Halifax Clarity Credit Card

MoneyMate

Using my clarity card a lot in uk currently as 3 months 0.5% cash back is active, great card for most foreign travellers MSE recommended . 

jomomang

I was in the Caribbean for eight weeks in December/January. On the second day of my trip my Halifax Clarity card was refused at a cash machine and I had to go through an automated security process to get it unlocked. All was well from then until the final week of the trip when it was again refused. This time I spoke with an actual person who could see on their log that the card had previously been locked and cleared so couldn’t understand why it had happened again. I was in the same country for the whole trip.

I’m now nervous about using it for future trips as you are unable to register overseas travel with Halifax. Does anyone know how to do this?

By the way, I do always take at least one other card but the Clarity card is my preferred choice for withdrawing cash due to the fees charged by my other cards. Going forward I will use the card at the departure airport and hope that will prevent it happening again.

So I don’t believe the problems posted at the beginning of this thread are isolated.

NoodleDoodleMan

"I’m now nervous about using it for future trips as you are unable to register overseas travel with Halifax. Does anyone know how to do this?"

As a Bank of Scotland customer I was previously able to post dates of foreign travel online, to include  my Halifax Clarity Card .

That option has now been removed - I called the bank and was informed that there was no need to advise them of travel dates or locations. Their only suggestion was to call them just before you go and have them note these details.

adindas

NoodleDoodleMan said:

"I’m now nervous about using it for future trips as you are unable to register overseas travel with Halifax. Does anyone know how to do this?"

As a Bank of Scotland customer I was previously able to post dates of foreign travel online, to include  my Halifax Clarity Card .

That option has now been removed - I called the bank and was informed that there was no need to advise them of travel dates or locations. Their only suggestion was to call them just before you go and have them note these details.

I wonder what is the reason for removing "future trips abroad" online notification ?? It saves everyone time, including Halifax Personal time. In my personal experience dealing with high street banks their customer services on the phone, Halifax especially the credit card division belongs to one of the worst customer services to deal with.

Westin

adindas said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

"I’m now nervous about using it for future trips as you are unable to register overseas travel with Halifax. Does anyone know how to do this?"

As a Bank of Scotland customer I was previously able to post dates of foreign travel online, to include  my Halifax Clarity Card .

That option has now been removed - I called the bank and was informed that there was no need to advise them of travel dates or locations. Their only suggestion was to call them just before you go and have them note these details.

I wonder what is the reason for removing "future trips abroad" online notification ?? It saves everyone time, including Halifax Personal time. In my personal experience dealing with high street banks their customer services on the phone, Halifax especially the credit card division belongs to one of the worst customer services to deal with.

I would agree that the removal of this planning facility does seem a backwards step.

eDicky

I have the idea that, now that most(?) Clarity users travel with the app on their smartphone, Halifax use geo-location algorithms to match the card's transactions with the corresponding location of the phone. This is the system that Starling and Revolut, maybe also Monzo, have always used if you switch on the facility.

So if phone and purchase/ATM are detected to be in different parts of the globe the transaction fails, and there's no longer any need to notify of travel plans.

The latter never worked for me anyway with my unpredictable movements, so I used to notify Halifax to let me use the card in all countries for a year, the limit they allowed for this, and it only failed for me once in Cambodia when I was well over the year (but quickly remedied with a phone call).

I suspect that the OP does not have the app on his phone - if not, doing so might be the solution.

NoodleDoodleMan

Interesting and plausible observation.

metrobus

Phoned them to report I was going to Brazil in January, and was told there was no need since their algorithms would understand and everything would be fine.
Got there two days later, card blocked.
I can understand people worrying when it’s a complete lottery with them if they can use their card.

GhostDoggyWoofWoof

AlanElsworth said:

I have used this card for many years while abroad. It's the best card moneywise, but it's totally useless as they just suspend your card for no reason.

Australia - Halifax suspended my card (and my friends at the same time). I had a heated call for over 30 mins for them stating it was the vendors fault, utter rubbish!!!

New York - Text message & calls stating unusual activity. What is unusual about going on holiday?

New York - Suspended my wife's card for no reason!!

What is the point of having a credit card for travel when it just gets declined for using it? I thought the idea of using a credit card abroad was to make things easier, obviously not Halifax!!!

MSE, please look into this & stop rating it as a top credit card for abroad when it doesn't work.

Ps. Santander worked fine.

I like my Halifax card when it works but it's useless if you don't have access to texts or phone when travelling. I usually buy an esim for data when travelling in Asia but this renders card useless when trying to use online to book tickets as it insists on texting a code. All my other cards allow me to authenticate via app or email. Why on earth doesn't Halifax allow this. Just had to q for 30 mins for train tickets as machines only accept local cards and Halifax is trying to rext me. Shopping for new card when I get home 😞

TheShape

GhostDoggyWoofWoof said:

AlanElsworth said:

I have used this card for many years while abroad. It's the best card moneywise, but it's totally useless as they just suspend your card for no reason.

Australia - Halifax suspended my card (and my friends at the same time). I had a heated call for over 30 mins for them stating it was the vendors fault, utter rubbish!!!

New York - Text message & calls stating unusual activity. What is unusual about going on holiday?

New York - Suspended my wife's card for no reason!!

What is the point of having a credit card for travel when it just gets declined for using it? I thought the idea of using a credit card abroad was to make things easier, obviously not Halifax!!!

MSE, please look into this & stop rating it as a top credit card for abroad when it doesn't work.

Ps. Santander worked fine.

I like my Halifax card when it works but it's useless if you don't have access to texts or phone when travelling. I usually buy an esim for data when travelling in Asia but this renders card useless when trying to use online to book tickets as it insists on texting a code. All my other cards allow me to authenticate via app or email. Why on earth doesn't Halifax allow this. Just had to q for 30 mins for train tickets as machines only accept local cards and Halifax is trying to rext me. Shopping for new card when I get home 😞

On my phone (Samsung Galaxy S23FE) I have the option to set different options for different SIMs.  I can set the eSIM for data and the physical SIM for calls and texts.

This means I can receive texts for OTPs.