Halifax Clarity card

buglawton

AlexMac wrote: »

Credit where credit is due... (no pun intentended) , but a compliment follows below.

Initially, and like Caroline and others who said...

...I too thought this a particularly inept and unneccesarily complicated way to communicate with customers. As I said on the other MSE thread at

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/76725454#Comment_76725454

"A letter and two lengthy annexes with triple cross-referencing confuse me... On balance, I think it's still a cost effective way to pay holiday and currency bills? But it's ironic that they call it a "Clarity Card"!

Maybe they've never heard of the Plain English Campaign or Crystal Mark for written communication";
http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/services/crystal-mark.html

I also used their online feedback form... and

Hey Presto! I got a text and then a phonecall from a charming woman in Halifax's Dunfermline office, called Charlene Coutts (good name for a banker. eh?) to assure me that all complaints were taken seriously, and summarised up to Board level. And I hadn't really complained.

So ten out of ten for customer care. I wish all financial providers were as responsive. Reminds me of when the Grand daughter complained about a rare instance of poor service and a staff training gap in one of their branches; and got a noce apology and a £50 compensation bung!

So thanks Halifax.

1. I too arrived at this thread due to receiving a letter saying my Clarity card could incur not one but 2 fees from Halifax for a foreign cash transaction (ATM to me & you?).
2. So about complaints . I once complained to Halifax about £20 of fees charged by Euronet on one of their [STRIKE]one armed bandits[/STRIKE] ATMs for a €100 cash withdrawal. Basically their machine refused to accept a transaction in Euros. I suggested Halifax effectively blacklist such ATM operators by providing an ATM finder app that excludes or clearly flags up bad operators.

So I duly got a call from Halifax who politely ticked every single complaint processing box while scrupulously avoiding addressing my actual point.

adindas

Euronet cash machines have come into the spotlight many times in this forum and another forum. With so many complains I wonder why people especially MSEr are still using it.
Is it because their machines are normally eye catching, e.g they have the largest cash machines in the tourist areas ?? But for your own use the size of cash machines does not really matter. In many instances, you could easily find out another ATMs from local banks or reputable Multinational Banks about less than 100m walk, a few are even standing next to Euronet cash machines.

Many of their cash machines are there to con the clueless tourist. In many cases they do everything they could legally do to trick you as if you were making the wrong decision to reject their conversion rate. Also in many cases they will only allow the highest denomination of the banknotes from their machines expecting people to withdraw a lot of cash in one go.

Rather than asking Halifax to block them, what about the cards users take responsibility for their own action? If People start avoiding the Euronet cash machines, and keep campaigning in any opportunity to stop them to con people than in a few years they will cease to exist.

buglawton wrote: »

1. I too arrived at this thread due to receiving a letter saying my Clarity card could incur not one but 2 fees from Halifax for a foreign cash transaction (ATM to me & you?).
2. So about complaints . I once complained to Halifax about £20 of fees charged by Euronet on one of their [STRIKE]one armed bandits[/STRIKE] ATMs for a €100 cash withdrawal. Basically their machine refused to accept a transaction in Euros. I suggested Halifax effectively blacklist such ATM operators by providing an ATM finder app that excludes or clearly flags up bad operators.

So I duly got a call from Halifax who politely ticked every single complaint processing box while scrupulously avoiding addressing my actual point.

Phil_SW_London

dazzlin wrote: »

Looks like they are changing their Ts & Cs and introducing a charge on all non sterling purchases. Guess I'll be closing my account as that's the main reason I've had this card all these years.

Me too.
Thanks

[Deleted User]

Why would you want to do that when no such charge is being introduced?

Is it a SW London thing? Or are you post building?

DonnySaver

I filled in their "feedback" form online yesterday to point out that the documentation sent out was not clear at all.

A lady from Halifax customer services phoned me this morning. At first she wasn't even sure about the letters having been sent out!
I pointed out all the discrepancies in the new T&C's and she went away for a good few minutes to ask around.

Eventually she came back on the phone and said that the only changes were the interest rates for purchases. There were no new or extra fees related to using your Clarity Card abroad for purchases or withdrawing money from ATMs.

She acknowledged that the literature I'd been sent was not clear and that this would be fed back up to senior management as to why these documents had been signed off as good to go before being checked more closely.

derrick

But they will charge interest for cash withdrawals from the day of withdrawal.


Any way of getting cash from and ATM in China interest and cash free?


.Is this card the best for a trip to China?




.

Gerry1

derrick wrote: »

Any way of getting cash from and ATM in China interest and cash free?.

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Barclaycard Platinum won't charge interest if the amount is paid in full by the due date. It applies until 31 Aug 2022 but check that it would apply to you as a new customer.[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif] However, MasterCard usually beats the Visa rate by a whisker.[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]You could use Santander Zero and pay in just before you go. Their website doesn't like this if it would take the account into credit by a significant amount, but you can pay cash over the counter or via an ATM. The same probably applies to other cards, but remember that both existing and new puchases can mess everything up if they're paid off first. Always read the Ts &Cs very carefully.

Best to have separate cards for cash advances and purchases.
[/FONT]

derrick

Gerry1 wrote: »

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Barclaycard Platinum won't charge interest if the amount is paid in full by the due date. It applies until 31 Aug 2022 but check that it would apply to you as a new customer.[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif] However, MasterCard usually beats the Visa rate by a whisker.[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]You could use Santander Zero and pay in just before you go. Their website doesn't like this if it would take the account into credit by a significant amount, but you can pay cash over the counter or via an ATM. The same probably applies to other cards, but remember that both existing and new puchases can mess everything up if they're paid off first. Always read the Ts &Cs very carefully.

Best to have separate cards for cash advances and purchases.
[/FONT]

I am already a customer of Barclays, having both a current account and their ordinary CC.


Would I need to apply for the Platinum or just upgrade?


Is there an annual fee for the Platinum?


.

Gerry1

derrick wrote: »

Would I need to apply for the Platinum or just upgrade?

Dunno, you'd have to ask them. Some banks don't like issuing multiple cards.

derrick wrote: »

Is there an annual fee for the Platinum?.

Not for me, but YMMV.

BTW, have you used ATMs in China before? Make sure that foreign cards are widely accepted, otherwise you may get a surprise. In Japan I found that most ATMs didn't accept foreign cards, although there was never any problem making purchases. Citi bank machines were about the only flavour which worked for me.

derrick

Gerry1 wrote: »

Dunno, you'd have to ask them. Some banks don't like issuing multiple cards.Not for me, but YMMV.

BTW, have you used ATMs in China before? Make sure that foreign cards are widely accepted, otherwise you may get a surprise. In Japan I found that most ATMs didn't accept foreign cards, although there was never any problem making purchases. Citi bank machines were about the only flavour which worked for me.

YMMV?

Never been to China before.

.