Which card to use?

geordiepaul2001

Hi all,

I'm currently in Roquetas De Mar in the South of Spain and I have found out since getting here that the use of card to pay for meals etc is a rarity.
I have done as I normally do and brought a few hundred euros and planned to pay for all other expenses on my Halifax clarity credit card.

I'm now resigned to withdrawing cash from a cash point as I don't want to have what we do and where we eat dictated to by whether they accept card payment.

I'm hoping someone can help me figure out which card is best for me to withdraw the cash on.
I have a visa Co-operative debit card with me which charges 2.75% non sterling transaction fee and either 2% or £2 (whichever is higher) cash fee.
I also have my (mastercard) Halifax clarity credit card which does not charge a fee but does charge 18.95% p.a interest from the date of the cash withdrawal.

I always pay this card off in full each month which comes out on around the 20th of each month.

I'm also assuming that I will be making a few withdrawals of 300 euros at a time (I still have 12 days of the holiday left).

So in short, which card is going to offer the best value for money for withdrawing euros?

TIA,

Paul

heatherw_01

There are a few different prepaid cards which don't charge anything for cash withdraws abroad. This might be better for you?

Otherwise then your clarity card but you will have to pay it off as soon as possible to avoid a̶ ̶l̶o̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ interest to pay.

WAYT

heatherw_01 wrote: »

There are a few different prepaid cards which don't charge anything for cash withdraws abroad. This might be better for you?

Otherwise then your clarity card but you will have to pay it off as soon as possible to avoid a lot of interest to pay.

This is somewhat of an overstatement.
If they withdrew £1000 and paid it all off when they arrived home(not waiting for statement), they would pay a max of £7.50 in interest. 0.75%

A single £300 withdrawal or even usage on/of the Coop debit card would cost more. £47.50 for £1000 of ATM withdrawals. 4.75%

PeacefulWaters

Clarity by a country mile is your winning choice.

If you can get online and clear the balance while you're away you'll minimise any interest.

I paid 56p after withdrawing £1,000 in Chile. It's easily saved by choosing somewhere cheaper to eat or drink where cards aren't accepted.

geordiepaul2001

That's excellent thank you all very much.
It is certainly a lesson learnt for future travel.

eDicky

heatherw_01 wrote: »

There are a few different prepaid cards which don't charge anything for cash withdraws abroad. This might be better for you?

Otherwise then your clarity card but you will have to pay it off as soon as possible to avoid a lot of interest to pay.

Paul is already in Spain, hardly the time to be applying for prepaid cards. There will not be 'a lot of interest to pay' on his Clarity card, it will be insignificant even if it is not paid off before return from holiday in twelve days, or next month as usual.

heatherw_01

My apologies I missed that he was already in Spain.

And a lot of interest to pay depends on what you class as a lot to yourself. Anyway as I said in my post, Clarity was the one to use.

One word and I get my head bitten off...