Halifax Clarity - pay before I spend???

chattychappy

Fortyfoot wrote: »

I always pre load my card at the Halifax bank via the cashier. Occasionally I ask them about pre loading and they have never advised against. Have been doing it for a few years now.

Fortyfoot

Useful to have this information and certainly people have reported pre-loading without issue before.

Personally I wouldn't rely on a cashier never having advised against it - staff really don't know all the T+Cs of their products. It certainly is against the T+Cs and for regulatory reasons, CCs are not supposed to allow customer to run credit balances - deposit taking has a separate regulatory regime.

For the few pence/quid involved, I never pre-load.

System

Fortyfoot wrote: »

I always pre load my card at the Halifax bank via the cashier. Occasionally I ask them about pre loading and they have never advised against. Have been doing it for a few years now.

Fortyfoot

Your T&Cs (which explicitly prohibit preloading) will take precedence over a casual conversation with a bank cashier.

Will said cashier help if you card gets blocked in Fiji due to AML considerations

duncansby

As others have said the Clarity card only charges peanuts for cash withdrawals, just remember to use local currency when given the option at the cash dispenser. We were on holiday for a week in May and used the card to withdraw cash about 4 times, and were only charged 5p interest.

Also if you were worried its very easy now to pay into your credit card when abroad using internet banking from your tablet or mobile

stevenhp1987

lauritafajita wrote: »

Hi there
I got a Halifax Clarity card for myself and a Barclaycard for my husband specifically for spending money on holiday.
I want to use the Halifax to withdraw cash and I know that I need to pay it off straight away to avoid interest charges but I really don't want to have to faff around with that whilst I am on holiday - I like to leave my phone in the safe and have a break if I can.
I extimate we will withdraw around £500 so was wondering if I can add that to the card before I go and in this case, will I avoid interest charges?
Anyone done this?
Thank you

If you say both cards are for spending abroad, then you got the Barclaycard Travel card?

If so, Barclaycard don't charge interest if you pay it in full, even for cash withdraws.

Why not avoid the Halifax cash withdraw charge by using your Barclaycard Travel card? If you have a low cash limit on this card (check your statements, as cash limit is different to credit limit) then you can pay that back after the withdraw, and still have zero interest.

Adding cash to a card in advance, bringing it into credit, is against the T&C of the account and could put you in hot water with Halifax.

takman

Why not use a card such as Monzo which is a prepaid card that offers fee free withdrawals and purchases with an almost perfect exchange rate. You can then top it up before you use it and don't have to worry about breaking any terms and conditions of your credit card.

KTF

Its against the T&C but doesnt mean you cant.

Back when they were offering the £5 reward, when that was credited it put the balance in the positive anyway which was against their T&C...

YorkshireBoy

KTF wrote: »

Back when they were offering the £5 reward, when that was credited it put the balance in the positive anyway which was against their T&C...

"Their" T&Cs state...

B7.3 Payment amount

You must not pay us more than you owe when you make payments to your account, or transfer funds from another credit or store card if this creates a credit balance on your account.

...they don't state they can't do it.

skybluearmyontour

Can I tag onto this post as it's topical?

Just spoke to Halifax about interest charged on my Clarity but still don't really understand so thought I'd post question here also...

Foreign transactions - no interest
Foreign cash withdrawals - interest charged until cleared

21/05 - May Statement Date
06/06 - Cash Withdrawal - £59.06
10/06 - Cash Withdrawal - £239.07
14/06 - Cash Withdrawal - £35.60 (final withdrawal)
15/06 - Balance cleared by direct debit (May statement)
21/06 - Interest Charged - £1.46
21/06 - June Statement Date
17/07 - Balance cleared by direct debit (June statement)
23/07 - July Statement Date
23/07 - Interest Charged - £3.77
17/08 - DD to clear July statement

Does this mean the £3.77 interest was because I was charged interest 21/06 which wasn't paid until 17/07? In which case I can expect more interest next month...?

Seems like I am punishing myself by paying DD & I should make a credit following a cash withdrawal as soon as it shows in account? (Wife has similar charges)

Any help appreciated.

SuperHan

skybluearmyontour wrote: »

Can I tag onto this post as it's topical?

Just spoke to Halifax about interest charged on my Clarity but still don't really understand so thought I'd post question here also...

Foreign transactions - no interest
Foreign cash withdrawals - interest charged until cleared

21/05 - May Statement Date
06/06 - Cash Withdrawal - £59.06
10/06 - Cash Withdrawal - £239.07
14/06 - Cash Withdrawal - £35.60 (final withdrawal)
15/06 - Balance cleared by direct debit (May statement)
21/06 - Interest Charged - £1.46
21/06 - June Statement Date
17/07 - Balance cleared by direct debit (June statement)
23/07 - July Statement Date
23/07 - Interest Charged - £3.77
17/08 - DD to clear July statement

Does this mean the £3.77 interest was because I was charged interest 21/06 which wasn't paid until 17/07? In which case I can expect more interest next month...?

Seems like I am punishing myself by paying DD & I should make a credit following a cash withdrawal as soon as it shows in account? (Wife has similar charges)

Any help appreciated.

The £3.77 relates to interest on the cash balance.

On the June statement date, they applied interest from the date of the withdrawal to the statement date. You then took a further 26 days to pay this off (which is perfectly acceptable), but interest continued to accrue in this time.

The interest accruing between the statement date and payment date is then on the next statement (known as trailing interest).

If you pay the July statement in full, there will be no further interest to pay (as the interest itself won't accrue additional interest until it's past the payment due date).

skybluearmyontour

Thank you very much SuperHan. Explained much more clearly than the Halifax operative who put me on hold whilst she asked a colleague!