Holiday cash debit card or Clarity card

andytw

Hi,
Going to USA and Canada. I am taking some dollars for each country but may need some more, don't know yet.
My understanding is that my best bet is to use my Halifax Clarity card in an ATM rather than my debit card. Happy to do this, just seems wrong.

andytw

[Deleted User]

It would be best.

Why does it seem wrong?

Ebe_Scrooge

You're right, it does go against the "standard" advice of "never ever withdraw cash against a credit card".


However, the reasoning behind it is that Clarity don't charge a withdrawal fee, or a foreign exchange fee, which most credit AND debit cards do. Be aware that the ATM operator may charge a fee - but Halifax have no control over that, and you'd incur that fee whichever card you used.


Also remember that you WILL be charged interest on the amount withdrawn. If you're only going away for a couple of weeks, and can pay the balance off as soon as you get home, then the interest will not be much, and almost certainly less than the fees you would otherwise be charged by most other cards.


An alternative - if you can access a secure internet connection when you're out there, and log onto your online banking ... if you pay off the balance as soon as the transaction hits your account ( not necessarily the day of withdrawal ) then you'll not pay any interest.

andytw

Deleted_User wrote: »

It would be best.

Why does it seem wrong?

Just seems wrong because it is a credit card.

[Deleted User]

Fair enough. Mr Scrooge has explained it well, anyway.

andytw

Thanks....that puts my mind at rest. Will bear in mind about paying off ASAP. If I remember correctly, I think I would need to pay off the whole balance, not just whatever I had drawn in cash.
e.g. Spend £100 at airport on card, 3 days later draw $100 cash in Canada then I would need to pay off the £100 AND the $100 to stop paying interest.

TBH the amounts are likely to be so small it probably will be academic but this is MSE.com !!

jennifernil

What you need to pay off as well as the cash withdrawal are any "statemented" amounts, so if you have a statement that has yet to be paid, you need to pay that full amount plus the cash withdrawal.

Purchases that have not yet appeared on a monthly statement do not need to be paid as well.

So it will all hinge on your statement dates.

Ebe_Scrooge

andytw wrote: »

Thanks....that puts my mind at rest. Will bear in mind about paying off ASAP. If I remember correctly, I think I would need to pay off the whole balance, not just whatever I had drawn in cash.

Not necessarily. From their T&Cs : https://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/clarity-card/Default.asp


"We use your payments to pay off balances charged at the highest interest rate first and so on down to balances with the lowest interest rates. This means the more expensive balances are always paid off first.
If there is more than one type of balance at the same interest rate, they are paid off in the following order: cash transactions, purchases, balance transfers and money transfers, and then default charges (plus any interest or charges incurred as a result of those balances). For each type of balance, your payments will pay off the oldest balance (and related fees, charges or insurance) first."


So in your example, you'd need to pay off the $100 cash withdrawal to avoid interest. The £100 purchase would fall under the normal rule of "No interest if you pay the next statement off in full". Remember, with normal purchases you effectively get an interest-free period, between it appearing on your account and the next statement being produced - you just need to make sure you settle each statement in full when it arrives. With cash advances there is no interest free period - you're charged interest from the date of withdrawal to the date of payment.


Worth stressing that you need to wait until the cash withdrawal appears on your account. If you pay off $100 on the day you withdraw the cash, it may not necessarily have registered on your account by then - in which case, your repayment would go towards your £100 purchase, leaving you accruing interest when the withdrawal does hit the account.


But as you rightly point out, if you're talking about a few hundred, rather than several thousand, dollars, then the interest will be the equivalent of something like a couple of beers, no big deal.

eDicky

andytw wrote: »

Hi,
Going to USA and Canada. I am taking some dollars for each country

No need to lose money buying cash dollars, use your Clarity for everything. In USA /Canada there are not many things that cannot be paid by card. Take a Monzo card as backup, same MasterCard rates and costs nothing:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/prepaid-travel-cards#monzo

bigadaj

I believe that the us is one of the few countries where it is difficult to find an ATM that doesn't charge for cash withdrawals.

More reason to stick everything possible on the card.

chattychappy

Should you be flying from Gatwick (or anywhere else where there are multicurrency MoneyCorp machines) you can draw some USD before leaving. Provided you select "without conversion", there is no fee. Just the usual Clarity thing - interest from the date of withdrawal.

This is the cheapest way in the UK of getting USD (or a few other currencies) that I know of. But you must use ATMs (not the desks), you must select "without conversion", and it must be "MoneyCorp".