Halifax Clarity Card Abroad Question

gettingthere28

Hi,
I have had my Halifax Clarity card for about 5 years, and I admit since they stopped the £5 a month I have never used it.

However I am going to be going aboard (Southern Ireland) and I understand that it is fee free abroad, but just so I don’t muck it up I wanted the advice of others that have actually used it aboard.

My Plan is to use my NatWest Black card, as I used that last year and there are no fees on that, but if I take out cash I use my HSBC Debit card as it only charges 2.75% with no other charge for cash withdrawals, but I was thinking that if I took out say 100 (In Euros) out of my Halifax card, and then transferred the money back in the same day I would pay no charges ?, but I suppose I would not really know what 100 in Euros would actually be, which might take a few days to debit, and by the time I paid it back I would have be charged interest anyway ?.

I also thought that if I took out say 100 and paid it back in, but I have also made purchases with the card then that would confuse things as the credit would go towards the purchases and not the cash withdrawal ?.

Or should I just use the NatWest card for purchases which is free, and the HSBC Debit card which is only 2.75% so that would be £2.75 if I took out 100 Euros, as I can t see me needing much actual cash.

Thanks

[Deleted User]

Use the Clarity, and if the couple of pence interest worries you, make a payment to the card shortly after withdrawing the cash.

Bear in mind that payments will go against statemented items first.

The interest will be nothing compared to the fees on the HSBC.

System

Are you sure that the NatWest Black Card is free?
http://personal.natwest.com/content/dam/natwest_com/private-banking/downloads/summaryBox.pdf

gettingthere28

Economic wrote: »

Are you sure that the NatWest Black Card is free?
http://personal.natwest.com/content/dam/natwest_com/private-banking/downloads/summaryBox.pdf

Hi, Yes it is the Reward Black Version:

No foreign transaction fees anywhere in the world

darkidoe

When you spend on the Clarity Card, the available credit balance on the account will drop, I always tend to check it at the end of the day of a trip to transfer in money to make it revert back to my full credit limit again. That way I can also roughly make out what rates I am getting from Mastercard based on what I am spending. They tend to be the best on the day rates.

vacheron

As an example I spent 12 days in Greece last month and used my Clarity card for payments and for withdrawing about 400-500 euros from cash machines .

I paid off the balance about 10 days in to the holiday and the second when I came home and all outstanding payments had settled down.

The total interest came to 41 pence. It would have been less had I paid the balance off every couple of days or so, but even I can live with 41p.

The transaction details for the month are shown below:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/db64a8amb3z4mfo/Capture.PNG?dl=0

Biggles

gettingthere28 wrote: »

Hi, Yes it is the Reward Black Version:

No foreign transaction fees anywhere in the world

No, but there are cash withdrawal fees of 3%, which will massively exceed the tiny interest payment with the Clarity card!

gettingthere28

Biggles wrote: »

No, but there are cash withdrawal fees of 3%, which will massively exceed the tiny interest payment with the Clarity card!

Hi, Sorry I should have been clearer. I was meaning using the Halifax Card for just cash withdrawals and the NatWest Card for the purchases.

Fortyfoot

If you are worried about interest on the Clarity card just load it with the amount of cash you expect you will need.

Fortyfoot

[Deleted User]

But if you do, take a back up with you in case they block the card for breaking the terms of use.

jennifernil

Fortyfoot wrote: »

If you are worried about interest on the Clarity card just load it with the amount of cash you expect you will need.

Fortyfoot

Very bad advice!