Bit of a pickle

iamecks

Hey there,

We're going to the South of France on Saturday, and went to get some euros today stupidly thinking i could just bang £500 quids worth on the 0% halifax one credit card.
After being told it is treated as a cash advance, meaning there is a 2.7% charge and then 23%apr interest. I've thought of two options.. would it be better to buy £500 worth of euros on my empty HSBC credit card, then transfer the balance 0% to the halifax one card? OR would it be better to just go with no euros and pay for things on the HSBC card and get cash out of machines then transfer the balance when I get back after 2 weeks.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance and kind regards,
James and Claire.

DestroyingAngel_2

Neither. Whether you buy £500 from a bank using your HSBC card or withdraw cash at an ATM machine, that would still be a cash advance. I would advise you to never use a credit card to withdraw cash or take money out at a bank, as cash advances attract the highest interest rates. You may be gone only 2 weeks, but remember, interest starts accruing on a daily basis from the very day you do a cash advance transaction. The £500 you take out could very well be £550 by the time you transfer your balance, so you'd have wasted money for nothing. Plus, any cash advance, whether it's at a bank or through an ATM machine, would attract a handling charge each time you use the credit card. This varies from bank to bank, but generally it's about 3% of the amount withdrawn.

Do you have a credit card with 0% on retail purchases? If yes, you should use that in France. Keep your credit card away from banks and ATMs.

One more thing to remember is fluctuating exchange rates (£ to Euro) - the rate you did your transaction in isn't necessarily the rate you're going to be charged; it depends on when the merchant calls for the money. So, for example, if you did a transaction for 100 Euros when it was only £70 according to the daily exchange rate, by the time the merchant calls for the money, it could be £74 instead of £70; conversely, of course, it could be £68.