Halifax Clarity Foreign Cash

patch9495

Morning,


We are going on holiday in a month and exploring the best options for our foreign cash.


2 options


1) Standard bureau de change in the UK and take the commission hit
2) Withdraw from foreign ATM (assuming no charge by the ATM) using my Halifax clarity card for the best rate, and pay off instantly via internet banking to avoid paying interest??


We will require around £1200 of the domestic currency


Thanks in advance

Browntoa

Clarity card all the way.

penners324

You'll still pay interest on cash withdrawals on the clarity card. Any payments made will go to clearing the statement balance from the month before.

Best option
3) Get a Starling Bank account and use their debit card

patch9495

penners324 wrote: »

Best option
3) Get a Starling Bank account and use their debit card

Must admit I hadn't even thought of this. Do you get the same exchange rate as the Halifax clarity, eg the Mastercard exchange rates

MoneyMate

Taken from the Halifax Clarity site.

We don't charge fees to withdraw cash with your Halifax Clarity credit card.

We won’t charge you a fee for getting money from a cash machine, however some ATM Providers may charge a fee for taking cash out.
Interest charges apply to cash you take out, from the day the cash is withdrawn.
Accepted wherever you see the Mastercard® sign at over 43 million locations worldwide.

Vortigern

Why withdraw so much cash? Just do most of your spending on the card. No interest to worry about and you won't have as much foreign cash to change back to sterling when you get home.

patch9495

penners324 wrote: »

You'll still pay interest on cash withdrawals on the clarity card. Any payments made will go to clearing the statement balance from the month before.

Best option
3) Get a Starling Bank account and use their debit card

MoneyMate wrote: »

Taken from the Halifax Clarity site.

We don't charge fees to withdraw cash with your Halifax Clarity credit card.

We won’t charge you a fee for getting money from a cash machine, however some ATM Providers may charge a fee for taking cash out.
Interest charges apply to cash you take out, from the day the cash is withdrawn.
Accepted wherever you see the Mastercard® sign at over 43 million locations worldwide.

Thanks for this however the MSE site contradicts this and states a 19.95% charge?

patch9495

Vortigern wrote: »

Why withdraw so much cash? Just do most of your spending on the card. No interest to worry about and you won't have as much foreign cash to change back to sterling when you get home.

For items we will be able to pay on the CC we will do however we will need cash for activities which don't take card

LadyDee

I didn't pay any charges when using my Clarity Card in Australia to withdraw money. If I withdrew any money or bought anything on my card, as soon as I could get online I transferred funds from my current a/c to pay off the Clarity card. That way it's easy to keep track of what you've spent.

Remember to choose the "local currency" option when withdrawing cash. Yes, there are some ATMs that charge for withdrawal, just as there are here - just make sure to use ATMs that don't charge.

If you have any doubts ring Halifax and ask, as you are getting differing opinions.

Browntoa

It's 19.95% if you don't clear the balance

You can use the Halifax app to pay any balance at any time quite easily via WiFi

eDicky

patch9495 wrote: »

Thanks for this however the MSE site contradicts this and states a 19.95% charge?

You must be mistaken, maybe that's the annual interest rate. You will pay only pennies or nothing if you pay off early. Note that payments are allocated to any purchases already statemented, before cash withdrawals, then to more recent purchases, in that order.

The Clarity is excellent, but don't rely on it alone. Starling Bank is ideal. Monzo is also a good backup.

Which country?