Halifax Clarity Credit Card for Travelling

andypandylin

There is a pretty comprehensive article on MSE regarding this issue.
I can't post links so just google: Using credit card at an ATM: bad for credit score?

rockchick113

andypandylin wrote: »

There is a pretty comprehensive article on MSE regarding this issue.
I can't post links so just google: Using credit card at an ATM: bad for credit score?

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/withdrawing-cash-abroad-credit-record

andys15

I use my clarity card only abroad. Almost always for cash withdrawals. I now just get a small amount to cover me on the airport when I arrive/ taxi etc. I then pay it off with a bank transfer, although my interest rate is only 12.9%. I still get confused wether to take the exchanged amount or get it converted later. Keep looking it up then forgetting which is best.

bigadaj

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.

Where do you go, I'd like to see an objective comparison.

bigadaj

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.

Yes, but you wouldn't wait to pay it off until the end of the month. Maximum two weeks for most holidays and probably around a week for many.

adindas

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.

Shennan.
If this one is true it is definitely a better way of getting cash in advance before you are traveling. Also it is a good way of locking the exchange rate when you believe they are at peak.

If this one is true, you are absolutely right it is better than ClarityCard due to the fact that while ClarityCard is using MasterCard global exchange rate, they are a credit card (not debit card), but I have not heard this exchange office yet ....

Here the link from MSE
http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/

On the right hand side there 5 more link, but nothing about the exchange office you are mentioning.

In my personal experience exchange office use varieties of tricks. For example, no fee, very good exchange rate showing on the board (e.g same as Mastercard global exchange rate or xe.com for instance). But once you actually exchange it, you will get surprised the exchange rate you get, and they will tell you no fee only if you exchange back e/g foreign currency to £, etc)., etc. This s just exaple of one dirty trick they are using, there are a lot more ....

Would you mind to provide a link so we all could learn the detail and assess it any further ???? Thanks

shennan

The exchange office I'm talking about is in Covent Garden and, checking their rates earlier today, they were pretty much offering the same rate as today's Mastercard rate for USD/GBP.

Here's their site:

http://www.coventgardenfx.com/en/

That aside, I've never been stung by them and they came highly recommended to me by people I trust. I'm not saying that this is going to be the best approach for everybody, but reading all the above posts, I think (for me) it will be a mixture of exchanged currency at the office before leaving, followed by cash withdrawals and purchases on the credit card when I'm over there.

peter3hg

shennan wrote: »

The exchange office I'm talking about is in Covent Garden and, checking their rates earlier today, they were pretty much offering the same rate as today's Mastercard rate for USD/GBP.

Here's their site:

http://www.coventgardenfx.com/en/

That aside, I've never been stung by them and they came highly recommended to me by people I trust. I'm not saying that this is going to be the best approach for everybody, but reading all the above posts, I think (for me) it will be a mixture of exchanged currency at the office before leaving, followed by cash withdrawals and purchases on the credit card when I'm over there.

They aren't offering nearly the same rate. At the moment they are selling Euros at 1.2893. The MasterCard rate is currently 1.318854. So to withdraw €500 would be £8.69 cheaper with the Clarity card (£387.81 vs £379.12).

adindas

Shennan. They are using a trick between buying and sell exchange rate. Their exchange rate is quite decent (if no other fee is applied) but not as good as MC exchange rate.

Look at here.
http://www.coventgardenfx.com/en/exchange-rates

Exchange Rates - We Buy
Euro EURO 1.3227

Exchange Rates - We Sell
Euro EURO 1.2893

So they will "Sell" you euro for £/EUR 1.2893

While with master card(yesterday figure as today has not been published) you will get £/EUR 1.318854

The mastercard exchange rate is quite close to xe.com mid-market exchange rate. So for today exchange rate you should expect to get the rate of 1.31001 like here
http://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=1&From=GBP&To=EUR

for £500 the difference wail be around 500*(1.31001 - 1.2893) =
£10.355

When you exchnage it, what actual exchnage did you get is it the same with what pubslished in their link, ot there is other fee to add ??
http://www.coventgardenfx.com/en/exchange-rates

shennan wrote: »

The exchange office I'm talking about is in Covent Garden and, checking their rates earlier today, they were pretty much offering the same rate as today's Mastercard rate for USD/GBP.

Here's their site:

http://www.coventgardenfx.com/en/

That aside, I've never been stung by them and they came highly recommended to me by people I trust. I'm not saying that this is going to be the best approach for everybody, but reading all the above posts, I think (for me) it will be a mixture of exchanged currency at the office before leaving, followed by cash withdrawals and purchases on the credit card when I'm over there.

shennan

The exchange rate I checked this morning was for a USD/GBP, and it was 1.4 something (as was Mastercards), so their exchange rate was close to the nearest .1.

For the record, the Covent Garden exchange seems to change its rates throughout the day. I don't know if MasterCard does the same.


In terms of a fee, no. Last time I went there was no fee. Though that was last summer (I need a god dang holiday already).


I do think there's added value to the exchanges in speculating on changes in exchange rates. And it's always nice to arrive in a country with some local currency in your back pocket.