Travel credit card

zagfles

NoodleDoodleMan said:

zagfles said:

Alex9384 said:

No one has mentioned that the main difference between Barclaycard Rewards CC and other travel CCs is that Barclaycard allows you to withdraw cash from ATM abroad without charging you interest immediately! Other cards start charging you interest from the day of cash withdrawal. As far as I know, this only applies to Barclaycard withdrawals abroad, not in the UK.

Depends which card, my new Rewards one allows fee free withdrawals in the UK too. The old one doesn't.

Are Barclaycard Reward withdrawing the (time limited) overseas fee free benefit when taking currency at an ATM when the card becomes due for renewal ?

It's not time limited, their previous card which I had was, but I swapped it to the new Rewards one last summer when the time limited fee free period ended. There's an option to swap cards on their app, it's not available on the web based internet banking site for some reason so you have to use the app for this.

hugheskevi

I'm currently traveling through the Americas, and have most of the UK travel credit/debit cards with me. To date, my observations are:

• Chase was great for the USA - always Chase ATMs around in towns and cities (often drive-throughs), although I mostly used the Chase card for payments (1% cashback, and just easier than cash) so didn't need much cash at all. The ATMs are most often connected to branches, which will exchange note denominations for free should you wish as you are a Chase customer (after a lot of confusion about why their system can't access the Chase account and bemusement about why there are so few details on the card!).
• South of the USA, Chase (in common with all my Mastercards) became a bit unreliable in ATMs - central American ATMs are renowned for being unpredictable, and just sometimes giving out cash and sometimes not.
• Barclaycard (Visa) has been by far the most reliable card for ATMs in central America, but their app is far behind all the other providers, it is the only account I've found easier to use online than by app. I prefer to use Chase if possible, but carry Barclaycard in my wallet as my second choice card and use it regularly.
• I've found very little use for Halifax card, as it is annoying to have to pay it off immediately else incur interest. It is just along as a reserve card and barely used.
• I don't use Virgin debit card very much either, I find their app rather clunky compared to Starling and Chase. I've only used it when having to make multiple withdrawals across my cards due to low cash machine withdrawal limits.
• Starling is a good solid choice, but with no particular advantages over Chase or Barclaycard. 
• I use Starling as my main bank account due to limitations of the Chase account when I opened it (eg no joint accounts or direct debits at that time) and use Chase as my main expenditure card - this is good as I can keep a fairly low balance in my Chase account, and just feed it from my Starling account (or from Chase savings account when the rate is competitive). This means I could easily close the account if necessary (eg fraud, etc). This arrangement worked out extremely well when the car hire company Turo made multiple mistakes on a car hire when the host amended the booking, resulting in them erroneously attempting to take $1,500 from the account on 3 occasions - Chase declined it due to insufficient funds, which was far preferable to having to get Turo to return the money.

Another thing worth considering for USA (and most of the rest of Americas) is getting a 3 PAYG SIM card - for £10 you can purchase a data pack with 10 Gig of data and use it as part of their Go Roam arrangement. Local SIMs and eSims in USA cost a ridiculous amount, so having 3 PAYG SIM saved me a lot.

NoodleDoodleMan

zagfles said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

zagfles said:

Alex9384 said:

No one has mentioned that the main difference between Barclaycard Rewards CC and other travel CCs is that Barclaycard allows you to withdraw cash from ATM abroad without charging you interest immediately! Other cards start charging you interest from the day of cash withdrawal. As far as I know, this only applies to Barclaycard withdrawals abroad, not in the UK.

Depends which card, my new Rewards one allows fee free withdrawals in the UK too. The old one doesn't.

Are Barclaycard Reward withdrawing the (time limited) overseas fee free benefit when taking currency at an ATM when the card becomes due for renewal ?

It's not time limited, their previous card which I had was, but I swapped it to the new Rewards one last summer when the time limited fee free period ended. There's an option to swap cards on their app, it's not available on the web based internet banking site for some reason so you have to use the app for this.

Sorry, I'm a wee bit confused.

When my current Barclaycard Reward card expires will the replacement still enjoy the fee free benefit when withdrawing cash at a foreign ATM ? I assume it'll still be fee free at restaurants etc. ?

When I said time limited I was referring to the need to settle the balance when the next account statement became for payment.

Marchitiello

NoodleDoodleMan said:

zagfles said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

zagfles said:

Alex9384 said:

No one has mentioned that the main difference between Barclaycard Rewards CC and other travel CCs is that Barclaycard allows you to withdraw cash from ATM abroad without charging you interest immediately! Other cards start charging you interest from the day of cash withdrawal. As far as I know, this only applies to Barclaycard withdrawals abroad, not in the UK.

Depends which card, my new Rewards one allows fee free withdrawals in the UK too. The old one doesn't.

Are Barclaycard Reward withdrawing the (time limited) overseas fee free benefit when taking currency at an ATM when the card becomes due for renewal ?

It's not time limited, their previous card which I had was, but I swapped it to the new Rewards one last summer when the time limited fee free period ended. There's an option to swap cards on their app, it's not available on the web based internet banking site for some reason so you have to use the app for this.

Sorry, I'm a wee bit confused.

When my current Barclaycard Reward card expires will the replacement still enjoy the fee free benefit when withdrawing cash at a foreign ATM ? I assume it'll still be fee free at restaurants etc. ?

When I said time limited I was referring to the need to settle the balance when the next account statement became for payment.

At one point there were two version of Barclaycard Rewards: the first one that launched, had the Forex free benefit time limited to 1 year or thereabouts. After a while, Barclaycard launched a new version where the forex free and atm benefits were a permanent feature (the current open version). I had assumed that the new version simply replaced the previous version and customer were automatically moved to the new T&C but the previous poster suggest it is not the case (and if indeed the current Reward card is offered in the change to a different card section of the app as an option, he would be definitely right). 

zagfles

Marchitiello said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

zagfles said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

zagfles said:

Alex9384 said:

No one has mentioned that the main difference between Barclaycard Rewards CC and other travel CCs is that Barclaycard allows you to withdraw cash from ATM abroad without charging you interest immediately! Other cards start charging you interest from the day of cash withdrawal. As far as I know, this only applies to Barclaycard withdrawals abroad, not in the UK.

Depends which card, my new Rewards one allows fee free withdrawals in the UK too. The old one doesn't.

Are Barclaycard Reward withdrawing the (time limited) overseas fee free benefit when taking currency at an ATM when the card becomes due for renewal ?

It's not time limited, their previous card which I had was, but I swapped it to the new Rewards one last summer when the time limited fee free period ended. There's an option to swap cards on their app, it's not available on the web based internet banking site for some reason so you have to use the app for this.

Sorry, I'm a wee bit confused.

When my current Barclaycard Reward card expires will the replacement still enjoy the fee free benefit when withdrawing cash at a foreign ATM ? I assume it'll still be fee free at restaurants etc. ?

When I said time limited I was referring to the need to settle the balance when the next account statement became for payment.

At one point there were two version of Barclaycard Rewards: the first one that launched, had the Forex free benefit time limited to 1 year or thereabouts. After a while, Barclaycard launched a new version where the forex free and atm benefits were a permanent feature (the current open version). I had assumed that the new version simply replaced the previous version and customer were automatically moved to the new T&C but the previous poster suggest it is not the case (and if indeed the current Reward card is offered in the change to a different card section of the app as an option, he would be definitely right). 

The trouble is there are/were so many different Barclaycard versions.

I applied for the "Platinum Travel" card in around 2017, this had a 5 year "temporary" reduction in the forex fee to 0%, until Aug 2022. It also treated foreign ATM withdrawals like purchases, ie no fee or interest on forex ATM withdrawals if statements paid in full. But there were fees/immediate interest on UK ATM withdrawals. This was my main card used for foreign travels.

After Aug 2022 it because useless, but BC had a new Rewards cards which offered basically the same deal but with no expiry date, and with a couple of additional benefits, 0.25% cashback on purchases plus fee/interest free UK ATM withdrawals.

So I switched my "travel" card via the BC app. Same credit limit etc, but new card number.

zagfles

NoodleDoodleMan said:

zagfles said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

zagfles said:

Alex9384 said:

No one has mentioned that the main difference between Barclaycard Rewards CC and other travel CCs is that Barclaycard allows you to withdraw cash from ATM abroad without charging you interest immediately! Other cards start charging you interest from the day of cash withdrawal. As far as I know, this only applies to Barclaycard withdrawals abroad, not in the UK.

Depends which card, my new Rewards one allows fee free withdrawals in the UK too. The old one doesn't.

Are Barclaycard Reward withdrawing the (time limited) overseas fee free benefit when taking currency at an ATM when the card becomes due for renewal ?

It's not time limited, their previous card which I had was, but I swapped it to the new Rewards one last summer when the time limited fee free period ended. There's an option to swap cards on their app, it's not available on the web based internet banking site for some reason so you have to use the app for this.

Sorry, I'm a wee bit confused.

When my current Barclaycard Reward card expires will the replacement still enjoy the fee free benefit when withdrawing cash at a foreign ATM ? I assume it'll still be fee free at restaurants etc. ?

When I said time limited I was referring to the need to settle the balance when the next account statement became for payment.

Credit card terms rarely change which a card expires, you just get a new physical card but everything else stays the same. Card number, credit limit, terms etc. The CVV number might change.

The previous "travel" card had an expiry date for 0% forex on a set date, 31 Aug 2022, which had nothing to do with the physical card expiry date. The current BC reward card has no expiry date for 0% forex, but of course they could change the T&Cs whenever they want with the appropriate notice, doesn't matter when your physical card expires.

NoodleDoodleMan

Understood, thanks.

You are correct - "The trouble is there are/were so many different Barclaycard versions."

Ganga

Marchitiello said:

Ganga said:

I have the Santander Zero card ( as well as the Halifax Clarity card ) but have never used the Santander one ,it is my back up card when abroad ,i think i better use it this May when i go to Greece or i might loose it due to non use.

Re: Santander Zero- You may want to do a small transaction in the UK ASAP as Santander do close accounts for inactivity.. all you need to do is buying a sneaker bar at Sainsbury or something like that. Worth trying to keep this product as it is discontinued and from time to time Santander may run a good deal on it (last Summer it run a 1% cashback on forex spend, matching Chase Debit Card but with the additional benefit of “pay later” and buyer protections). As a side note, Greece is one of those countries where ATM operators charges for usage, but there are few exceptions, especially around Athens but not on the smaller islands, so may be worth to look into it before travelling otherwise even with a Chase Debit Card or something similar you may incur in some additional charges. 

Will do that with my Santander Zero card ,we go to Skiathos twice a year and most tavernas take card payments ,never draw cash out of ATM,s , we always take some Euros with us for tipping but finf CC,s work best for other things ( except the bus fare on the local bus but it is only 2 euros  )

NoodleDoodleMan

A few organisations accept monthly subscriptions paid by credit (or debit) card - Neflix for one - I use my Santander Zero to settle in this manner - keeps it active.

I believe Amazon Prime and Spotify likewise.

peagestress

We have used the Clarity card for a few years , however last week whilst driving through France our card was not accepted at the Peage . This was frustrating and stressful as the previous day it had been fine and with a queue of cars behind you trying to get through the booths it was not something we want to repeat. I contacted the Halifax that day ( 10/3) to see why it was not being accepted and to check it wasn’t blocked because of a possible fraud. They told me that it wasn’t them but the motorway company that were not accepting it. Weird but there we are . The motorway until Reims was fine but when paying later near Albertville its not. I think different companies . Our card was fine in all other circumstances, supermarkets, petrol, restaurants etc. On the way home the same happened , not accepted on the southern routes but ok from Troyes onwards. I contacted Halifax again and the same story , its the company not accepting the card

I suggest that although not their fault it is their issue to resolve as the main reason people have the card is to use abroad . I don’t believe that they will resolve it. People need to know that the card wont work on ( at least) the south eastern motorway peage in France. There will undoubtedly be hundreds of people driving down that route in the next few months , ( we will again in July ) but unless its clearly resolved we wont be using the Clarity card again as we don’t want that stress again! Has anyone else had this issue ?