Halifax Clarity credit card for holiday spending

Tomato

Hi

I am looking for a cheap to use abroad credit card for cash and spending and MSN recommends the above cc. Does anyone know if you put some money on the card before you start spending, you will get away with any interest on cash withdrawals?

Thank you very much

user1168934

If I remember correctly terms and conditions forbid you to do exactly that. You can however pay it online as soon as the transactions appear on your card to avoid paying interest.

mchale

The amount of interest charged is minimal, I know this is a money saving site but surely the cc company has got to be allowed to make a small profit otherwise they may withdraw the benefits for everyone.

lee111s

You can withdraw the cash and make a payment to the card seconds later using online banking.

dresdendave

Although this is a money saving site, unless you are withdrawing the equivalent of thousands of £cash, the interest is literally pennies. I'd rather enjoy my time abroad and settle up upon return than obsessing about how to save a few pence.

whatarethescores

Have had the Halifax Clarity Credit Card for several years and occasionally have gone into a positive balance due to not taking into account the £5 reward and miscalculating etc. and have never had an issue with it. However, as others have said, just pay as soon as or within a day or two of your transactions. The interest pales into insignificance compared to almost any other way of spending abroad.

Tomato

Thank you to everyone for your replies. gonna apply for it and enjoy my hols. Have a lovely weekend.

knightstyle

Used our clarity cards abroad for years and never had any problems. You can arrange a payment from your bank before you leave to be paid a few days after you arrive. So before leaving arrange payment of £440 to be made on day 3 and on first day abroad withdraw 500€. Cheap and easy holiday cash!

tece

What a brilliant idea knightstyle I would never have thought of that myself. I am going to do that on my upcoming holiday.
I only got the card this year and have used it twice but it never occurred to me to pay the balance of the cash withdrawal to avoid the interest.
I used to take cash or withdraw on my debit card on holiday and now find this card an excellent alternative for my holiday money.

chattychappy

Bear in mind that payments you make are applied first to statemented transactions. So if you make an ATM withdrawal and then send a payment, the payment will only be applied to the ATM withdrawal if you have already cleared the previous statement balance.

Also, you only get the savings if you opt out of any currency conversion at the point of sale (or ATM withdrawal). Insist on being billed in the local currency (so that Halifax will convert) rather than in GBP. If you agree to a GBP amount, you can be sure the rate will be loaded by several %.

marrbett

I'm awaiting this card as we're about to go abroad shortly. I was planning on just using it to withdraw cash from an atm whilst there. Is that the best use of this card? I've never used a credit card abroad, usually just take cash and use that.
Thanks