know) credit score i get from CRAs has been going up over this period, not down.

Just food for though, perhaps.

Sounds like you're very responsible You're right in saying the negative effect is very small even negligible however it's still something recorded and something other lenders will pick up on and think about. I can fully understand why your credit score is going up given what you have said and applaud it. Everyone's situation is different, younger people especially will have a harder time getting credit and this is why I strongly encourage people not to do anything to negatively impact their credit rating.