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Halifax Clarity Foreign Exchange Rates on MSE
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Clarity card holders have just been informed that from 27 February they will be charged for foreign exchange transactions and pay a fee for foreign currency withdrawals from atms - no details of charges yet. I checked in branch, and they confirmed my interpretation.
Naturally, this rather important information was buried on page 6 of the clutch of papers sent to me - it does not appear in the 2 page summary - no doubt because Halifax are well aware that cost free foreign transactions are the card's main plus for most of us. Clarity interest rates are higher than many, so its main asset disappears.
This card holder will be closing his Clarity account.0 -
There's a couple of threads about this already, one here and one on the travel forum, and the consensus is that what you say is not the case and Clarity will remain free of charges for overseas use.Clarity card holders have just been informed that from 27 February they will be charged for foreign exchange transactions and pay a fee for foreign currency withdrawals from atms - no details of charges yet. I checked in branch, and they confirmed my interpretation.
Naturally, this rather important information was buried on page 6 of the clutch of papers sent to me - it does not appear in the 2 page summary - no doubt because Halifax are well aware that cost free foreign transactions are the card's main plus for most of us. Clarity interest rates are higher than many, so its main asset disappears.
This card holder will be closing his Clarity account.
The problem seems to be that a generic set of Ts and Cs have been interpetedd as global whereas the Clarity cards features are actually remaining intact.
I'm overseas just now so not read my mail, but look for the other threads and hopefully you'll see what I mean.0 -
Clarity card holders have just been informed that from 27 February they will be charged for foreign exchange transactions and pay a fee for foreign currency withdrawals from atms - no details of charges yet. I checked in branch, and they confirmed my interpretation.
Naturally, this rather important information was buried on page 6 of the clutch of papers sent to me - it does not appear in the 2 page summary - no doubt because Halifax are well aware that cost free foreign transactions are the card's main plus for most of us. Clarity interest rates are higher than many, so its main asset disappears.
This card holder will be closing his Clarity account.the consensus is that what you say is not the case and Clarity will remain free of charges for overseas use.
The problem seems to be that a generic set of Ts and Cs have been interpreted as global whereas the Clarity cards features are actually remaining intact.
I've just called the Halifax, and a rather clueless lady kept me on hold for several minutes. Although I had specifically mentioned that I was referring to my Clarity credit card, it transpired that she was from the debit card team and knew nothing about credit cards !
When I managed to speak to someone from the credit card team, he assured me that charges were not being introduced. There are some changes relating to balance transfers and people who take forever to pay what they owe, but nothing that affects the basics when abroad of making purchases and getting cash advances from ATMs.
The Halifax have certainly made a dog's dinner of conveying the changes clearly. They would do well to contact the Plain English campaign !
So don't cut up your Clarity card right now.0 -
If I have misled people, I apologise - and, as a user, I am relieved to stand corrected.
That said, I did check with a local branch first and the person concerned seemed to be aware of changes, if not clued up on detail. The natural reading of the shaded paragraph in section A5 of the revised Credit Card Agreement is that fees are levied for both foreign exchange transactions and foreign cash withdrawals, irrespective of an individual's balance. It says (preceded by an exclamation mark):
"A single transaction may attract more than one fee. For example, for a cash withdrawal in a foreign currency we charge a cash transaction fee and a non sterling transaction fee"
I took this to include Clarity, rather than focussing purely on the Clarity specific guide to changes, which does not refer to any changes in foreign exchange fees. My mistake.0 -
fifeken said:
Apologies for the delay in replying, its been a busy time of year and I was so hoping edwal13 would come back with one of his pearls of wisdom. He's been on line but hasn't graced us with an update here, which is disappointing given his wealth of knowledge, or maybe he was just bludging.I was in Thailand last year and found the fees charged by ATM's over there were unavoidable, regardless of the bank/issuer/debit/credit etc.
It was 220 baht every withdrawal, regardless of the amount I withdrew.
My rather feeble strategy to deal with this was to make a larger withdrawal (20000 baht) that I would normally do, to ensure less withdrawals, and therefore less 220 baht fees.
Anyway, if you do return to Thailand and want to avoid the ATM fee, try going into a branch and asking for a cash advance over the counter. Some will direct you to the ATM but some will take your card and process a cash advance with no 220 baht fee.
Slightly less beneficial is to withdraw at an Aeon Bank ATM which has a slightly lower fee. Unfortunately they're not as widespread as the major Thai banks.
Incredible late thanks from me for this Thailand tip.fifeken said:
Apologies for the delay in replying, its been a busy time of year and I was so hoping edwal13 would come back with one of his pearls of wisdom. He's been on line but hasn't graced us with an update here, which is disappointing given his wealth of knowledge, or maybe he was just bludging.I was in Thailand last year and found the fees charged by ATM's over there were unavoidable, regardless of the bank/issuer/debit/credit etc.
It was 220 baht every withdrawal, regardless of the amount I withdrew.
My rather feeble strategy to deal with this was to make a larger withdrawal (20000 baht) that I would normally do, to ensure less withdrawals, and therefore less 220 baht fees.
Anyway, if you do return to Thailand and want to avoid the ATM fee, try going into a branch and asking for a cash advance over the counter. Some will direct you to the ATM but some will take your card and process a cash advance with no 220 baht fee.
Slightly less beneficial is to withdraw at an Aeon Bank ATM which has a slightly lower fee. Unfortunately they're not as widespread as the major Thai banks.
fcFeb 2008, 20year lifetime tracker with "Sproggit and Sylvester"... 0.14% + base for 2 years, then 0.99% + base for life of mortgage...base was 5.5% in 2008...but not for long. Credit to my mortgage broker0 -
Have you had a chance to try it out? I've got a Thai bank account so this is on my backup list if required, and it's always good to know where it works.fewcloudy said:fifeken said:
Apologies for the delay in replying, its been a busy time of year and I was so hoping edwal13 would come back with one of his pearls of wisdom. He's been on line but hasn't graced us with an update here, which is disappointing given his wealth of knowledge, or maybe he was just bludging.I was in Thailand last year and found the fees charged by ATM's over there were unavoidable, regardless of the bank/issuer/debit/credit etc.
It was 220 baht every withdrawal, regardless of the amount I withdrew.
My rather feeble strategy to deal with this was to make a larger withdrawal (20000 baht) that I would normally do, to ensure less withdrawals, and therefore less 220 baht fees.
Anyway, if you do return to Thailand and want to avoid the ATM fee, try going into a branch and asking for a cash advance over the counter. Some will direct you to the ATM but some will take your card and process a cash advance with no 220 baht fee.
Slightly less beneficial is to withdraw at an Aeon Bank ATM which has a slightly lower fee. Unfortunately they're not as widespread as the major Thai banks.
Incredible late thanks from me for this Thailand tip.fifeken said:
Apologies for the delay in replying, its been a busy time of year and I was so hoping edwal13 would come back with one of his pearls of wisdom. He's been on line but hasn't graced us with an update here, which is disappointing given his wealth of knowledge, or maybe he was just bludging.I was in Thailand last year and found the fees charged by ATM's over there were unavoidable, regardless of the bank/issuer/debit/credit etc.
It was 220 baht every withdrawal, regardless of the amount I withdrew.
My rather feeble strategy to deal with this was to make a larger withdrawal (20000 baht) that I would normally do, to ensure less withdrawals, and therefore less 220 baht fees.
Anyway, if you do return to Thailand and want to avoid the ATM fee, try going into a branch and asking for a cash advance over the counter. Some will direct you to the ATM but some will take your card and process a cash advance with no 220 baht fee.
Slightly less beneficial is to withdraw at an Aeon Bank ATM which has a slightly lower fee. Unfortunately they're not as widespread as the major Thai banks.
fc
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Starling is my go to card for cash withdrawals.
Aqua Rewards or Barclaycard Rewards for spending. Used to be Tandem but its gone...0 -
No, sadly not had a chance to try it out yet. Should've been there now actually, but trip was cancelled due to COVID. Hopefully next year.
Have you had a chance to try it out? I've got a Thai bank account so this is on my backup list if required, and it's always good to know where it works.Feb 2008, 20year lifetime tracker with "Sproggit and Sylvester"... 0.14% + base for 2 years, then 0.99% + base for life of mortgage...base was 5.5% in 2008...but not for long. Credit to my mortgage broker0
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