Halifax Clarity Card vs Monzo

Oasis1

Hello

I'm off to Bali tomorrow and got a Clarity card in advance. I also have a Monzo card. All the advice I've seen is to get Indian Rupiah when I arrive.

A few questions:

1. They're both Mastercard, which means the same good rate for conversion if using it to pay/withdraw cash, right?

2. I know with Monzo I can only withdraw up to £200/month fee-free before they charge 3%. Can someone explain the pros/cons of withdrawing cash on the Clarity Card? If I put the card into credit by transferring money onto it before I withdraw, does that stop me taking a hit on my credit score?

3. How long does a cash withdrawal on my credit report last?

AllieKat

Monzo is fabulous in terms of few declines, excellent CS, no interest since it's a debit card on cash, and supports contactless magstripe (needed in US, Israel, etc). It just works.

Halifax you pay interest from the day you withdraw cash (tho if you withdraw over £200 the fees on Monzo far outweigh the interest). I don't know if they do contactless magstripe or not.

Both are great and have a place in my wallet, but I use Monzo more.

Alexd52

I use both, always handy to have a backup. Also use Starling, works pretty much like Monzo.

lisyloo

If I put the card into credit

Technically this is not allowed. It might be stopped.
Either use free wifi to do a transfer after your withdrawal or forget about and pay small interest which is still way lower than any other form of currency conversion.

does that stop me taking a hit on my credit score?

There isn't usually a hit on your credit score if your credit is good.
If your credit file looks desperate then it might be an issue but anecdotally those of us with good credit don't experience a "hit".

How long does a cash withdrawal on my credit report last?

6 years

fifeken

Indian Rupiah or Indonesian?

ricky_v

How long does a cash withdrawal on my credit report last?

I wouldn't worry about the odd cash withdrawal marker, I've managed to get a re-mortgage, new credit cards, etc with cash withdrawal markers on my clarity credit card.

If you want to avoid a credit card then look into Starling bank. Same exchange rate as clarity and pays a little interest for in-credit balances.

adindas

I heard in Indonesia the cash machine limit the cash withdrawal to Rp.1.500.000 (e.g about £80) per withdrawal ??

So if you need Rp.3.000.00 rupiah, for instance, you will need to withdraw twice. This will be a problem using Monzo as AFAIK Monzo will only allow one fee withdrawal of less than £200 equivalent per calendar month. So if you withdraw twice the second withdrawal will attract the fee.

Does anyone who has travelled to Bali / Indonesia recently could share their experience about this?

fifeken wrote: »

Indian Rupiah or Indonesian?

I think the OP means Indonesian Rupiah

eDicky

adindas wrote: »

I heard in Indonesia the cash machine limit the cash withdrawal to Rp.1.500.000 (e.g about £80) per withdrawal ??

So if you need Rp.3.000.00 rupiah, for instance, you will need to withdraw twice. This will be a problem using Monzo as AFAIK Monzo will only allow one fee withdrawal of less than £200 equivalent per calendar month. So if you withdraw twice the second withdrawal will attract the fee.

Does anyone who has travelled to Bali / Indonesia recently could share their experience about this?

I'm often there but rarely need ATM so I'm not certain, but I think Rp.3m can be withdrawn at one time. Anyway, it's only the Monzo prepaid card that allows only one fee-free withdrawal per month, the Monzo Bank card allows any number of withdrawals up to the £200 fee-free limit. The prepaid card has only a month of life left so best to convert it to the bank account if not done already.

takman

Oasis1 wrote: »

Hello

I'm off to Bali tomorrow and got a Clarity card in advance. I also have a Monzo card. All the advice I've seen is to get Indian Rupiah when I arrive.

A few questions:

1. They're both Mastercard, which means the same good rate for conversion if using it to pay/withdraw cash, right?

2. I know with Monzo I can only withdraw up to £200/month fee-free before they charge 3%. Can someone explain the pros/cons of withdrawing cash on the Clarity Card? If I put the card into credit by transferring money onto it before I withdraw, does that stop me taking a hit on my credit score?

3. How long does a cash withdrawal on my credit report last?

If you spend some time reading this forum you will see that your "credit score" is a pretty useless bit of information. What is actually important is your credit history and a few withdrawals won't make much difference to a good history.

Pre-loading the card is against the terms and conditions so isn't recommended.

But if you were planning to take out a large amount of cash then you really should have got a Starling Account which offers the same fee free cash withdrawals with an excellent exchange rate and no interest just like Monzo but has no restriction on how much you can withdraw a month.