Hfax Clarity Card Declined

neiltmurray

Hope I don't upset anyone by posting this here. I use Hfax Clarity when abroad as recommended. Just got back from Portugal where I had my card declined 3 times at different places. Worked ok to start with. My wife has her own card and had similar issue. Ran out of cash so had to draw out of current account with 3% charge. Not happy with Hfax :-( Phoned them an they said nothing to do with them, must be Merchant card machine or software. This doesn't sound credible as declined at different locations and bars. The hotel where we were stopping said they had seen this before with Hfax cards. They entered the card manually and got my wife to sign. Went though ok. Anyone else had problems? Beware if you rely on the Clarity Card. Applied for PO Card as back up.

eDicky

This can happen at any time with any card, especially overseas, and nobody will be able to say for sure what the problem was. That's why it's vital not to rely on only one card when traveling.

Forget the Post Office card as backup, it will probably be cheaper to use your regular debit card. There is Starling Bank or loot.io prepaid, same fee-free MasterCard rates as Clarity.

BarryBlue

We use a Halifax Clarity card whenever we are abroad and it has never given us any problem either withdrawing cash or paying for things. Even throughout various countries in the Far East recently it worked splendidly.

That was right up until our last day when we were trying to pay for tickets for the cable car on Lantau Island in Hong Kong. It kept declining my wife's card, then also declined mine. Eventually I suggested that it may be the card machine. The girl behind the desk said it was very unlikely, it was bound to be our cards. Nevertheless we did ask to try the machine at the next cash desk and it worked without a problem. Cue a very embarrassed cashier!

jackieblack

eDicky wrote: »

This can happen at any time with any card, especially overseas, and nobody will be able to say for sure what the problem was. That's why it's vital not to rely on only one card when traveling.

Agreed

eDicky wrote: »

Forget the Post Office card as backup, it will probably be cheaper to use your regular debit card.

Depends which PO card. Their Platinum Card is fee free for foreign transactions and is a Mastercard, exactly the same as Halifax Clarity.

eDicky

jackieblack wrote: »

Depends which PO card. Their Platinum Card is fee free for foreign transactions and is a Mastercard, exactly the same as Halifax Clarity.

True, I didn't think of that, suspecting they mean the PO Travel Money Card. The credit card is not such a great choice with its notoriously bad customer service.

stevenhp1987

This is why I take several cards abroad with me.

E.g. I normally take: Barclaycard Travel Card (VISA), Aqua Reward (MasterCard) & Starling Bank (MasterCard Debit).

I think 3 is enough...

Never rely on just one card, I still take my UK spend cards for backup incase all three of the above fail, as well as carry cash (a little bit pre-bought, and some taken out of an ATM)!

NoodleDoodleMan

[QUOTENot happy with Hfax :-( ] [/QUOTE]

Have you had a chance yet to seek an explanation from Halifax ?

It's in their interests to determine why your card failed in the circumstances you describe.

Doshwaster

stevenhp1987 wrote: »

This is why I take several cards abroad with me.

E.g. I normally take: Barclaycard Travel Card (VISA), Aqua Reward (MasterCard) & Starling Bank (MasterCard Debit).

I think 3 is enough...

Never rely on just one card, I still take my UK spend cards for backup incase all three of the above fail, as well as carry cash (a little bit pre-bought, and some taken out of an ATM)!

Yes, good advice on having several backups. Also don't keep all of your cards in one place in case your purse/wallet goes missing. I always leave at least one card in my hotel room which was a life saver when I had my wallet nicked in Spain a few years ago. If you are a couple then make sure each of you have different cards on you.

Archergirl

Did you need to tell them you were going away? We have had issues with Nationwide in the past but did have a backup card (Halifax lol)

iltisman

I found my Clarity card would not work for a Flight within the US but my Natwest MC worked fine. Both UK cards with Master card Logo on.

DCFC79

neiltmurray wrote: »

Hope I don't upset anyone by posting this here. I use Hfax Clarity when abroad as recommended. Just got back from Portugal where I had my card declined 3 times at different places. Worked ok to start with. My wife has her own card and had similar issue. Ran out of cash so had to draw out of current account with 3% charge. Not happy with Hfax :-( Phoned them an they said nothing to do with them, must be Merchant card machine or software. This doesn't sound credible as declined at different locations and bars. The hotel where we were stopping said they had seen this before with Hfax cards. They entered the card manually and got my wife to sign. Went though ok. Anyone else had problems? Beware if you rely on the Clarity Card. Applied for PO Card as back up.

Shouldnt be relying on 1 card when away anyway.

3 is a good number to have, even 4 if you like.