Travel credit cards

EugeneB wrote: »

I think information about cash withdrawals on Halifax Clarity credit card is wrong/misleading.



I tried that and it appears that you need not only to pay in the amount you withdrawn but all purchases before that. (I guess because APR on both spending and withdrawals are the same then don't have to accept your payment for withdrawals first.)

No - only statemented purchases. Payments always go towards statemented purchases (ie those that were on your last monthly statement or previous ones) before unstatemented purchases (ie those since your last statement date). Credit cards have to work this way if you think about it.

But unstatemented cash advances are paid before unstatemented purchases. As long at it's hit the account, sometimes it takes a day or 2 to hit the account.

The easy way to use the Clarity is to go on holiday, and clear the whole balance when you get back.

The more complicated way is to just clear the previous statement balance plus any cash advances when you get back.

The extreme MSE way is to pay the cash advance while on holiday, having first checked that the withdrawal has hit the account, and at the same time paying off any balance on the previous statement.

For a short holiday, it really isn't worth messing about with the last method, I just clear the cash & previous statement balance when I get back, on my last holiday it cost me about 30p in interest.

robertoegg wrote: »

I want to make a point of recommending Nationwide as well.

My wife and I pay £10 / month for the Nationwde Flexplus to receive ful world travel insurance (with ski cover), 2nd year warranty extension for appliances, breakdown cover, mobile phone cover (including accidental damage).

We also get ATM withdrawals, world-wide, with no fee and no loading.

We both applied for a (free) credit card to sit alongside this account, the Nationwide Select - this gives us both world wide purchases with no fee and no loading.

For £10 / month, this amount of cover and service is exceptional in my opinion.

We both operate personal bank accounts with Halifax, which then pays us both £5 / month.

A simple, free, rule abiding set-up.

Yes the FlexPlus is a good account but as you have Halifax accounts it's well worth getting the Clarity as well, since it gives you a backup, sometimes cards get blocked even if you tell them you're going abroad. Also you get £5 a month on the Clarity as well as long as you meet the bank account paying in criteria.

Presumably that's the Creation Everyday card?

Who did the conversion, Creation or PayPal?

Poor credit but high salary, just got the Creation card at 21.9% with £1000 limit. Good enough for my upcoming trip as we won't spend even a quarter of that and will have savings beforehand to cover it.

I did consider the Revolut card but it's nice to have this available if we need something like car hire.