Halifax Clarity Fees?

wackojacko99

Hi there, 
I've just gone to book a hotel direct and it seems to me that it's trying to levy an additional charge on what I assumed was a fee-free card?
I just want to know as I use the card for everything abroad

[Deleted User]

Clarity doesn't charge forex fees. 

What you're looking at there is your option of paying in Euros or Sterling.

Always choose Euros (or the local currency when abroad).

wackojacko99

That's what I was going to do but the Markup over ECB line threw me - I contacted a hotel and they said; 

"We confirm that we always charge our bookings in euros and we do not apply extra charges in any case. This seems to be something that your bank is trying to apply so we recommend to ask them why they are charging an extra 3% for payments in euro. We have had the same problem with other guests and always the extra charge came from thier own Banks as we never apply extra prices in our website."
I wonder if the markup line is if you select GBP and that's the difference in % terms between the exchange rate and the offered rate

wackojacko99

wackojacko99 said:

That's what I was going to do but the Markup over ECB line threw me - I contacted a hotel and they said; 

"We confirm that we always charge our bookings in euros and we do not apply extra charges in any case. This seems to be something that your bank is trying to apply so we recommend to ask them why they are charging an extra 3% for payments in euro. We have had the same problem with other guests and always the extra charge came from thier own Banks as we never apply extra prices in our website."
I wonder if the markup line is if you select GBP and that's the difference in % terms between the exchange rate and the offered rate

That seems it
Offered Exchange rate 1 GBP = 1.063386 Euros
ECB rate 1GBP = 1.0974 Euros 
Percentage decrease from one to the other is -3.099507927829414% ~3.10%

[Deleted User]

That's right - that's why you never accept the offer of Sterling, because the merchant's bank will always be putting a mark up on it.

Pay in Euros and then let Halifax do the conversion at the standard Mastercard rate.

eDicky

Ignore what the hotel tell you. They and their bank are hoping you choose to pay in pounds, at the lousy exchange rate offered by their 'service', for their benefit. Pay in euros and Clarity does the conversion without fees at the MasterCard daily rate.

Highland76

wackojacko99 said:

That's what I was going to do but the Markup over ECB line threw me - I contacted a hotel and they said; 

"We confirm that we always charge our bookings in euros and we do not apply extra charges in any case. This seems to be something that your bank is trying to apply so we recommend to ask them why they are charging an extra 3% for payments in euro. We have had the same problem with other guests and always the extra charge came from thier own Banks as we never apply extra prices in our website."
I wonder if the markup line is if you select GBP and that's the difference in % terms between the exchange rate and the offered rate

The second sentence should read
"This seems to be something that OUR bank is trying to apply so we recommend that you CHOOSE you pay in £££ so that you get ripped off"