Putting credit card in credit to get fee free cash withdrawls

mda99das

About 10 years ago I added cash to my credit card account to put the balance in credit. The card gives me near enough the spot rate.  I was pleasantly surprised no fees were levied, can you still do this?

J_B

If you have a Barclaycard *Rewards* card, you can withdraw cash (and pay off the balance IN FULL on the due date) without any cash advance charges

bagand96

It might be against the terms of your card, and whether it will work or not will depend on the card issuer and how they may handle it.

Although why run the risk of having issues when abroad? Just wait for the transaction to clear and pay it off immediately (interest will be pence).  Or even better get one of the many available fee free debit cards with various banks (high street or app based)

user1977

Many cards simply won’t allow you to keep the account in credit.

Emmia

Having a card in credit is often against the T&C's - doing it on purpose could lead to your card being forcibly closed.

born_again

mda99das said:

About 10 years ago I added cash to my credit card account to put the balance in credit. The card gives me near enough the spot rate.  I was pleasantly surprised no fees were levied, can you still do this?

Is against T/C to do this now. You may even find the payment bounce or at worst CC facility closed.

jbrassy

As others have said, it will likely go against your credit card provider's T&Ss to deliberately put the card in credit. Far better to just get a debit card which offers fee free ATM withdrawals abroad. Starling and First Direct are probably your best options.

Olenna

mda99das said:

About 10 years ago I added cash to my credit card account to put the balance in credit. The card gives me near enough the spot rate.  I was pleasantly surprised no fees were levied, can you still do this?

Possibly but preloading a credit card will be against the T&Cs of your credit card. 
You're more likely to get it blocked whilst travelling or even closed on your return.

NoodleDoodleMan

jbrassy said:

As others have said, it will likely go against your credit card provider's T&Ss to deliberately put the card in credit. Far better to just get a debit card which offers fee free ATM withdrawals abroad. Starling and First Direct are probably your best options.

Yes, both good choices, as is Chase, although it doesn't yet offer joint accounts.

Our joint Starling card is very dependable on holidays etc. 

However, sadly, there are now fewer and fewer ATMs that don't impose their own fee for withdrawing cash.

Vastly different from 10 years ago unfortunately.

Doshwaster

Not really worth the risk in order to save  a few pennies in interest.

If there was fraud on your account and the credit you had put onto it was spent then you would struggle to get the money back.