Halifax moving from Mastercard to Visa

bobblebob

Anyone else got the email to inform them their credit card is moving from Mastercard to Visa?

I have a Clarity credit card as I get free foreign transactions, which I thought was just a mastercard thing. It doesnt really say if this will still apply when switching to Visa, and even Halifax helpdesk werent sure when I spoke to them.

Also does Visa offer a good exchange rate compared to Mastercard?

WillPS

FX fees are applied/waived by issuer, not by card network. There are Visa Credit cards which offer zero FX, and Clarity will become one of them. (Some even offer cashback on top!)

Visa/Mastercard interchange rates are normally pretty close. Mastercard once had a reputation for being fractionally better, I don't know if that's true still, but the difference is so small in general it isn't worth worrying about.

Nasqueron

Lloyds group issued a Visa with the new Ultra card so makes sense Halifax would go as well

EarthBoy

All Lloyds Banking Group cards are changing to Visa by the end of next year: 
https://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/media/press-releases/2024/lloyds-banking-group-2024/lloyds-expands-partnership-with-visa.html#:~:text=Visa will continue to provide,by the end of 2026.

MyRealNameToo

bobblebob said:

Anyone else got the email to inform them their credit card is moving from Mastercard to Visa?

I have a Clarity credit card as I get free foreign transactions, which I thought was just a mastercard thing. It doesnt really say if this will still apply when switching to Visa, and even Halifax helpdesk werent sure when I spoke to them.

Also does Visa offer a good exchange rate compared to Mastercard?

Mastercard and Visa set an FX rate that applies to the banks issuing the cards, the bank is then free to charge their own margin or not. 

The have slightly different mechanisms to each other in setting their FX rate, that means at any given time one cn be better or worse than the other but 1) its not constant and 2) the difference is normally very small. Generally people claim that Mastercard is slightly favourable but it's not a big difference and never seen how the conclusion has been drawn and it will be obliterated if your card issuer is adding a margin. 

born_again

EarthBoy said:

All Lloyds Banking Group cards are changing to Visa by the end of next year: 
https://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/media/press-releases/2024/lloyds-banking-group-2024/lloyds-expands-partnership-with-visa.html#:~:text=Visa will continue to provide,by the end of 2026.

Visa's turn to throw money at banks to swap to their cards.

jaykay2026

Thanks for raising this, I had the same concerns. 
To clarify will the Clarity card transfer to visa with fee free spending abroad? 
Halifax online chat useless! 

jaykay2026

jaykay2026 said:

Thanks for raising this, I had the same concerns. 
To clarify will the Clarity card transfer to visa with fee free spending abroad? 
Halifax online chat useless! 

UPDATE 
Finally got a person on the webchat, they confirmed the card will remain a Clarity Card when moving to Visa. 
(App wouldn't let me screen grab the conversation.)

wiseonesomeofthetime

jaykay2026 said:

jaykay2026 said:

Thanks for raising this, I had the same concerns. 
To clarify will the Clarity card transfer to visa with fee free spending abroad? 
Halifax online chat useless! 

UPDATE 
Finally got a person on the webchat, they confirmed the card will remain a Clarity Card when moving to Visa. 
(App wouldn't let me screen grab the conversation.)

I already have three credit cards under the VISA flag for travel, so, if Halifax Clarity does go VISA, it will be time to cull some. Definitely do not need four under that provider.

My Mastercard travel credit cards are currently Halifax Clarity and Chase.

HillStreetBlues

wiseonesomeofthetime said:

jaykay2026 said:

jaykay2026 said:

Thanks for raising this, I had the same concerns. 
To clarify will the Clarity card transfer to visa with fee free spending abroad? 
Halifax online chat useless! 

UPDATE 
Finally got a person on the webchat, they confirmed the card will remain a Clarity Card when moving to Visa. 
(App wouldn't let me screen grab the conversation.)

I already have three credit cards under the VISA flag for travel, so, if Halifax Clarity does go VISA, it will be time to cull some. Definitely do not need four under that provider.

My Mastercard travel credit cards are currently Halifax Clarity and Chase.

I have 3 CC for travel MC that I mostly use as the highest CB, then a Visa as lower CB,  finally if both fail the Clarity, as that's never happened I'm not fused if it's MC or visa.

GalacticaActual

I received an email from Halifax this morning, Monday 19th January 2026:

"...we've chosen Visa as our new credit card partner.

Your new Visa credit card will arrive in a couple of months."