Halifax Clarity Foreign Cash

patch9495

Thanks all,


So my understanding of the clarity card is that I am only charged the interest on any ATM withdrawal for any unpaid balance.


If I log onto Halifax banking and clear the balance striaght away I shouldnt be charged any interest for the withdrawal??

patch9495

eDicky wrote: »

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?

I have applied for a Starling account as backup to the clarity, and country is Hungary

System

Starling (or Monzo or revolut) is the way to go for cash overseas. For sure.

eDicky

patch9495 wrote: »

and country is Hungary

So a Metro Bank debit card is also perfect, including for cash, zero fees within Europe.

swindiff

I use a Halifax Clarity exclusively for all my expenses abroad. Cash withdraws and card purchases. Just pay each transaction off as I make it using the Halifax app and never pay any interest. The thing to be careful of is always pay and withdraw cash using the local currency. Never get it to exchange for you, that's when you get stung.

patch9495

Appreciate all the advice, I have applied for a Starling account as a backup to my Halifax Clarity.

Happy Holidays

fewcloudy

patch9495

I've got a Clarity card and a Santander Zero card, they are more or less as good as each another.

I also have a Barclaycard Platinum Cashback card, and it's the same as the first two in terms of no fees when withdrawing cash etc. However, it is better for me because, unlike the first two, there is no interest charged on cash withdrawals from an ATM. It has therefore become my first choice card when travelling, and the other two are back-up cards just in case.

Obviously any benefits from these travel cards assumes you pay off any balance in full following your statement

fc

eDicky

fewcloudy wrote: »

I also have a Barclaycard Platinum Cashback card, and it's the same as the first two in terms of no fees when withdrawing cash etc.

That card is no longer available without the overseas fees.

fewcloudy

eDicky

Thank you for that, I was unaware. It changed for new applicants in June it seems.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2019/06/applying-for-a-barclays-platinum-cashback-card-from-today--you-w/

gingercordial

patch9495 wrote: »

Thanks all,


So my understanding of the clarity card is that I am only charged the interest on any ATM withdrawal for any unpaid balance.


If I log onto Halifax banking and clear the balance striaght away I shouldnt be charged any interest for the withdrawal??

Only if you have already cleared the previous statement balance. Even then you have to be careful about whether transactions have cleared or not.

Scenario 1: If you have nothing at all on the card already, withdraw £100 and immediately make a payment of £100, that will clear the withdrawal and no interest to pay. It's OK if the £100 credit hits before the £100 withdrawal (technically this may be a breach of the T&Cs to put it into credit but doubt they will care very much). Or just wait a couple of days until you pay - the interest will be pennies.

Scenario 2: You already have a statement balance of £200 on the card. You withdraw £100. You pay £100. That payment will go towards the £200 statement balance first, so it won't clear off your withdrawal. You'll be charged lots of interest. To make sure you aren't charged interest you actually have to pay £300 ie statement balance + withdrawal. (I always fully clear my card before leaving for holiday.)

Scenario 3: You had nil statement balance but have bought a couple of things on the trip so far and £200 of those have cleared onto your card. You withdraw £100 today and it is showing as pending. You pay £100 immediately to cover it. Actually that payment will go towards the £200 cleared transactions, as the pending one won't be "seen" in terms of the payment allocation algorithm. Again you'll pay high interest that way. In that case, wait until the £100 withdrawal is showing as a cleared transaction, then pay £100, in which case the payment will be allocated to it in priority and you're fine. This is where paying immediately might catch you out.

Apologies if you knew all that!

Starling is the better bet for cash withdrawals if you have reason to care about your credit rating - cash withdrawals on a credit card are flagged on your credit report and may be seen as a sign of "desperation" as it's generally not a good idea to be relying on credit cards for cash day to day, but there's no ability to distinguish poor money management at home from savvy moneysaving on foreign withdrawals. As I want to get a mortgage soon I have therefore moved to Starling for this, just in case.

Personally on holiday I use a combination of:

- Starling debit card for cash withdrawals
- Halifax Clarity Mastercard for card transactions
- Nationwide Select Visa as backup for cards and for where they don't take Mastercard (there are some places in the world that don't take both)