Tandem vs Halifax Clarity for foreign travel?

lavayuki

I am planning on applying for a new credit card this year to travel abroad, and have been considering these two mainly. They seem very similar in terms of interest rates and having no foreign transaction fees, with Tandem having a bonus of 0.5% cash back.

Tandem seems attractive with the cash back, however the fact they are mostly app based deters me (as my itunes accounts is not UK, and Tandems app is not available on my store, but other bigger firms like Halifax, Lloyds, Barclays, Natwest, Tesco etc. are so I have no issues with mobile banking from them). If they have pc banking it would be ok.

Does anyone have any experiences with either or both of these cards, and if so which would you recommend in terms of pros and cons, ease of use, fees, making repayments, customer service, user interface etc?

I have a good credit rating overall and currently bank primarily with Lloyds but also have credit cards with Amex and Barclays.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

dan91

If you can't get the app i would not bother with tandem. Not sure it will work correctly without it.

[Deleted User]

Why is your iTunes not set to UK?

Also you don’t have a credit rating so you can ignore that as well

dj1471

Consider the Creation Everyday card too, it has a lower APR so the interest on cash withdrawals will be slightly cheaper.

Not much else to choose between them. Don't apply for Tandem if you can't use the app, there's no other way to access your account.

Most of the other good options (Revolut, Starling Bank, loot.io etc) are app-based.

bd10

Hi,

I've been using the Clarity card for 3 trips abroad last year and overall I am very happy with the card. When I compared travel credit cards, I had other online-only card issuers shortlisted as well. I chose an issuer that has a branch network and customer service line I can call in case something goes wrong. The odds are, if something goes wrong, it happens at the most inconvenient moment. I would dread the thought of not being able to check out or settle a hotel invoice and not having a number to call and discuss with someone on the other end of the line and not a chat bot.

My experience with the Clarity card so far:

Customer service:
During my last visit to Singapore, one merchant had troubles processing the payment. The sales asssistant had problems with their POS terminal. I rang Halifax card service at like 4 AM UK time, the Halifax rep told me what the problem was and how the sales assistant can avoid it the next time she'd charge the card. So I went back to the shop, payment went through, happy days. Given the ungodly hour during which I called, I had a rep on the phone immediately.
I had the same issue here in the UK when a junior sales assistant didn't know how to operate the POS terminal. That time I was on hold with the card service team for 10 minutes. Bit annoying to listen to music for that long, but it was peak hours and issue got resolved.

The mobile card app:
Has worked on Android so far without crashes or fail. The interface I find intuitive. Been using the app on a regular basis and only login online to get the PDF statements. Transactions show up within moments as pending. What's good is that they show the credit limit, cleared amount and also available credit line. The latter takes pending transactions into account. If I recall correctly, reserved amounts (typically hotel) are also taken into account. Transactions clear within 2-3 days, depending on time zone.

Payments to the card:
Prior to late last year, Lloyds group took manual payment into account when they ran the direct debit payment. They changed that and there is a whole thread on here. This is now a bit of a hassle, so I cancelled direct debits and make all payments manually. Their change in policy is a disappointment as I liked the fact that the direct debit was a catch-all clearing left overs whereby larger amounts I would pay within a few days after they show on the card.
Manual payments from non-Halifax current account have always gone through smoothly.

Interest:
Cash withdrawals incur interest costs from the day of withdrawal but show up 2 days later or so. So, cash is not free, but I believe the daily limit is £500 which is decent, so comes handy if ever needed.

Hope that helps.

dj1471

Lloyds/Halifax have discontinued 24hr customer service, now only open 7am-11pm UK time.

mchale

dj1471 wrote: »

Consider the Creation Everyday card too, it has a lower APR so the interest on cash withdrawals will be slightly cheaper.

Not much else to choose between them.

I've got both the creation & clarity cards & find on cash withdrawals the clarity always gives a better exchange rate than the creation.

dj1471

mchale wrote: »

I've got both the creation & clarity cards & find on cash withdrawals the clarity always gives a better exchange rate than the creation.

It doesn't because they both use the MasterCard rate, assuming you don't let the ATM do the conversion.

bd10

I thought the Creation Everyday card passes on the Mastercard exchange rate with no mark-up, so should be the same if made on the same day.

mchale

dj1471 wrote: »

It doesn't because they both use the MasterCard rate, assuming you don't let the ATM do the conversion.

Sorry you are wrong, i've draw out the same amount of money on both cards at the same ATM at the same time & chosen the local currency & the clarity ALWAYS give a better rate, (done it 2 times to double check) as I was under the assumption that the rate would be the same as mastercard do the exch rate, I now use clarity as my main card even though the creation has a lower annual interest rate

niktheguru

I have both. There is not a huge amount between them. The Halifax clarity was my go to for years for foreign travel, but after using the tandem on a recent holiday that has now pipped it.

They both use the MasterCard exchange rate for foreign currency so you should pay the same with both.
The advantage with the Halifax is you can use it with google pay or Apple Pay whereas the tandem is not compatible with these contactless methods.

However the tandem app is brilliant abroad. As soon as you make a purchase you get a pop up message from the app showing the transaction, the cost in the native currency and the cost in pounds. I find this aspect really useful. That and the 0.5% cash back make the tandem the winner for me.

If you don’t have access to the app then it isn’t as lucrative but may still be worth it for the cash back.

One thing I would say is if you go with tandem to apply with plenty of notice. They take ages to open your account. Took me over a month. (Also if you fancy a referral code to get a 10 pound voucher pm me!! - but genuinely that’s not why I think it’s a good card)

Hope that helps.