Halifax Clarity credit card - problems with authorisations but not actual payments

pensionslaw

Have been in the Canaries for about a week and making heavy use of our Halifax Clarity card, which had previously seen only sporadic use over the last 2 years.

As soon as we got to our first hotel the receptionist said "we've been having lots of trouble with Halifax cards for authorising/guaranteeing costs during guests' stays, though the cards work fine for immediate payment transactions. Sure enough, the card was rejected for authorising any costs charged to the room during our stay but worked fine for immediate payment of the cost of the room itself.

Since then I have had the same problem everywhere. Bookings through booking.com are also being rejected where the card details are given just to guarantee the booking rather than make immediate payment.

Also, if I am buying something online and select this card from the cards stored with Google Pay, and it asks for my CVC, it throws an error when trying to confirm and auto-fill the card details. I don't know if that is because Google Pay is making a similar request to Halifax in this scenario.

Has anyone else experienced, or heard of, anything similar ?

Nebulous2

You should always have an alternative means of paying with you, particularly when abroad. It would be a big ask of any card to do a lot of heavy lifting, not having been used for two years. You might get off with it, but equally as you have found you might not. 

I'm just back from Tenerife, hadn't used my Clarity for almost a year and it has been faultless. Everything I paid was a direct payment however, I had no pre-authorisations. I also withdrew Euros from Banca March with no charges or fees. I paid a tour / trip in Euros before I left home, so they had about two weeks warning I had started using it again. 

I'm not sure I understand the google pay thing and what you mean by auto-filling card details. Google pay is a means of storing your card details so you can make contactless payments with your phone. Google can also store your card details for making payments online, but you are likely to have to enter your CVC code. That is different from Google pay. Are all the details stored accurate if it is the auto-fill feature? Is the expiry date correct? I'd be inclined to delete my card and re-enter it if it is the auto-fill causing problems. It's not really possible for me to say, but that might be nothing to do with Halifax at all. 

NoodleDoodleMan

Thanks to the OP for the heads up.

I was planning to use Halifax Clarity at our Mallorcan hotel in a few weeks to charge extras to the room - essentially our bar bill.

Will make alternative arrangements.

Ganga

Last time i used my Clarity card in Gran Canaria it would not let me draw any Euros out of the hole in the wall ,tried it two different days ,no luck ,cashed some sterling in the hotel at a bad rate ,when i got home went to the Halifax bank and asked why my card would not work ,the staff member said there was no problem with the card and it must have been the ATM ,i googled it and it seems Halifax had an IT issue at the time and i believe it has been rectified ,will find out in March when we return.

pensionslaw

Nebulous2 said:

You should always have an alternative means of paying with you, particularly when abroad. It would be a big ask of any card to do a lot of heavy lifting, not having been used for two years. You might get off with it, but equally as you have found you might not. 

Sorry but you've missed the point about as much as is possible. The problem is not the increase in use of the card, it's a particular problem with pre authorisations.

Re other cards, well, yes, obviously, and I have 2 other credit cards and a debit card with me, but they don't offer the same excellent exchange rate/lack of fees.

As you say, you haven't used your card for pre authorisations, only immediate payments, so the problem would not have arisen for you anyway.

Nebulous2

pensionslaw said:

Nebulous2 said:

You should always have an alternative means of paying with you, particularly when abroad. It would be a big ask of any card to do a lot of heavy lifting, not having been used for two years. You might get off with it, but equally as you have found you might not. 

Sorry but you've missed the point about as much as is possible. The problem is not the increase in use of the card, it's a particular problem with pre authorisations.

Re other cards, well, yes, obviously, and I have 2 other credit cards and a debit card with me, but they don't offer the same excellent exchange rate/lack of fees.

As you say, you haven't used your card for pre authorisations, only immediate payments, so the problem would not have arisen for you anyway.

It's a pain - and you're right it didnt arise for me, but as for having  another card, I meant have and take another travel card. 

Even now, when you are fed-up of them, I'd keep the Halifax if I got another travel card. 

My Nationwide card gives fee-free payments abroad with the flat exchange rate. It doesn't excel at anything, it isn't a full-on travel card, as it doesn't allow fee-free cash withdrawals, but it is a decent all-rounder. 

[Deleted User]

Nebulous2 said:

pensionslaw said:

Nebulous2 said:

You should always have an alternative means of paying with you, particularly when abroad. It would be a big ask of any card to do a lot of heavy lifting, not having been used for two years. You might get off with it, but equally as you have found you might not. 

Sorry but you've missed the point about as much as is possible. The problem is not the increase in use of the card, it's a particular problem with pre authorisations.

Re other cards, well, yes, obviously, and I have 2 other credit cards and a debit card with me, but they don't offer the same excellent exchange rate/lack of fees.

As you say, you haven't used your card for pre authorisations, only immediate payments, so the problem would not have arisen for you anyway.

It's a pain - and you're right it didnt arise for me, but as for having  another card, I meant have and take another travel card. 

Even now, when you are fed-up of them, I'd keep the Halifax if I got another travel card. 

My Nationwide card gives fee-free payments abroad with the flat exchange rate. It doesn't excel at anything, it isn't a full-on travel card, as it doesn't allow fee-free cash withdrawals, but it is a decent all-rounder. 

My Nationwide Select doesn't give a flat exchange rate whatever that is.   

The value of having multiple cards will depend of frequency of travel.  If cards aren't used regularly then they are subject to closure or credit limit reduction. Domestically, Clarity is unremarkable for the APR and other reasons.

Nebulous2

Deleted_User said:

Nebulous2 said:

pensionslaw said:

Nebulous2 said:

You should always have an alternative means of paying with you, particularly when abroad. It would be a big ask of any card to do a lot of heavy lifting, not having been used for two years. You might get off with it, but equally as you have found you might not. 

Sorry but you've missed the point about as much as is possible. The problem is not the increase in use of the card, it's a particular problem with pre authorisations.

Re other cards, well, yes, obviously, and I have 2 other credit cards and a debit card with me, but they don't offer the same excellent exchange rate/lack of fees.

As you say, you haven't used your card for pre authorisations, only immediate payments, so the problem would not have arisen for you anyway.

It's a pain - and you're right it didnt arise for me, but as for having  another card, I meant have and take another travel card. 

Even now, when you are fed-up of them, I'd keep the Halifax if I got another travel card. 

My Nationwide card gives fee-free payments abroad with the flat exchange rate. It doesn't excel at anything, it isn't a full-on travel card, as it doesn't allow fee-free cash withdrawals, but it is a decent all-rounder. 

My Nationwide Select doesn't give a flat exchange rate whatever that is.   

The value of having multiple cards will depend of frequency of travel.  If cards aren't used regularly then they are subject to closure or credit limit reduction. Domestically, Clarity is unremarkable for the APR and other reasons.

How do you know you don't get it, if you don't know what it is? 

I worded that badly. They don't charge any overseas fees.  They give the visa rate with no additional spread / loading. The same as any Visa travel card. 

I don't think the select card, which is what I have, is available any more, but it is as near to no cost as you will get for purchases abroad. Their newer cards are the same. 

https://www.nationwide.co.uk/help/travel/charges-using-your-card-abroad

Many people on here have multiple cards. I'm semi-retired, and reduced from 7 cards to 5 last year, although I put almost all my expenditure through my Barclaycard as it still gives 0.5% cashback. 

It isn't onerous to use a card occasionally. Clarity allows a card to be dormant for 24 months before closure.

Cards have never been 100% reliable for anyone at home, less so overseas. A back-up plan is always wise. As travel has been on hold for most people, travel cards have been far from people's minds, and a lot of people will be caught out like the OP.