Clarity CC - How to get limit increased

bd10
bd10 Posts: 347
First Anniversary Name Dropper Combo Breaker First Post
Forumite
edited 17 June 2018 at 6:35PM in Credit cards
Hi all,

I received Halifax's Clarity card just the other day. It came with a £4k limit, and 19% interest rate. I also set up a direct debit for full balance during the application.

The plan is to use the card when travelling abroad not to get screwed on silly exchange rates. Now, a £4k limit is really on the short side if I were to only utilize 25-30%. An £8k limit would be really useful only to use £2-3k (hotel charges always the biggest item and the Clarity will save me a lot of money).

I don't want to ask Halifax right now for a higher limit but am thinking of showing some regular activity: say spending £500 per month (here in UK), always paying off in full with direct debit, hoping Halifax will increase the limit in the next 6-9 months.

Is this a sensible approach? (Mortgage aside, I do not have any unsecured debt, no payment on my previous card ever missed, no CCJ, on electoral roll, good income) Any other suggestions to encourage them to raise my limit or shall I simply ask for an increase next year?

Thanks,

bd

Comments

  • Nebulous2
    Nebulous2 Posts: 5,072
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Forumite
    Don't worry about only using 25-30%.



    Personally I don't see much value in that metric -I think 50% is more important, but it refers to your total balances over your total credit limit- not to a single card.



    It's only going to be important if you've a big application coming up anyway. Credit is there to be used to your advantage. It isn't there to spend your life trying to tweak it, for some ephemeral advantage.
  • Krash420
    Krash420 Posts: 151 Forumite
    Agree with the above, use what you need, when you need it. If you've got 4k limit don't be afraid to use it, as long as you've got direct debit set up and can pay for it every month? You'll be fine.

    You can usually ask them to review the credit limit every 6 months and ask for an increase.

    I usually only use this card when I go abroad, and when I'm here only spend around £1 a month on it just to get one of my direct debits for my account.
  • chattychappy
    chattychappy Posts: 7,302 Forumite
    If I were you, I'd get a Santander Zero card. When travelling, it's best to have backups. Zero works the same way as Clarity - the only significant difference I've found is that on Zero I can only get £300 a day rather than Clarity's £500.

    This way you'll also have a higher combined limit. I've had limit increases on Clarity from time-to-time even during periods of light usage.

    In the past I used to put purchases onto one and pay off in the usual way and use the other for cash, paying off as soon as it hits the account. These days when travelling I generally just use Clarity, and pay off the entire balance (inc purchases) every time I make an ATM withdrawal. I take at least two or three other cards (inc Zero) as backups.

    I don't use DDs. Bear in mind for cash, you want to pay off earlier if possible, though you can still mix DDs/manual payments if you understand how they interact.
  • bd10
    bd10 Posts: 347
    First Anniversary Name Dropper Combo Breaker First Post
    Forumite
    Hi,

    I went through the Clarity's T&C and would minimise the interest costs on cash withdrawals abroad as follows:

    Before going abroad I would ensure the credit card has a zero balance. As I am never abroad for more than 4 weeks.

    Once abroad assume I make daily withdrawals and payments, the largest payment being the hotel at the end of the stay. If I withdraw cash, I would wait till it shows on the card so that I know the actual converted amount into Pounds to avoid accidentally overpaying. Once these cash withdrawals show, I would pay them off in full right away, ignoring any card payments for the time being.

    If I make cash withdrawals just before the statement day, I would not make a payment directly afterwards waiting for the items to show on the statement. Once they show, then I would pay off the cash withdrawals.

    All other overseas payments I would let to be settled with the direct debit month-end.

    Is that the correct strategy?

    Did I understand the T&C correctly?

    B7.3
    "Your direct debit amount will automatically reduce to take account of any payments you make between your statement date and the date 2 clear working days before your direct debit payment is taken from your bank. This date will be shown on your statement."

    B7.4
    "We will reduce the amount you owe in the following order:
    - any overdue amounts from previous statements; then
    - the remaining balance on your statement; then
    - any recent transactions not yet shown on your statement.
    (...)
    "If there is more than one type of balance at the same interest rate, they are paid off in the following order: cash transactions, purchases, balance transfers and money transfers, and then default charges (plus any interest or charges incurred as a result of those balances). For each type of balance, your payments will pay off the oldest balance (and related fees, charges or insurance) first."

    Thanks
  • chattychappy
    chattychappy Posts: 7,302 Forumite
    Yes, just remember that once a statement has been generated, any payments you make will pay off items on that statement (inc purchases) before any subsequent ATM withdrawals.

    Don't let yourself run out of cash before making the next withdrawal. Keep a buffer.

    Although Clarity is pretty good in my experience, you cannot rely on it working as a credit card would in the UK. Also, you are more likely to lose it/have it stolen when on unfamiliar territory. So take backups - as per my suggestion in my previous post.

    One last thing: always reject "conversion". Choose to be billed in local currency. Do not authorise any transaction where it gives you a GBP amount.
  • Missus_Hyde
    Missus_Hyde Posts: 531
    First Anniversary First Post Photogenic
    Forumite
    Although Clarity is pretty good in my experience, you cannot rely on it working as a credit card would in the UK. Also, you are more likely to lose it/have it stolen when on unfamiliar territory. So take backups - as per my suggestion in my previous post.

    We've got a Clarity, which I obtained primarily for using abroad. We always take back ups ( Creation Everyday and Aqua Reward) and I tend to use the Aqua regularly anyway (as I said in another post, it's jolly useful and has cashback as well).

    This gives us a useful amount of credit to use abroad, should we need it and I periodically bung a small amount on the Clarity and Creation cards, to keep them interested and make sure the DD's are still functioning correctly. :p
    A cunning plan, Baldrick? Whatever it was, it's got to be better than pretending to be mad; after all, who'd notice another mad person around here?.......Edmund Blackadder.
  • pochisoldi
    pochisoldi Posts: 260
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Forumite
    I got a Clarity card some 7 years ago, when you got £5 cashback for spending £300/month (sadly withdrawn September 2016)
    The card was immediately used abroad, and in the UK for the first £300 of purchases each month.
    The limit was increased after 9 months, 27 months and a third time more recently.

    The first two increases were triggered by usage of the card. The third came hot on the heels of a limit increase on another card, which followed the use of a 20 month 0% purchase card with 1% cashback on first £500 which took about 10 months to max out, and then spent the remaining 10 months being used to maximise cashback, before being paid off in full when the 0% ended.

    As far as the actual limit is concerned, there are two rules of thumb:
    Regular Spend: Limit=2*monthly spend (last month's spend plus this month's)
    Irregular spend: The worst case scenario spend for a month.

    The regular spend limit is more important of the two, as the odd irregular spend with an inadequate limit is easily handled by making a payment halfway through the month, or prepaying money upfront. (Note that this will reduce the amount taken by DD)

    I assume that you have another card with some kind of bells and whistles (cashback, 0% on purchases) for your UK spend. I only use the Clarity card for UK purchases when I can take advantage of Halifax's "Cashback Extras".

    PochiSoldi
  • bd10
    bd10 Posts: 347
    First Anniversary Name Dropper Combo Breaker First Post
    Forumite
    Many thanks for your views/suggestions!

    I'll be looking into a back-up card, just in case. This point is valid. Just the other day when we had the VISA outage, that's chaos enough for 1 CC provider. But maybe I will wait just a little before getting the backup. I have two hard searches on Experian this month: (1) Switched banks for current accounts two months back and (2) the credit card application.

    @chattychappy:
    Ah, the DCC-scam! Makes my blood boil these tactics. Hotel in Portugal stuffed me with this method two years back when checking out (adding the fees of my old RBS non-travel cc, I paid at least £150-£200 over the odds on that trip).

    @pochisoldi:
    The Clarity is the only CC I have, even for spending here in UK. (I cancelled my previous RBS cc when switching away.) But will simply use it for larger expenditure items to get section 75 cover. Went through the card types here and other sources but didn't find them particularly interesting. For me it's just not getting ripped off changing currencies.
  • eDicky
    eDicky Posts: 6,547
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Forumite
    bd10 wrote: »
    But maybe I will wait just a little before getting the backup. I have two hard searches on Experian this month: (1) Switched banks for current accounts two months back and (2) the credit card application.
    For a backup card involving no credit search consider the Loot prepaid account and MasterCard. No credit limit (on your own money), the same exchange rate as Clarity and without fees except £1 per ATM withdrawal after the first two free per month.

    https://loot.io/

    You can request a credit limit increase on your Clarity when you've had it for six months, regular use and payment in full after statement will encourage a good increase.
    Evolution, not revolution
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 342.5K Banking & Borrowing
  • 249.9K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 234.6K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 607.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 172.8K Life & Family
  • 247.4K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.8K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards