Halifax Clarity Card Abroad Question

Marksfish

The Halifax app very handily now shows you pending transactions. Once your card has been through the machine and authorised, it will show in the pending tab. This amount can change very slightly when it becomes confirmed, but not by much (usually). You are also able to see any holds that hotels or self serve petrol stations place on the card too.

If you haven't used the card for a while, you may also want to make a few smaller transactions and one at the airport on departure, just in case the algorithm sees it as suspicious activity and blocks the card. You can also notify them via the app of an overseas trip.

Mark

pochisoldi

Deleted_User wrote: »

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.

The correct method to repay a cash advance on a clarity card:
Wait until the cash advance shows on the account. (Hint: Use the Halifax app)
If you have haven't paid off last month's balance, then pay off the balance plus the cost of the cash advance.
If you have paid off last month's balance, then pay off the cost of the cash advance.

Real life example:
Statement was issued on 2nd July, with a balance of £6
Various card payments made on 4th and 5th of July.
Cash advance for €100 costing £88 taken from an ATM on the 5th July.
I pay nothing off until the cash advance shows up on my transaction statement on 6th July.

I then make a payment of £94 (£88+£6) straight away (and the direct debit for £6 later in the month is not taken).

If I'd took more money out before the next statement, then I would have simply paid the cash advance off when it hit my account. (and not before, otherwise it would clear the interest free purchases, not the cash advance).

I then get a statement around the 2nd of August which shows a few pennies interest, and the rest of my purchases. This then gets paid off on the normal payment date.

The key things:
1) Don't pay anything off until the cash advance is shown on the account. (A "pending transaction" doesn't count as "showing on the account" - you need to see the completed transaction)
2) If you haven't paid off last month's statemented balance, then clear that balance plus the cash advance charge.

PochiSoldi

fifeken

pochisoldi wrote: »

The correct method to repay a cash advance on a clarity card:
Wait until the cash advance shows on the account. (Hint: Use the Halifax app)
If you have haven't paid off last month's balance, then pay off the balance plus the cost of the cash advance.
If you have paid off last month's balance, then pay off the cost of the cash advance.

Real life example:
Statement was issued on 2nd July, with a balance of £6
Various card payments made on 4th and 5th of July.
Cash advance for €100 costing £88 taken from an ATM on the 5th July.
I pay nothing off until the cash advance shows up on my transaction statement on 6th July.

I then make a payment of £94 (£88+£6) straight away (and the direct debit for £6 later in the month is not taken).

If I'd took more money out before the next statement, then I would have simply paid the cash advance off when it hit my account. (and not before, otherwise it would clear the interest free purchases, not the cash advance).

I then get a statement around the 2nd of August which shows a few pennies interest, and the rest of my purchases. This then gets paid off on the normal payment date.

The key things:
1) Don't pay anything off until the cash advance is shown on the account. (A "pending transaction" doesn't count as "showing on the account" - you need to see the completed transaction)
2) If you haven't paid off last month's statemented balance, then clear that balance plus the cash advance charge.

PochiSoldi

That's what the post you quoted said, only in about 200 words less. :huh: