Credit card for America ?

Just a note on the Halifax Clarity card and cash withdrawals;

Although cash withdrawals are free; you pay daily interest on the amount pulled. The other gotcha is that if you set up a monthly direct debit; it takes the balance from the previous 30 day period, not the 30 day just completed. E.G. Money debited on 6th July will be credited for the balance between the 6th May and 6 June period. That can potentially mean a naughty little interest acruement on those cash wtihdrawals

Third Gotcha; if you wish to make ad-hoc payments to nullify any cash withdrawal interest charges; any money deposited will be credited to whatever the outstanding balance is on the card until that is clear.
 
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darkgen said:
Just a note on the Halifax Clarity card and cash withdrawals;

Although cash withdrawals are free; you pay daily interest on the amount pulled. The other gotcha is that if you set up a monthly direct debit; it takes the balance from the previous 30 day period, not the 30 day just completed. E.G. Money debited on 6th July will be credited for the balance between the 6th May and 6 June period. That can potentially mean a naughty little interest acruement on those cash wtihdrawals

Third Gotcha; if you wish to make ad-hoc payments to nullify any cash withdrawal interest charges; any money deposited will be credited to whatever the outstanding balance is on the card until that is clear.
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Still putting your CC in credit is still the best way to avoid interest charges. That's what I do on my Post Office card too.
 
I was more making the point that setting up a direct debit to pay off the full amount won't actually prevent you paying any interest charges.

Would be good if you could pay off full amount + fixed amount. Could set up a standing charge to pop x amount from your normal bank account I guess.
 
I used my Halifax Clarity both times I was in the states. Just when you withdraw money pay it back ASAP. I paid a total of 0.33p in interest when i withdrew $600 last year.
 
I just applied for a Clarity Card to take to America with me, I've never had a credit card. Am I correct in thinking that I can add funds to the card before I go then it'll effectively work as a debit card with an overdraft the size of my credit limit?
 
Roar87 said:
I just applied for a Clarity Card to take to America with me, I've never had a credit card. Am I correct in thinking that I can add funds to the card before I go then it'll effectively work as a debit card with an overdraft the size of my credit limit?
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This is against the terms and conditions.

It's also unnecessary. Virtually all your spending will be on card at no fee and the small amount of cash you do need will attract a trivial amount of interest.
 
Bennie-Mac said:
Seconded, great card
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Yeah, it is a good card - easy to top up and manage. But I originally intended to use my Travelex Supercard like I did last year, but they decided to cancel the beta just before I went so I had to find an alternative :o

My experience using Revolut was definitely better than the Supercard. I have now got the new Supercard, which I'll test out in September when I go to France.

To be honest, despite both being travel cards and fundamentally the same, they are conceptually different. Revolut is a virtual bank account that you top up via an app, and you can convert currency to lock in a rate, which I did the Wednesday before Brexit(!) :p Then the card just acts as a debit card for that virtual bank account. With Supercard, you just link it to your debit card and it kind of passes through the transactions - no need to top anything up or manage any accounts (other than the account you linked to the Supercard).

I think both have their place and I now can't see myself using one without the other.

Regarding credit cards...I use a Nationwide Select Credit Card. It has no international transaction fees, like the Clarity Card, but does have withdrawal fees. It's good, just not quite as good. Also I believe you must hold a Nationwide current account to be eligible.
 
I use Santander Zero, im not sure if you can still get them but mine ran out recently and they sent me a letter asking if I wanted a new one, so I have a new one now :)

More or less the same as the clarity, no annual fee, 0% on transactions and cash withdrawal abroad.
 
Another vote for the Halifax clarity card. I've used on 10+ holidays and not had a single problem.

I pay for as much as I can on card and withdraw some cash from an ATM out there when I need to.

I tend to always make sure I come home with spare dollars or Euros cash so I have a float next time I go.

The interest I pay on ATM withdrawals is negligible given how much better the exchange rate is.
 
Taking a Clarity card with me to the States this week.

Just to sense check my maths, if I withdraw £1,000 worth of $US dollars at the beginning of my holiday (not going to withdraw such a large amount obviously, just using it as an example), I'll expect to pay about £16.12 in interest if I just wait until my statement date to clear the balance?

(18.95% APR @ 31 days from withdrawal to statement date)

If this is the case I might as well just withdraw a $100 here and there where I need to for tips etc as it'll be much less than £16 and I won't have any withdrawal fees.
 
Mekrel said:
If this is the case I might as well just withdraw a $100 here and there where I need to for tips etc as it'll be much less than £16 and I won't have any withdrawal fees.
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The issue with making multiple small withdrawals is that is most ATM's charge non-customers a $3-5 fee so if you take out $100 at a time it's 3-5% on top.

I very much doubt you'll need much cash though. I haven't withdrawn cash this year, I was given some dollars at Christmas and still have most of it in my wallet!
 
Mekrel said:
Taking a Clarity card with me to the States this week.

Just to sense check my maths, if I withdraw £1,000 worth of $US dollars at the beginning of my holiday (not going to withdraw such a large amount obviously, just using it as an example), I'll expect to pay about £16.12 in interest if I just wait until my statement date to clear the balance?

(18.95% APR @ 31 days from withdrawal to statement date)

If this is the case I might as well just withdraw a $100 here and there where I need to for tips etc as it'll be much less than £16 and I won't have any withdrawal fees.
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Just use it as you would a normal card. Don't withdraw cash from it in bulk, it sort of defeats the point :p
 
EVH said:
Just use it as you would a normal card. Don't withdraw cash from it in bulk, it sort of defeats the point :p
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Well the £1,000 is just an example, obviously it's finding the balance of having enough cash to tip etc and withdrawing enough so the local ATM charge of $3-$5 dollars doesn't make up a considerable amount of the transaction.
 
I swear by my CC, but if you know you'll need a lot of cash the best exchange places are only about 1% behind the clarity card if you can collect before you fly. With the CC interest this is almost certainly going to be cheaper, even before the ATM charges.

Clarity's rate yesterday was 1.332.

The best bureaux will do 1.323 if you can get to them (London usually).

By my estimates, on $1000 cash the CC could cost you about £5-50 more (central estimate=£23.28 assuming $30 in ATM charges and 15 days of interest).

Still, I would stick to the CC as the difference is effectively the cost of the security of not having loads of cash to carry around. :p

Have a search on http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/

P.S. I think you're calculating the interest wrong, it's calculated daily. The effective APR is actually a bit higher, about 20.9%, i.e. 0.052% daily, 0.36% per week, or about 1.59% per month.
 
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