HALIFAX CLARITY Charges abroad
cathylenahan
Posts: 1 Newbie
in Credit cards
we notice that when we withdraw money abroad, we are given 2 options- be charged in Stirling or be charged in Euros, which is best please
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Comments
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Euros. .0
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For the Clarity, Euros as there's no fee for foreign transactions and it'll be converted back to £ at the market rate.
In debt and looking for help? Look here for the MSE Debt Help Guide.
Also, If you need any free and impartial debt advice, the National Debtline, Stepchange, and the CAB can help.0 -
Choosing to be billed in pounds allows the ATM or merchant to make the currency conversion, using adverse rates for their own bebenefi
Always choose the foreign currency so that your card makes the conversion, and you obtain the benefits of using Clarity.Evolution, not revolution0 -
I noticed on their website that they said "interest charges apply".
https://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/clarity-card/
I presume this refers to if you don't pay back your credit card, you'll still incur interest?0 -
And on cash from the transaction date.0
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Yes, unless you pay back your cash withdrawal immediately you will incur interest, but this will usually be cheaper than the exchange charge on a normal card.
Just to also note that when you go to pay back a cash withdrawal immediately, you will need to pay/have paid the previous statement amount in full, otherwise the payment will go towards that instead.
I was in the US last year and went on the app and made credit card payments immediately based on the (pending) transaction amount after withdrawing cash at the ATM, and as a result didn't pay a penny in interest.0 -
It is easy to arrange a payment in advance to your clarity card from your bank. So we arrange a payment to go in about 4 days after we arrive, then withdraw foreign currency in the first couple of days. Any further cash withdrawals we pay off as soon as possible.
This works well for us.0 -
I noticed on their website that they said "interest charges apply".
https://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/clarity-card/
I presume this refers to if you don't pay back your credit card, you'll still incur interest?
Yes. Purchases will incur interest as per usual if you don't pay the statement off in full.
Cash withdrawals - these will incur interest from the date of withdrawal until payment of the balance - again, standard across all cards.
The advantage of the Clarity is that they don't charge fees - other than interest - for cash withdrawals. Even your bog-standard debit card usually charges a fee for foreign cash withdrawals.
If you have access to a secure internet connection whilst abroad, simply withdraw cash then pay it off as soon as it hits your account ( note that this may be a day or 2 after the withdrawal ). But for a typical fortnight-or-whatever holiday, even if you wait until you get home to pay it off, you're looking at the price of a couple of beers in interest ( unless you're withdrawing thousands of pounds ), which is less than you'd normally pay for a debit card withdrawal.
And yes, just to confirm to the OP - always make transactions in the local currency, and let Mastercard do the conversion for you - you'll get a much better rate. That's why some retailers will put the transaction through in GBP - they make a bit on the exchange rate, which is biased in their favour - and hope you don't notice. But the law is that they must allow you to make the transaction in local currency.0
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