Halifax Clarity card cash fees

shazkhan111 · 11 November 2019 at 2:06AM

I want to take out cash on my Halifax Clarity card abroad. I understand there are no fees for doing this, only interest.

My card is currently in credit by £100 - if i take £100 (currency equivalent) will i incur a charge for this?

Thanks

jasdev · 11 November 2019 at 8:16AM

If you take out the equivalent of £100 from an ATM overseas, you will only incur any charges levied by that ATM operator, whilst your Halifax interest will accrue from the day that the withdrawal appears in your account (i.e. not pending) I think.

I'm not sure that your being in credit will matter, because ultimately it is Halifax providing you with the facility to withdraw cash abroad and applying the conversion (dealing with the foreign bank) etc. If this was £100 in cash in your wallet then this would be a different matter!

Neil49 · 11 November 2019 at 11:08AM

Aside from any possible charge imposed by the atm provider then you shouldn't incur any interest charge for the cash withdrawal.

Just be aware that having a credit balance on your account is not in line with the terms and conditions laid down by Halifax.

I can appreciate that this may have occurred due to getting a refund after paying off the balance in full and is not a deliberate action by yourself but Halifax will be aware of what has taken place and may cancel your card.

Hopefully the Clarity card is not your only source of funding while you are overseas should they see fit to block it.

tryin · 13 November 2019 at 2:43PM

I know someone who regularly puts his clarity card in credit to make cash withdrawals (not me!), and he's never had any trouple. He's been doing it for years. Can't imagine a one-off would cause any problems.

It is however always good advice to have more than one card when travelling. Any number of things could cause trouble on a card.

the.weekender · 15 November 2019 at 1:18AM

I have a Haliax Clarity card specifically for overseas holiday use.

So if I withdraw say £500 in Thai money from a Thai ATM it will cost me just added interest on the £500 plus the Thai ATM charge of 200 baht, about £5?

Is there anything in Halifax's T&Cs to stop me transferring from Thailand nearly £500 from my Santander online account into the Clarity account to stop interest building up, and then repeating this procedure if I spend out.

This would save me Santanders charges, but I am not sure if it is worth it.
TIA

knightstyle · 15 November 2019 at 8:13AM

It is very easy to arrange a transfer on a specific date to your Clarity card from your bank. We do this when we go to Europe. Arrange for the transfer to arrive a few days after you travel.

Neil49 · 15 November 2019 at 3:21PM

the.weekender wrote: »

I have a Haliax Clarity card specifically for overseas holiday use.

So if I withdraw say £500 in Thai money from a Thai ATM it will cost me just added interest on the £500 plus the Thai ATM charge of 200 baht, about £5?

Is there anything in Halifax's T&Cs to stop me transferring from Thailand nearly £500 from my Santander online account into the Clarity account to stop interest building up, and then repeating this procedure if I spend out.

This would save me Santanders charges, but I am not sure if it is worth it.
TIA

No, there is absolutely nothing to stop you doing that, and that is what I used to do myself.

However, your final paragraph sums it up. Is it really worth doing that, and I came to the conclusion that it wasn't. For the little interest charge that I was saving I felt that it was better just to sort it out as soon as I got back to the UK and instead just get on and enjoy my holiday.

If you are away for quite a few weeks then you need to pay something off in any case, but for say 2 weeks it isn't worth the hassle.

zagfles · 16 November 2019 at 3:56PM

Be aware that if you have a statemented balance, any payment will always go towards that first, not the unstatemented cash advance.

Also if you have any unstatemented purchases made before the cash withdrawal hits the account, the payment would go towards them.

jaizan · 16 November 2019 at 4:17PM

Paying the 3% charges most banks add on is fine if you are happy for your living costs to go up by a totally avoidable 3% per year. Personally, I don't want to work an extra 3% of my life to pay for this.

Halifax is fine if you transfer the money to pay it off immediately. A Starling bank account has no forex load, although there is a daily withdrawal limit.
Specifically for Thailand, the ATM fees are so high that I prefer to start the holiday with cash. This can be changed at the airport rail station for a loss of ~0.4%, which works out cheaper than paying the ATM fees. Only resort to ATMs after working through that.

jaybeetoo · 21 December 2019 at 12:53AM

jaizan wrote: »

A Starling bank account has no forex load, although there is a daily withdrawal limit.

Are your sure? Monzo and Revolut have a daily limit but I don’t believe Starling does.

Neil49 · 22 December 2019 at 11:41PM

jaybeetoo wrote: »

Are your sure? Monzo and Revolut have a daily limit but I don’t believe Starling does.

Starling has a daily atm withdrawal limit of £300 (which applies in both the UK and abroad)

Halifax Clarity card cash fees

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