Using a Clarity Card Abroad

zagfles

TOP_CAT said:

If halifax changed the terms and conds around 2017 then some of the info from posters above "may" be not be up to date or the whole story.

The clarity card does charge cash advance interest .
Stopping the interest clock ticking and the bank adjusting the direct debit I believe had some changes .

They changed the way the DD gets adjusted with extra payments, and they've included a few more things in the definition of "cash", like court fines and money card topups, but can't see any changes to the allocation of payments or the way interest is applied.

If you're going to use the Clarity for cash, it's far easier not to have a DD and pay it manually. A DD just complicates things. Easy way for a short holiday is to simply clear any outstanding balance before going, use the Clarity for spending and cash, then when you get back check your balance online (make sure any recent stuff has gone through) and pay the whole lot off.

More complicated and uber MSE way is to pay off each cash withdrawal as soon as it hits the account properly (not pending) having made sure the previous statement is cleared first (allocation of payments is always towards a statemented balance before unstatemented).

TOP_CAT

Zagfles has it right ....now I remember I had to cancel the DD in 2017 !!!

That is ok for short trips but on longer 1 or 2 monthly trips passing through billing cycles its now a pain where as before it was just so much easier and the best card .

Can you still stop the clarity cash advance interest clock ticking by paying off any cash advances quickly and of course any purchases to meet the order of payments ??

NoodleDoodleMan

zagfles said:

Nebulous2 said:

[Deleted User] said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Santander UK debit cards are only fee free at Santander branded ATMs in Spain - a few other countries recently added.

There will be a fee from Santander UK if used at other machines.

Quote

I've used mine in Santander Spain, Portugal and the United States.

The benefit being that they're surcharge free due to the group relationship.

Deutsche Bank and Banca March have zero relationship with Halifax and could change tact instantly.

It isn't about a relationship with Halifax. These banks don't charge for withdrawing money with a credit card. The advantage of Halifax Clarity is that you get the Mastercard rate without any exchange fees or commission added by Halifax. 

The point is those banks could easily add a charge, in fact I read somewhere (probably here) that Banca March have started charging recently.

10-15 years ago proper bank ATMs hardly ever charged anywhere in Europe, now most do. The way to go in the future might be to get a card with a bank/bank group that has branches abroad eg Santander. 

 Indeed, it was mentioned in a thread recently, based on one member's experience.

To be confirmed, the jury is still out on that.

As for Santander that is a good call - they now include several more countries than previously.

"We won't charge you when you use your personal debit card to make withdrawals at Santander cash machines abroad. You'll find our cash machines in Spain, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and the USA."

One caution about Spain though - as far as I can determine this does not include the Euro Automatic Cash ATM network which have an arrangement with Banco Santander to allow Spanish card holders a no fee benefit - it only applies to external Santander clients if used at Santander fully branded ATMs.

The EAC machines carry the distinctive Santander (small version) logo - but are not part of Banco Santander.

fifeken

TOP_CAT said:

I could be wrong on this as I havent used it since just before that time when it was the best .

You might want to check it's still active.  I either got an email or read on here that not using it for x months would lead to them closing the account.  I now have it in my diary to use it even though it's my backup card, just to make sure I don't lose it.

NoodleDoodleMan

fifeken said:

TOP_CAT said:

I could be wrong on this as I havent used it since just before that time when it was the best .

You might want to check it's still active.  I either got an email or read on here that not using it for x months would lead to them closing the account.  I now have it in my diary to use it even though it's my backup card, just to make sure I don't lose it.

Similarly I received a letter indicating that the card account would be closed due to inactivity - I now use it to pay a small monthly charge to Epson for printing inks etc., taken automatically on same date.

Halifax appear to be happy with such minimal usage.