Better credit card to use overseas

zagfles

Rates are here:

https://www.mastercard.co.uk/en-gb/personal/get-support/convert-currency.html

https://www.visa.co.uk/support/consumer/travel-support/exchange-rate-calculator.html

They look to have the same sort of average markup, about 0.4%

zagfles

TOP_CAT said:

Exchange rates are one thing to consider .

The Clarity will charge a percentage for cash advances on a daily basis  where I believe the Barclays travel card is the better if not the best mainstream bank credit card to use for cash advances while travelling .

These  high percentage cash advance charges are overlooked vs the exchange rates and also the order of payments is something else to understand .

I dont know why people "over look" paying high percentages to withdraw  cash overseas as acceptable  (....unless the terms have changed recently with the barclaycard reward card .)
Cash advance use or need may depend on where you travel and the unexpected .

But you have a choice so long as you can get the better cards .

The Halifax clarity card made changes around 2017 (or possibly 2018 ? ) as it used to have "a cash advance work around " but not anymore .
If you withdraw cash you pay high cash advance interest on it until payed off on your statement you cant pay it off early
Many on short trips dont care or feel this needs addressing so the banks profit from your pocket,

Most people are also on shorter trips of a week or so ie. generally less than a month ... just swallow cash advance charges but you do have a choice depending on the card or tool you use .

The op has two very good cards in the toolbox as another poster stated.

To do even better or complete the toolbox "you could also" look at adding the Chase debit card for 1% cashback while travelling/spending .
The chase card is not without its  issues or big problems so I wouldnt have it as a sole travel card .

Having multiple cards is more complex in practise travelling so its up to the individual on whats worth doing personally .
 

Who says you can't pay cash advances off early? What has changed in the T&Cs to prevent this? I can't see anything.

There's the issue that payments will always go towards statemented amounts before unstatemented - but that's always been the case - but AFAIK you can still pay unstatemented amounts (inc cash) off once the previous statement balance is paid off.

zagfles

zagfles said:

TOP_CAT said:

Exchange rates are one thing to consider .

The Clarity will charge a percentage for cash advances on a daily basis  where I believe the Barclays travel card is the better if not the best mainstream bank credit card to use for cash advances while travelling .

These  high percentage cash advance charges are overlooked vs the exchange rates and also the order of payments is something else to understand .

I dont know why people "over look" paying high percentages to withdraw  cash overseas as acceptable  (....unless the terms have changed recently with the barclaycard reward card .)
Cash advance use or need may depend on where you travel and the unexpected .

But you have a choice so long as you can get the better cards .

The Halifax clarity card made changes around 2017 (or possibly 2018 ? ) as it used to have "a cash advance work around " but not anymore .
If you withdraw cash you pay high cash advance interest on it until payed off on your statement you cant pay it off early
Many on short trips dont care or feel this needs addressing so the banks profit from your pocket,

Most people are also on shorter trips of a week or so ie. generally less than a month ... just swallow cash advance charges but you do have a choice depending on the card or tool you use .

The op has two very good cards in the toolbox as another poster stated.

To do even better or complete the toolbox "you could also" look at adding the Chase debit card for 1% cashback while travelling/spending .
The chase card is not without its  issues or big problems so I wouldnt have it as a sole travel card .

Having multiple cards is more complex in practise travelling so its up to the individual on whats worth doing personally .
 

Who says you can't pay cash advances off early? What has changed in the T&Cs to prevent this? I can't see anything.

There's the issue that payments will always go towards statemented amounts before unstatemented - but that's always been the case - but AFAIK you can still pay unstatemented amounts (inc cash) off once the previous statement balance is paid off.

Just tested this (in the UK) and it worked OK. Clarity card with nil balance (not used it for a while). Withdrew £40 on Weds. Checked online, it reduced available credit immediately by £40, but didn't show on the balance & transactions till Friday. Sent a faster payment of £40 Friday, this increased the available credit back to full credit limit, but balance still showing as £40. Today (Saturday) balance now showing as nil again.

So all looks to be fine doing this. I'll get charged a day or two's interest on my next statement, so 4p max.

I think the mistakes people make with the Clarity is either trying to pay off cash advances immediately - don't do this as it could create a credit balance if your payment hits the account before the cash advance, which is against the T&Cs and could be rejected, or it could be applied to other transactions like purchases which have already hit the account. Wait till the cash advance is shown in the transactions/balance.

And the other mistake is trying to pay off cash advances when there's an outstanding statement balance, you can't do this, your previous statement must be paid off in full before any payment will go towards more recent transactions. Doesn't matter if you have a DD which is due to take the full statement balance, you still can't make payments towards recent transactions until the previous statement balance is paid off in full. So probably easier not to have a DD for the Clarity if you use it for cash, just pay it manually.

Albermarle

I dont know why people "over look" paying high percentages to withdraw  cash overseas as acceptable  (....unless the terms have changed recently with the barclaycard reward card .)
Cash advance use or need may depend on where you travel and the unexpected 

I presume many people, like me, have never taken cash out on a credit card, either in UK or abroad, so it is a non issue.

On holiday, and previously on business abroad, I always take my debit card as well. Prefer to take two cards, keep them in separate places with one Visa and one Mastercard in case of issues with one of the systems. Probably will update in future and link one of them to my phone, and only carry the other one.

In any case, with a credit card or debit card, it is pretty hard to avoid foreign ATM charges nowadays.

zagfles

Albermarle said:

I dont know why people "over look" paying high percentages to withdraw  cash overseas as acceptable  (....unless the terms have changed recently with the barclaycard reward card .)
Cash advance use or need may depend on where you travel and the unexpected 

I presume many people, like me, have never taken cash out on a credit card, either in UK or abroad, so it is a non issue.

On holiday, and previously on business abroad, I always take my debit card as well. Prefer to take two cards, keep them in separate places with one Visa and one Mastercard in case of issues with one of the systems. Probably will update in future and link one of them to my phone, and only carry the other one.

In any case, with a credit card or debit card, it is pretty hard to avoid foreign ATM charges nowadays.

So which debit card do you use for cash? Very few are better value than the Clarity, most mark up the exchange rate by about 3% or so. There are a handful which don't.

Some countries it's hard to avoid ATM charges, other countries it's easy, depends where you go. But there's no need to pay your own bank's exchange rate markup on top.

NoodleDoodleMan

We have a Bank of Scotland account and it's easy to manage via the app on an iPad etc.

Our Halifax Clarity card can be settled by online transfer - so if you withdraw cash from an ATM, the funds can be replaced with minimum delay, thereby reducing the interest applicable to a minimal amount.

The same will work if you are a Halifax customer.

Just one caution, as mentioned above, part payments towards the overall ongoing balance may go to reducing that sum - rather than simply servicing the ATM transaction.

TOP_CAT

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=12998

If your not bovvered thats fine but if you do read through all this then you can decide whatever you wish .

Albermarle

zagfles said:

Albermarle said:

I dont know why people "over look" paying high percentages to withdraw  cash overseas as acceptable  (....unless the terms have changed recently with the barclaycard reward card .)
Cash advance use or need may depend on where you travel and the unexpected 

I presume many people, like me, have never taken cash out on a credit card, either in UK or abroad, so it is a non issue.

On holiday, and previously on business abroad, I always take my debit card as well. Prefer to take two cards, keep them in separate places with one Visa and one Mastercard in case of issues with one of the systems. Probably will update in future and link one of them to my phone, and only carry the other one.

In any case, with a credit card or debit card, it is pretty hard to avoid foreign ATM charges nowadays.

So which debit card do you use for cash? Very few are better value than the Clarity, most mark up the exchange rate by about 3% or so. There are a handful which don't.

Some countries it's hard to avoid ATM charges, other countries it's easy, depends where you go. But there's no need to pay your own bank's exchange rate markup on top.

Good point but thinking back I have some mitigating points for my error.
1) My debit card used to be free to use abroad, but has not been for some time, which I have now remembered.
2) 90% of my foreign travel was on business, until I retired last year. When claiming expenses I used a preferential rate to account for any personal charges incurred.( so did not care )
3) Due to family reasons, frequency of foreign holidays is low and usually quite short. Then partly due to Covid nearly everywhere prefers card payments anyway. Plus many ATMs charge ( up to €10) 

So in short my post was inaccurate, but partly because the last time I actually used a debit card for foreign cash is lost in the mists of time somewhere. !

mika_dm

zagfles said:

So which debit card do you use for cash? Very few are better value than the Clarity, most mark up the exchange rate by about 3% or so. There are a handful which don't.

Chase and Virgin debit card do not charge for cash withdrawal from ATM abroad. You have a limit of £500/day. Chase has a limit of £1500/month.

zagfles

mika_dm said:

zagfles said:

So which debit card do you use for cash? Very few are better value than the Clarity, most mark up the exchange rate by about 3% or so. There are a handful which don't.

Chase and Virgin debit card do not charge for cash withdrawal from ATM abroad. You have a limit of £500/day. Chase has a limit of £1500/month.

Indeed, a few don't charge, but as above these days you're unlikely to need much cash on holiday so I don't think it's worth opening a separate account to avoid a few pence of interest on the Clarity (if you know how to use it). I used to use my Barclaycard travel card but that stopped fee free foriegn cash in August, I know the current reward card does but I can't have that without giving up by old reward card which has double the cashback.