Halifax Clarity Card - Interest Question

Gixer

Gixer

Gixer

Associate
Joined
28 May 2004
Posts
2,349
Location
Southampton
For travelling I applied for a Halifax Clarity card to use abroad. As I do not have a Halifax account I cannot make random payments as and when I like however I have set my Direct Debit to pay the entire amount owed each month. At first this was set to minimum payment however I changed it to full amount half way through 1st month of having the card. It appears for the last two months I have been charged interest. The first interest charge was £9.27, this was after checking my card worked and drawing out £30 whilst in the UK.

It would appear that even though I set to pay the entire amount only £5 was taken and I accrued the £9.27 interest. OK I'll suck that one up as the system only updates once a month. I went to Geneva over Christmas and my balance from that was £824.93 and my payment on Feb 12th was £843.93 however on Feb 18th I've had £9.47 interest added.

I'm confused. I thought with the box ticked to pay the full amount I'd basically incur no interest charges. Am I missing something totally obvious here as to why I'm being charged this? I always thought if you clear your card then there is no interest charge? I've checked my Barclaycard CC statement and sure enough £0 interest every month as I do the same.

Anyone with a Clarity card have anything like this happen? I'll be contacting Halifax tomorrow at some point but as I know a few on here have this card it'd be good to know if I've missed something before I phone and make myself look stupid.
 
Cash attracts interest immediately.

You need to make manual payments to minimise interest. Can't wait for the bill.

This tends to be the case for all credit cards.
 
Last edited:
muon said:
Cash attracts interest immediately.

You need to make manual payments to minimise interest. Can't wait for the bill.

This tends to be the case for all credit cards.
Click to expand...

What about card payments? I assumed full payment (in the UK at least) would never accrue interest if payed off at the end of the month?

Mines set to full payment but sometimes doesn't seem to take it out on time... :X
 
The Craig said:
What about card payments? I assumed full payment (in the UK at least) would never accrue interest if payed off at the end of the month?

Mines set to full payment but sometimes doesn't seem to take it out on time... :X
Click to expand...

Any cash withdrawal anywhere will attract interest immediately. The full payment only goes through after the bill is generated and just before the payment due date. Therefore if you rely on that, there will be interest.

Purchases (which I assume you mean by card payments) have interest applied only after the payment due date. So for that you can rely on the direct debit.
 
Card payments are fine, cash withdrawals always get slapped.
And continually slapped.
Taking cash out anywhere using a credit card, in any country, it generally a very bad idea from the fov of interest.
 
Caged said:
If you use it to withdraw currency then you need to cover that charge ASAP to avoid interest.
Click to expand...

I remember this to be the case when I had the Halifax Clarity card (took it out to use abroad). Had to make sure that a payment went through on the day after to make the interest end up being pennies.

However, I was surprised to just see this isn't the case for all cards, here's what my Barclaycard has. Then again they are trying to encourage you to do something which attracts their ripoff cash and foreign use fees.

examplecc.JPG
 
Gixer said:
For travelling I applied for a Halifax Clarity card to use abroad. As I do not have a Halifax account I cannot make random payments as and when I like however I have set my Direct Debit to pay the entire amount owed each month. At first this was set to minimum payment however I changed it to full amount half way through 1st month of having the card. It appears for the last two months I have been charged interest. The first interest charge was £9.27, this was after checking my card worked and drawing out £30 whilst in the UK.

It would appear that even though I set to pay the entire amount only £5 was taken and I accrued the £9.27 interest. OK I'll suck that one up as the system only updates once a month. I went to Geneva over Christmas and my balance from that was £824.93 and my payment on Feb 12th was £843.93 however on Feb 18th I've had £9.47 interest added.

I'm confused. I thought with the box ticked to pay the full amount I'd basically incur no interest charges. Am I missing something totally obvious here as to why I'm being charged this? I always thought if you clear your card then there is no interest charge? I've checked my Barclaycard CC statement and sure enough £0 interest every month as I do the same.

Anyone with a Clarity card have anything like this happen? I'll be contacting Halifax tomorrow at some point but as I know a few on here have this card it'd be good to know if I've missed something before I phone and make myself look stupid.
Click to expand...


No interest on ourches if you pay in full.

But cadh withdrawls you pay interest from the day you take out the cash till the day you pay it back.
 
Gixer said:
As I do not have a Halifax account I cannot make random payments as and when I like however I have set my Direct Debit to pay the entire amount owed each month.
Click to expand...

You don't need a Halifax account to make ad hoc payments. I have a Halifax Clarity and have my card set up as a payee on my First Direct account and pay off the balance manually as opposed to using a Direct Debit.
 
Ekim said:
You don't need a Halifax account to make ad hoc payments. I have a Halifax Clarity and have my card set up as a payee on my First Direct account and pay off the balance manually as opposed to using a Direct Debit.
Click to expand...

Indeed (scroll down to 'Making Payments').
 
Thanks for all the info. Guess I should have read the small print a little better.. I understand now though. I never use my Barclaycard to withdraw cash. I got the Clarity card to use abroad and to withdraw cash whilst abroad too as I knew there was no charge for doing this. I missed the part where it states there isn't a 0% interest free period on cash withdrawals. I knew It'd be me that had missed something.

Ekim, when did you set up your account for ad hoc payments? Did you setup to pay the clarity card off via card through the Halifax site or your other debit account? All I recall seeing on the Halifax site was setting up a monthly DD. I'll take another look.
 
jon86 said:
Indeed (scroll down to 'Making Payments').
Click to expand...

I missed this option:

From another bank - you will need to provide these details to your bank:
Bank Sort Code 77-29-00
Bank Account no. 00000000
Your payment reference is your 16 digit card number.

So I make the payment from my own online banking system. Again me being dumb. I only read about the Online payment via a Halifax account so assumed I couldn't make payment.

Thanks. Looks like when I'm abroad if I make a cash withdrawal I just have to ensure I pay it off as soon as it shows on my Halifax statement.
 
You would have stopped paying interest as soon as you cleared the balance and I can almost guarantee that interest applied will be correct. I work in a credit card centre and see similar scenarios most days.

Once you start paying interest on a credit card, it will continue to be charged until the day the balance is paid off in full, if you pay by full direct debit this is more than likely somewhere between 10 and 25 days after your statement date. So, if you got your first statement on the 1st Jan and set up a direct debit to clear the balance, that direct debit probably didn't claim till around 20th Jan. You would have still been paying interest until the balance was cleared on 20th Jan.

As interest is only charged on the statement date, the interest charged from 2nd Jan to 20th Jan would not be applied until 1st Feb statement. Therefore you would see interest on a statement even after paying the balance in full. If you continue to clear the balance in full, you won't attract any more interest and won't see any more of statememt. The caveat being cash transactions on most cards.
 
Can't remember when I set it up. I set it up on the First Direct site. Think I have set up on my Santander account too.

Who ever you bank with will probably already have all of the details you need if you set up a new payee.
 
As others have stated a cash advance attracts interest immediately.

I have the same card for travel on the basis that it still works out significantly better value than using the tourist exchange rate as the interest is only around £1 per £100 if paid off in full each month.
 
I agree Abyss. I'll still use the card for cash withdrawals. It is less hassle and means I don't need to carry vast amounts of money around. I'm off to Borneo again soon and when off out in the sticks there is no safe facility so being able to just draw out money when required once back in the city is a big plus.

With the info you've given I'll be able to limit the interest charge.
 
Gixer said:
I missed this option:

From another bank - you will need to provide these details to your bank:
Bank Sort Code 77-29-00
Bank Account no. 00000000
Your payment reference is your 16 digit card number.

So I make the payment from my own online banking system. Again me being dumb. I only read about the Online payment via a Halifax account so assumed I couldn't make payment.

Thanks. Looks like when I'm abroad if I make a cash withdrawal I just have to ensure I pay it off as soon as it shows on my Halifax statement.
Click to expand...

Oooohhhh that's good for my holiday tomorrow! Thanks
 
You must have been withdrawing a heck of a lot of cash to incur that level of interest charges - just use cash more sparingly and pay for everything using the card itself.
 
I have learned that too Fox yes. However first evening in Geneva I popped into the local Lidl to stock up on breakfast supplies and they only accepted Maestro! I thought that was a little strange. Had I realised I would incur interest on the cash withdrawal I would have not drawn out cash as readily as I did. After the Lidl experience, and how much g/f and I were walking around and popping into smaller cafes etc, we didn't want to get caught out not being able to use MasterCard or Visa again.
 
How do people normally pay off their cash withdrawals on a Clarity card accurately?

What I mean is, say you withdraw $100, and wish to pay that off that day. You could "guess" that day's MasterCard rate and pay off say £71, but if the rate dips and the $100 actually worked out as £71.50, you'll then presumably continue to accrue (very small) interest on that £0.50, right?

Alternatively, I suppose you could wait for it to show on your statement (do cash withdrawals show up quicker than purchases?) and then pay it off when it does, effectively stopping the interest from that point forwards and just accepting you'll pay interest between the point of withdrawal and the point you paid it off?

Love my Clarity card, makes holidays SO much less stressful from a financial perspective, but never used it for cash withdrawals before...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom