Halifax Clarity Question

MincePied · 11 May 2019 at 9:49AM

So i have cleared the balance on my clarity card statement in full last month. I will be travelling to Thailand soon. I would like to use the clarity card this month for both purchases in this country and in Thailand and also withdrawing cash in Thailand which would normally be 20,000 thai baht (£480 equivalent) each time when needed.
My next statement is not due to be produced until 1st June.
I would like to transfer money from my current account to the clarity as soon as the cash transactions appear to minimise interest owed.
My question is do i also need to clear the normal purchases or only the cash advances to stop the interest accumulating?
For example if i spend £800 on purchases then £480 cash from an atm would i need to transfer £1280? Or could i just transfer £480 and clear the normal transactions when the monthly statement is next produced?
Hope that makes sense?

[Deleted User] · 11 May 2019 at 10:04AM

Payments are allocated to the highest rate statemented transactions, so be aware of that if you plan to pay cash transactions immediately.

eDicky · 11 May 2019 at 1:31PM

Be aware of the Bt220 (~£5) charge by all Thai banks per ATM withdrawal using any foreign card. So always withdraw the maximum, and/or take some cash pounds to exchange at a good exchange desk (such as SuperRich), rates are excellent. On arrival at Bangkok airport go downstairs to the rail link level to find many such exchanges, avoid the bank kiosks on the arrival level.

Terry_Towelling · 11 May 2019 at 5:29PM

I've glanced at the card T&Cs and it looks like your plan to pay only the ATM items (plus the local charge) prior to statementing and then the purchases (plus the small amount of interest) after statementing should work - he said hesitantly. It will be interesting to see what actually happens!:)

eDicky · 11 May 2019 at 10:42PM

If the balance that appeared on your last statement has already been fully cleared, any payments you make will be allocated to cash withdrawals first, before any purchases made since that statement. But if there were any unpaid statemented balance it would be allocated to paying that first, before the cash withdrawals.

bouncydog1 · 12 May 2019 at 7:03AM

Make sure you check your card via online banking and that the cash transaction is actually on the statement and not showing as a pending transaction. Transfer a little bit more than the sterling equivalent shown and that should also take care of the interest. If you pay funds into the card whilst the cash transaction is pending the payment will go towards other items already on the statement.

jaybeetoo · 12 May 2019 at 9:40AM

From Clarity terms & conditions:

You must not pay us more than you owe when you make payments to your account, or transfer funds from another credit or store card if this creates a credit balance on your account. If there is a credit balance on your account at any time, we may apply it to any recent transactions not yet shown on your account, or to transactions made after the date your account goes into credit. We may also return any credit balance to the account from which the money has been sent or pay the funds into a deposit account you hold with us.

Terry_Towelling · 12 May 2019 at 1:42PM

This is the sort of question that has potential 'banana skins' attached.

OP has already said, the card has a Zero balance, so there is no issue with payments being allocated to any previously statemented transactions first.

The issue with putting the account into credit is valid so it would be advisable to wait until any Cash transactions have actually been posted (but not necessarily statemented) before paying anything to the card.

So, the banana skins. I infer from the OP that the clearing of the balance was the first time it has been cleared for a few statements. That means there could be trailing interest applied to the next statement along with any interest for the new cash transactions. Both these items of interest will be applied to the account after OP has made their payment towards the cash transactions, so there shouldn't be an issue with the early payments being applied against either element of the interest - but who would dare say for sure.

The next banana skin relates to the payment allocation rules. Yes, the T&Cs say statemented cash txns will be covered before statemented purchases and unstatemented items will be covered last. However, they do not specify the payment allocation method within the unstatemented items. Yes, we should be able to rely on Halifax using the same allocation method with the unstatemented stuff (i.e. cash then purchases) but strange things do happen - unstatemented items may get paid in order of age, so make the cash transactions first.

pochisoldi · 16 May 2019 at 3:06PM

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

The next banana skin relates to the payment allocation rules. Yes, the T&Cs say statemented cash txns will be covered before statemented purchases and unstatemented items will be covered last. However, they do not specify the payment allocation method within the unstatemented items. Yes, we should be able to rely on Halifax using the same allocation method with the unstatemented stuff (i.e. cash then purchases) but strange things do happen - unstatemented items may get paid in order of age, so make the cash transactions first.

From experience, and as documented on the statement is
Statemented items (in order of interest rate, highest rate first)
Unstatemented items (in order of interest rate, highest rate first)

(I've conveniently ignored things like missed payments from previous months)

18cc · 16 May 2019 at 5:23PM

You arrive in Thailand...

you then start spending and accumulate a balance on your card of say £200

you then withdraw £480 at an ATM and soon thereafter pay £480 from your current account

this £480 will be allocated against the cash withdrawal

your statement date arrives and the £200 purchases is statemented

you then withdraw a further £480 and make a payment of £480 from your current account

this time £200 is allocated to the statement balance and 280 towards to cash advance

you are therefore paying interest on £200

you then make a further payment of £200 and this is allocated towards the outstanding £200 of the cash advance

Terry_Towelling · 16 May 2019 at 7:42PM

18cc wrote: »

You arrive in Thailand...

you then start spending and accumulate a balance on your card of say £200

you then withdraw £480 at an ATM and soon thereafter pay £480 from your current account

this £480 will be allocated against the cash withdrawal

your statement date arrives and the £200 purchases is statemented

you then withdraw a further £480 and make a payment of £480 from your current account

this time £200 is allocated to the statement balance and 280 towards to cash advance

you are therefore paying interest on £200

you then make a further payment of £200 and this is allocated towards the outstanding £200 of the cash advance

This is true (and nicely set out). That said, OP has stated their intention to pay the cash transactions soon after they appear on the account and to clear the purchase transactions when statemented. So I guess we have to stress the importance of clearing the purchases on the statement before taking out (and paying for) any subsequent cash transactions, or the interest bill will not be minimised.

Halifax Clarity Question

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