Tandem vs Halifax Clarity for foreign travel?

chattychappy

kevChan wrote: »

I don't know how good Tandem is.
However, I had Halifax clarity before, and if used it for Cash abroad the interest charge starts on the day!!

Correct. It works best if you clear the balance shortly after making an ATM withdrawal.

On my rates, £100 will cost me about 25p if I pay a week later. 0.25%. Usually I pay less because I pay the next day or so.

I'm happy with that - I can get up to £500 a day on Clarity.

kevChan wrote: »

If I were you, Id sign up to Curve Card (if you already have a credit card).
sign up on their website (or search Curve Card)
Using the code W9TAU (to get free £10).
(And this does not need credit check!)

I personally tested it just this holiday in 3 different Asian countries--all my purchase, cash withdrawal were FEE FREE and charged at the live MasterCard (equivalent to what you see on Google Search) rate!!!

That beats Tandom or Clarity or any credit cards I have ever used.

Except, from their website (for their standard card):
Up to a spend of £200 per month - no currency conversion fees will be charged and the transaction will be made at the Standard Exchange Rate, if there are any withdrawals beyond this Curve may charge 1% of the transaction amount Applicable as of 19th November 2018: Beyond the £200 per month, we will charge 2% of the amount of the transaction or £2 (whichever is higher) over the Standard Exchange Rate as currency conversion fees. (my emphasis)

Oh right... so above £200 in a month, I'm paying 2%? Clarity would always work out better for me - as even if I take a month to pay it off I'm paying just over 1% on my standard APR.

But as I say, apart from charges, the real issue is whether you have a robust, reliable means of payment when travelling. I don't know about curve/tandem, but I have found the traditional cards pretty robust.

fifeken

NoodleDoodleMan wrote: »

I'm not aware of any other credit card that currently offers both fee free ATM and goods/services transactions.

Please point me in their direction.

There are plenty. I think you may be confusing fee free ATM withdrawals with interest being charged from the day of the withdrawal, where the Barclaycard has the edge. Paying promptly on the others eliminates this edge but may not always be convenient.

lavayuki

NoodleDoodleMan wrote: »

This is the best credit card for foreign travel.

Nobody else offers fee free ATM withdrawals as well as for paying for goods and services etc.

Halifax Clarity is the best backup option.

I have a Barclay Freedom rewards card so they said I can't apply for another Barclay card.

chattychappy wrote: »

The real answer is to take both, and more if you can (even if standard CCs with their fees).

Fussing about a few pence here or there is insignificant compared with the costs of getting money transferred by Western Union, taxi to the embassy, or simply not being able to do what you want to do because a card is failing. So much easier to pull out an alternative card than spending valuable time dealing with a call centre.

Over the last 20 years I've sent long periods overseas, sometimes for months on end.

Cards get lost, stolen, blocked, rejected. Weird things happened. For some reason, if I used my Santander Zero card in the HSBC machines just outside Saigon's airport it would block. I'd get one shot. Block - use - unblock - use - block. Not with other cards. But Clarity did a similar thing with a local electronics/hifi shop near my place in Taipei.

It's so handy if you can just try again with a different card.

And as I say, cards can get lost, stolen or even damaged or expired. Receiving a replacement whilst travelling can be complicated.

For long trips, I typically have 5 or 6 cards. For shorter trips (less than a month), usually 3. If you're travelling with someone with cards, then that's a useful backup.

Here's my trusty list:

Halifax Clarity - foreign cash at ATMs, backup for purchases
Santander Zero - foreign purchases, backup for cash
Nationwide Select - further backup for purchases
Post Office - further backup for purchases
Barclaycard - further backup for cash
MBNA - expensive, but high limit - useful for emergencies.

Cards do fail more often when overseas. Bear in mind that anything that relies on an app could give you problems if you have your phone stolen.

I soft checked Halifax Clarity and creation but I had a 0% acceptance rate for them. Santanders was 30%, Tandem was 80% and Virgin travel and Aqua were both 100% acceptance, so I went with Virgin travel card since I'm reluctant to rely on an app based one, and Aqua seems to have really high interest rates. Not much options for a back up though, probably because my credit history is only 1 year 6 months at the moment.

kevChan wrote: »

I'd like to point you to the right wording here:
For Overseas usage (of Curve card),
£200 is ATM WITHDRAWAL limit (if you use Halifax Clarity, it will charge interest on the day you withdrawal, but Curve card will make it as a credit card purchase thus no interest until you pay your monthly bill!),
and you would get £500 SPENDING limit,
per month, that's £700 per person per Curve Card.

For most people, if your flight and hotel are pre-paid before going to a foreign country,
£700 with NO FEE ON ANY CREDIT CARD you choose is pretty good cover!
(Obviously, if you are such a big spender, you probably won't be looking at any saving credit card anyway!)

I only recommend it because I just use it (the Curve card).
Take it or leave it guys.....
sign up on their website (or search Curve Card)
Using the code W9TAU (to get free £10).

The Curve seems like a good one to have. I might consider it when credit score improves for a back up option.

dj1471

kevChan wrote: »

I only recommend it because I just use it (the Curve card).

No, you're recommending it as an excuse to post your referral code (repeatedly), which is against the forum rules.

NoodleDoodleMan

Curve card does not have Section 75 protection.

kevChan

Oh I wasn't aware I cant post referral code. I will stop doing that now

However, good things worth sharing. And it's not costing anyone.

Plus, I think one can only compare if cards are good or not by TRYING THEM.
I am happy to be told wrong once you have tried Curve.

Mind you, I've used Curve, Revolut, Starling and Monzo. I cannot speak for Tandom.

NoodleDoodleMan

There are plenty. I think you may be confusing fee free ATM withdrawals with interest being charged from the day of the withdrawal, where the Barclaycard has the edge. Paying promptly on the others eliminates this edge but may not always be convenient.

No confusion here.

To my knowledge, the Barclaycard Platinum Travel is the only credit card which offers absolutely fee free ATM withdrawals and for goods & services, without interest when used abroad.

Therefore, that makes it a better deal IMO than those (such as Halifax Clarity for example) that require a quick internet balance transfer from another account to minimalise the interest, which as you say may be inconvenient.

Then there is the added convenience of not having to settle the damage until the end of your statement due by date period.

Happy to be corrected if there is a card as good as the Barclaycard in absolute terms.

fifeken

NoodleDoodleMan wrote: »

No confusion here.

To my knowledge, the Barclaycard Platinum Travel is the only credit card which offers absolutely fee free ATM withdrawals and for goods & services, without interest when used abroad.

Therefore, that makes it a better deal IMO than those (such as Halifax Clarity for example) that require a quick internet balance transfer from another account to minimalise the interest, which as you say may be inconvenient.

Then there is the added convenience of not having to settle the damage until the end of your statement due by date period.

Happy to be corrected if there is a card as good as the Barclaycard in absolute terms.

Probably not, but I still think you're confusing matters by linking fee free ATM withdrawals and interest being charged into one job lot. They are two distinct features and some accounts will have neither, some one and the Barclaycard both, albeit for a limited period I think.

NoodleDoodleMan

Probably not, but I still think you're confusing matters by linking fee free ATM withdrawals and interest being charged into one job lot. They are two distinct features and some accounts will have neither, some one and the Barclaycard both, albeit for a limited period I think.

Absolutely no confusion on my part, 100% clarity.

Apart from the Barclaycard in question, all UK credit cards which offer fee free usage at a foreign ATM will apply their cash withdrawal interest rate with immediate effect.

Some will also offer fee free transactions, without interest, when used to purchase goods and services.

However, Barclaycard Platinum Travel Card is unique (AFAIK) in that there are no fees and no interest charges at all when used abroad.

The limited period end on 31st August 2022.

Happy to be contradicted of course.

The limited period is until August 2022.

fifeken

I think we're in agreement that Barclaycard are the only one offering interest free, until the next statement date, cash withdrawals, which along with their no ATM charges makes them unique.

Your previous posts indicated (to me anyway) that free ATM withdrawals ie no fee for withdrawing cash, irrespective of interest being charged or not, was part and parcel of the same cost and would be borne by other card users.
Maybe you realise the difference, but I thought it helpful to distinguish to other users that two different potential costs were being discussed.

Your previous statement which doesn't mention interest on cash withdrawals but could well appear to lump it in under "fee free ATM".

I'm not aware of any other credit card that currently offers both fee free ATM and goods/services transactions.

I hope this clarifies the distinction I was trying to make.