Halifax Clarity

Ballard

bobblebob wrote: »

Looking to get a Clarity card as i go abroad once or twice a year now. How often do you have to use the card before it goes inactive? Like i said it will only be used a few times a year in an emergency

I went the best part of a year without using it and had no issues. I have several credit cards that I used infrequently and none of them went 'inactive'.

According to numerous posts on this forum direct debits lapse after 13 months so you'd want to use it at least annually if you pay by direct debit.

bobblebob

Ballard wrote: »

I went the best part of a year without using it and had no issues. I have several credit cards that I used infrequently and none of them went 'inactive'.

According to numerous posts on this forum direct debits lapse after 13 months so you'd want to use it at least annually if you pay by direct debit.

Thanks. Guess i could just use it to buy something once in a while and pay it off. Guess it doesnt matter how small the payment is aslong as you use it?

YorkshireBoy

bobblebob wrote: »

Thanks. Guess i could just use it to buy something once in a while and pay it off. Guess it doesnt matter how small the payment is aslong as you use it?

If lenders need to free up funds for other, more needy, customers there's always a danger they could cut the limit. Never happened to me (£10K limit on both Nationwide Select and Santander Zero) but others on here have reported it.

When you say for emergencies only, what are your primary and secondary sources for foreign spend?

chattychappy

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

If lenders need to free up funds for other, more needy, customers there's always a danger they could cut the limit. Never happened to me (£10K limit on both Nationwide Select and Santander Zero) but others on here have reported it.

It's never happened to me either. Recently, MBNA raised my limit from something like 23K to 24K (can't remember exactly), even though I hadn't used it for 11 months, and then only to the tune of £35. During 30 years of holding credit cards, I have never had a limit reduced (except once), and most of the time most of my cards have had a zero balance. The exception was where the limit was reduced to the current (small) balance and they said the account would be later be barred to further transactions. It was an IT error and people affected had their accounts re-opened on request.

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

If lenders need to free up funds for other,

I question this bit. I think they know that across the board a large number of customers will have unused lines of credit. I'm sure they don't have funds put by just in case. It's not like current account balances where they have to be able to meet demands for withdrawals. With CCs, they could always decline transactions if, for some reason, there was a "run" on the lenders.

If they pruned unused limits, therefore, I can't see how it would free any funds. Only if they cut limits to the point where it reduced people's spend. In fact, the only time I've heard it about limits being cut on this forum is when people have been in some kind of distress. A typical one is where they are late, send some payments, and then have the limit reduced. I suppose they might cut limits to reduce risk of fraud on dormant accounts, but there the approach appears to be to close accounts altogether.

[Deleted User]

Halifax Clarity is the only card where I have ever had a reduction. It went from something like 13k to 7k, but with a letter that said 'if you want the 13k, let us know and you can keep it.'

I rarely have more than a 1k balance on that card, so I let it drop. It went up to something like 11k a few months later.

chattychappy

Deleted_User wrote: »

Halifax Clarity is the only card where I have ever had a reduction. It went from something like 13k to 7k, but with a letter that said 'if you want the 13k, let us know and you can keep it.'

I rarely have more than a 1k balance on that card, so I let it drop. It went up to something like 11k a few months later.

Interesting. My limit on Clarity is £11,500 but I've never had more than 3 or 4K on it. Most of the time it's £1000 max and I'm paying it off a few days after the transaction, because it's cash. They've yet to write to me.

bobblebob

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

If lenders need to free up funds for other, more needy, customers there's always a danger they could cut the limit. Never happened to me (£10K limit on both Nationwide Select and Santander Zero) but others on here have reported it.

When you say for emergencies only, what are your primary and secondary sources for foreign spend?

Well i always tend to take cash with me when travelling abroad. But sometimes you can run out, or see something that you want to buy that you didnt budget for so put in on the card.

YorkshireBoy

bobblebob wrote: »

Well i always tend to take cash with me when travelling abroad. But sometimes you can run out, or see something that you want to buy that you didnt budget for so put in on the card.

And would that cash be obtained at as good a rate as Clarity? If so, where from please?

bobblebob

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

And would that cash be obtained at as good a rate as Clarity? If so, where from please?

Well im not sure, but also going to Stockholm later in the year and been told by a friend over there at the moment that alot of places are card only, so a credit card would work out cheaper than paying with a debit card

eDicky

bobblebob wrote: »

Well i always tend to take cash with me when travelling abroad. But sometimes you can run out, or see something that you want to buy that you didnt budget for so put in on the card.

Using Clarity or the other credit/debit/prepaid cards that are fee-free overseas will always be cheaper than exchanging cash (on the same day), and with cash there's always the likely extra loss involved in exchanging the excess back to pounds (or spending unnecessarily to use it up).