Halifax Clarity Card

BlueonBlue

With the clarity card you used to be able to pay off your cash advances from your reward account which after 2 days or 3 at wknds stopped the cash advance interest clock ticking .
It had a favourable order of payments too and you could also preload it with cash so your first busy travel days were covered .

I made regular cash withdrawals on the card for over a two month stay in europe every year and payed pennys each month .
You cant do that anymore 
The clarity also used to have a much lower interest rate... under 10% was available .....not now .

Now since around 2017/18 CHANGES WERE MADE TO THE CARD

 If you withdraw cash on the card you cannot stop the cash advance interest clock ticking until your direct debit pays it off at the end of the month or whenever etc .

So if you withdraw cash on the clarity card overseas you will now pay interest on your cash withdrawal .

It used to be the best single travel card nothing could beat it but now it just isnt as good as it was . 
It also gave a £5 reward on a £300 monthly spend too .

Nebulous2

It's still possible to pay it off within a few days, as long as the transaction has appeared on your account. I tend to use chase for purchases, for the 1% and clarity for cash withdrawals. It's a year since I've been in Spain, but there were still at least two banks that didn't charge for cash withdrawals, Deutschebank being one of them. 

BlueonBlue

You can pay off the Clarity cards cash advances  and purchases online but doing so wont stop the cash advance interest clock ticking ....as said above its better to use Chase or Barclaycard travel card for cash advances.

Your going to pay interest if you make cash advances using the clarity card ....if you pay them off online or not .

Regarding Neulous2 post above I would use the cards the other way round 
Chase for cash advances and Clarity for purchases while traveling .

Nebulous2

BlueonBlue said:

You can pay off the Clarity cards cash advances  and purchases online but doing so wont stop the cash advance interest clock ticking ...

Yes it does. 

I take out maybe 200 euros, wait until it appears on my account and pay it off from a bank account (not a Halifax one) the interest stops as soon as the payment gets there. Interest paid comes out at a few pence. 

I'll do most of my spending by card and spend maybe £5-600 pounds on chase, getting £5 or 6 cashback. 

I've a soft spot for Clarity because I've had it a long time. Other cards, such as Santander zero, have come and gone, but Clarity has been consistent. One reason for using it is to keep it live. They've recently increased my limit, so they must be reasonably happy with me. 

There's more than one way to skin a cat however, what suits me may not suit other people. 

noh

I’m currently in Spain.

Halifax Clarity for purchases and Santander debit card for cash withdrawal from Santander ATM is my solution for no fees.

NoodleDoodleMan

Only use a Santander UK debit card at a Banco Santander fully branded ATM, as located a branch to get fee free currency.

Spanish customers also get this benefit from Euro Automatic Cash ATMs which carry the Santander logo - but this does not extend to British card holders.

stevio

noh said:

I’m currently in Spain.

Halifax Clarity for purchases and Santander debit card for cash withdrawal from Santander ATM is my solution for no fees.

Thanks for that!

stevio

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Only use a Santander UK debit card at a Banco Santander fully branded ATM, as located a branch to get fee free currency.

Spanish customers also get this benefit from Euro Automatic Cash ATMs which carry the Santander logo - but this does not extend to British card holders.

Thanks very muchos lol

NoodleDoodleMan

stevio said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Only use a Santander UK debit card at a Banco Santander fully branded ATM, as located a branch to get fee free currency.

Spanish customers also get this benefit from Euro Automatic Cash ATMs which carry the Santander logo - but this does not extend to British card holders.

Thanks very muchos lol

Muy Bueno

Incidentally, the Santander Edge debit card is fee free in Spain (and elsewhere) when settling for goods and services, as well as their bank located ATMs for currency.

Worth looking at - but be aware of the terms & conditions.

https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/current-accounts/santander-edge-current-account

The cashback from our Direct Debits is more than the monthly fee - so it works for us.

kevmull

I've used the Halifax Clarity card for several years in countries spanning 5 continents and never had any issues.  I've even used it fir the odd ATM cash withdrawal and although at the mercy of the ATM machine charges Halifax DO NOT charge for ATM cash withdrawals apart form the tiny bit of interest that i saccrued before you pay off the balance.
NOTE, the information on the MSE site (travel card section) about the Halifax Clarity Card is woefully incorrect....
"If you want a credit card, the Halifax Clarity Mastercard is a decent alternative to the Barclaycard above. The main difference with this card is that you're charged 23.94% to 29.94% interest on ATM withdrawals"

I think they are getting mixed up with the APRs if you fail to pay back in full !
That's a serious mistake and I have informed them about this