Using a Clarity Card Abroad

SieIso

Hi,

I am not sure if this is the correct forum, however, I am going to Italy in a few weeks time and I plan to use my Halifax Clarity card. Is it better when using this card abroad to pay in local currency or to pay in GBP? Also, is the Clarity card the best card to use when aborad?

Thanks in advance. 

hildasmuriel

Always opt to pay in local currency.

I think Halifax Clarity is one of the better ones for 'near perfect' exchange rate.

grumbler

It's worth saying that interest will be charged on cash advances. Not a big deal, but, it can be made even smaller by making payments to the CC.

pochisoldi

grumbler said:

It's worth saying that interest will be charged on cash advances. Not a big deal, but, it can be made even smaller by making payments to the CC.

I have used the Clarity card in the past for forex cash machine withdrawals.
With this card, payments get applied in order:
Last month's balance
This month's cash advances
This month's spend
Anything that was pending when you made the payment.

To minimise interest paid, and maximise the interest free period I used to pay off the last month's balance, and once the ATM withdrawal showed on the transaction list, (not as pending - actually showing in the list) I would pay off the cash advance.

Example:
Statement issued 2nd of April with a balance of £15 due on the 28th April (i.e. still on the card when I go abroad)
Withdraw 100EUR on the Fri 14th of April, which immediately shows as a pending transaction.
Charge 150EUR of spending on the card over the weekend.
(Do nothing)
ATM withdrawal shows in the transaction list on Mon 17th of April as £88.20. I then pay off £103.20 (previous statement balance+cash advance). The purchases are left on the card.

On the 18th of April withdraw 50EUR from an ATM.
This shows on the account on the 19th as £44.10. I then pay off £44.10 (just the cash advance this time).

When I get home, the card balance is just the purchases I made while I was away which get paid off the next month.

This method means that you usually do end up paying some interest on cash withdrawals, but it's usually pennies.

PochiSoldi
Note that these days, I use a Clarity card for purchases, and a Chase debit card for cash machine withdrawals.

CliveOfIndia

hildasmuriel said:

Always opt to pay in local currency.

I think Halifax Clarity is one of the better ones for 'near perfect' exchange rate.

Correct, always pay in local currency and let the card issuer do the conversion.  They will all use the prevailing Mastercard/Visa exchange rate, which is about as good as a consumer can get.  There may be a tiny difference between the rates used by Visa and Mastercard, but it's neither here nor there - and will almost certainly be a lot better than letting the retailer do the conversion for you, where they'll try and use a rate that favours them.

Halifax isn't "best" in terms of exchange rate (they're all the same), but it is one of the "original" travel cards - plenty more are available these days.

zagfles

It's not the "best" but it's far better than most cards. I use Barclaycard Rewards which has interest free ATM withdrawals (provided you always pay in full) plus 0.25% cashback on purchases, and like the Clarity no exchange rate markup. Although it is VISA which last time I looked generally gave slighty worse rates than MasterCard. I have the Clarity as backup for foreign use.

adindas

SieIso said:

Hi,

I am not sure if this is the correct forum, however, I am going to Italy in a few weeks time and I plan to use my Halifax Clarity card. Is it better when using this card abroad to pay in local currency or to pay in GBP? Also, is the Clarity card the best card to use when aborad?

Thanks in advance. 

It was one of the best cc for foreign transaction about ten years ago, but not anymore, Nowadays reasonable number of debitcards with zero fee for foreign transaction are launched in the market. Also other credit cards start offering this perks.

Halifax Clarity card is a creditcard (not debitcard) so if you intend to withdraw cash from the cash machines you will be charged with interest from day one of your cash withdrawal.

You do not get this problem if you are using zero fee for foreign transaction debitcard such as Chase, Starling, Monzo, Metro Bank, HSBC global money account, Santander Zero debit, etc and you get exactly the same MasterCard exchange rate on that day.

Yes, you always need to select the local currency.to allow your card  to do the conversion for you.

daivid

OP you probably have time to get a Chase account and debit card, that way you can use the clarity to spend and the chase card to withdraw cash. You will also have a second card should one get refused or locked. As others have said always pay in the local currency. It is also worth checking the travel cards section on the main MSE site, last time I looked Barclaycard had a travel card with modest cashback (0.25%) - better than nothing…

Nebulous2

I still like my Clarity. 

I've just been to Spain and used my Clarity to draw 100 euros cash at a cost of £88.40. After the charge appeared in the app I transferred the money from my recently acquired Halifax rewards account. I'll have a few pence of trailing interest when the bill is produced. Given the issues with most other forms of cash, including charges at ATMs in Spain, I regard that as a result. 

I used Chase for card payments for the 1% cashback. I don't want to swap out my Barclaycard, as I have a legacy one with 0.5% cashback. 

The other thing I like is that Clarity has been consistent. Santander has blown hot and cold, Barclaycard had a confusing system of short-term restricted offerings while Clarity has just continued quietly doing what it says on the tin. 

NoodleDoodleMan

SieIso said:

Hi,

I am not sure if this is the correct forum, however, I am going to Italy in a few weeks time and I plan to use my Halifax Clarity card. Is it better when using this card abroad to pay in local currency or to pay in GBP? Also, is the Clarity card the best card to use when aborad?

Thanks in advance. 

If you need "user friendly" cards quickly - I've read that Metrobank can issue a debit card on the day, assuming you meet the criteria to open a current account - and I understand their credit card can be similarly approved swiftly.

Use the debit card for ATMs to withdraw currency, the credit card to pay for goods and services - neither incur fees with Metrobank in SEPA, which includes Italy.

Of course, if you don't live near a branch............................

Nebulous2

Nebulous2 said:

I still like my Clarity. 

I've just been to Spain and used my Clarity to draw 100 euros cash at a cost of £88.40. After the charge appeared in the app I transferred the money from my recently acquired Halifax rewards account. I'll have a few pence of trailing interest when the bill is produced. Given the issues with most other forms of cash, including charges at ATMs in Spain, I regard that as a result. 

I used Chase for card payments for the 1% cashback. I don't want to swap out my Barclaycard, as I have a legacy one with 0.5% cashback. 

The other thing I like is that Clarity has been consistent. Santander has blown hot and cold, Barclaycard had a confusing system of short-term restricted offerings while Clarity has just continued quietly doing what it says on the tin. 

Just update this for anyone interested. 100 Euros withdrawn, charged £88.40, paid it off by transfer from my Halifax account in 5 days. My credit card bill has just landed, and I've been charged 16 pence in interest.....