advice on using specialist credit card

Dutton10

hello there,

was just looking for a bit of advice on the best way to change pounds to Australian dollars. Ive checked travelmoneymax and they say that the Halifax clarity credit card is best so was just looking for a little more info on this as ive never owned a credit card.

so for example say I have £2500 saved that is roughly $4242 with this card but I'm guessing that this is purely if you spend on this card and not withdraw from ATM's. Which is fine but id rather withdraw cash from ATM's if I am going on a night out (like to keep track of how much ive spent, otherwise it could get dangerous :beer:). I also understand that id be spending on the credit card and just transferring the money saved so that is paid off in full

cheers

PeacefulWaters

Exactly the same exchange rate for ATM withdrawals or purchases.

ATM withdrawals attract interest from the day they hit your statement but this can be mitigated by clearing the card balance in full.

benjus

Halifax Clarity is free to withdraw from ATMs (assuming the ATM itself doesn't impose a charge - I don't know if this is common in Australia).

However, it does start charging interest from the date of the transaction. You can avoid this by checking your account regularly using online/mobile banking and paying it off when the transaction hits the account (best not to pay off before that for a couple of reasons).

Mat_hev

Hi there. Just checking on whether I've understood right. Instead of buying currency ahead of time I'm thinking of using the Halifax clarity card to withdraw cash when abroad. Are there any extra charges? From what I've understood so far, as long as you pay asap (when the amount withdrawn comes up on your statement, there shouldn't be any extra charges for using an atm abroad. Is that correct?

jackieblack

Mat_hev wrote: »

Hi there. Just checking on whether I've understood right. Instead of buying currency ahead of time I'm thinking of using the Halifax clarity card to withdraw cash when abroad. Are there any extra charges? From what I've understood so far, as long as you pay asap (when the amount withdrawn comes up on your statement, there shouldn't be any extra charges for using an atm abroad. Is that correct?

Only if the ATM you use to withdraw the cash imposes a fee for using it.

To minimise the amount of interest charged on the cash you withdraw, make sure you've paid your previous statement in full otherwise any payment you make to clear the cash withdrawal will be credited to the outstanding statement balance first.