Best commission free cards?

broona

broona

broona

Soldato
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We're looking into setting up a new debit card or account to avoid paying any fees when we go to Majorca, does anyone have any recommendations please?

The Mrs has already set up a Chase account, and I was thinking of setting up a backup as well. I've just noticed that my Barclays account has the option of putting money into a Travel Wallet, so I guess that could be an option too? Thanks in advance.
 
Another vote for Clarity. Not sure there is a "best" unless you want to find whatever the lowest APR is?

My Clarity card gets used abroad to avoid any non sterling transaction fees then gets cleared when I get back = job done.
 
The travel wallet works really well, it's not "fee free" as you have to pay the exchange rate they offer to transfer to euros at the point of buying them, but the rate offered when I last tried it was a LOT better than getting cash out and taking it with me.
 
If the insurance options are of use to you the Nationwide Flex Plus account is really good, commission free, mobile insurance, worldwide travel insurance and AA breakdown cover. Its £13 a month but well worth it if you'll use it.
 
Weekday spend and/or cash - Chase
Weekend spend and/or cash - Revolut
Credit Card - Halifax

Do not take out cash on Halifax Clarity.

Do lock-in the exchange rate during the week -> weekend FX has a charge on almost every "fee free" card. Hence the best combo is Chase for weekday as you get 1% cashback on all spend; Revolut for weekends as you can exchange to Euros in your leisure, or Halifax Clarity if you need Credit Card protection/you are skint and next month wages are covering the holiday funds :D

Edit: Looks like the new Barclaycard Rewards Visa may have pipped the Clarity as it allows cash withdrawals with no cash advance.
 
dLockers said:
Weekday spend and/or cash - Chase
Weekend spend and/or cash - Revolut
Credit Card - Halifax

Do not take out cash on Halifax Clarity.

Do lock-in the exchange rate during the week -> weekend FX has a charge on almost every "fee free" card. Hence the best combo is Chase for weekday as you get 1% cashback on all spend; Revolut for weekends as you can exchange to Euros in your leisure, or Halifax Clarity if you need Credit Card protection/you are skint and next month wages are covering the holiday funds :D

Edit: Looks like the new Barclaycard Rewards Visa may have pipped the Clarity as it allows cash withdrawals with no cash advance.
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Is it that bad taking cash out on the clarity card? I’ve done it quite a few times, and will be doing so again in November in Morocco. I pay it off after my holiday so it’s only ever maximum of 15 days or so. MSE suggests it’s 5p per day per £100.
 
dLockers said:
Weekday spend and/or cash - Chase
Weekend spend and/or cash - Revolut
Credit Card - Halifax

Do not take out cash on Halifax Clarity.

Do lock-in the exchange rate during the week -> weekend FX has a charge on almost every "fee free" card. Hence the best combo is Chase for weekday as you get 1% cashback on all spend; Revolut for weekends as you can exchange to Euros in your leisure, or Halifax Clarity if you need Credit Card protection/you are skint and next month wages are covering the holiday funds :D

Edit: Looks like the new Barclaycard Rewards Visa may have pipped the Clarity as it allows cash withdrawals with no cash advance.
Click to expand...
Is it that bad taking cash out on the clarity card? I’ve done it quite a few times, and will be doing so again in November in Morocco. I pay it off after my holiday so it’s only ever maximum of 15 days or so. MSE suggests it’s 5p per day per £100.
I’ve never really studied the bill too much tbh. And most places have been very card heavy rather than needing cash.
 
Do not take money out on The Clarity card, it’s a credit card and you will start paying interest on the withdrawal from the day it comes out. Making any savings on commission disappear. Paying with it is fine and always select local currency if given the choice, never select the £ value if you are offered it. The £ value is the conversion done by the retailer then, which is a much worse rate, probably as bad as you can get. Pay with local currency, you are getting the rate set by Mastercard which will be the lowest possible.

For withdrawal, you get a Revolut, (and i am sure there are others) transfer money from your current account over and take money out that way.
 
You could always transfer to a Clarity card too AFAIK, the main thing (IIRC) is you're not supposed to put it into credit, not sure whether you'd get charged for 1 day of interest if you withdrew and funded on the same day or not but given there is no additional foreign cash withdraw fee for this and they just charge you the master card rate (which is pretty reasonable) that's still going to beat almost all other cards regardless aside from perhaps Revolut.

A regular Revolut card has a cap on how much you can exchange in a given month before you start getting a fee applied on top of the spread (they do have other cards/accounts on offer without that limit) also they charge an additional fee on weekends too.

Perhaps best to have both tbh...
 
Yea I think dowie is right. Just transfer over the amount to the Halifax card the day you take the cash out and you should be fine. Though I reckon even with a week or two interest you’ll still be better off than buying cash from a bureau de change.

Revoult only allows up to £200 cash withdrawal for free which is the same as Monzo who allow up to £200. We have three Monzo accounts between us which should probably be enough for a week.
 
I use either my Clarity card or my Starling account when abroad.
Clarity for card payments and Starling for ATM withdrawals.
 
Some slightly overly cautious advice about not taking cash out with your clarity card. This is perfectly fine, but just make sure you settle the balance on the account the following day to avoid interest charges building up, as it could well be just under 2 months until you next settle your credit card bill.
 
Clarity for bigger spending. Chase for smaller and cash out. Always pay in local currency. Clear the Clarity before interest goes on.
 
Semple said:
Some slightly overly cautious advice about not taking cash out with your clarity card. This is perfectly fine, but just make sure you settle the balance on the account the following day to avoid interest charges building up, as it could well be just under 2 months until you next settle your credit card bill.
Click to expand...
Op literally asked for advice "to avoid paying any fees"
There for not using the Clarity card for cash at ATMs seems sound advice.

You could just use a Starling account and use for both card payments and cash and pay no fees at all not a penny. You can even preload it with euros if you want of say the conversion rate is better before heading abroad.
 
Have had a clarity for years. I've used to it withdraw money from the wall. I always transfer the money back from my debit account immediately after, and don't believe I have ever paid interest.
 
Ahleckz said:
Is it that bad taking cash out on the clarity card? I’ve done it quite a few times, and will be doing so again in November in Morocco. I pay it off after my holiday so it’s only ever maximum of 15 days or so. MSE suggests it’s 5p per day per £100.
I’ve never really studied the bill too much tbh. And most places have been very card heavy rather than needing cash.
Click to expand...
It's not that bad but it's a pointless thing to do if you don't need to. MSE get a bit kick back from Halifax. Any other fees from any other provider are scolded, except the clarity where it gets some polite write up about only costing 5p per 100 quid.

Now personally I prefer to pay no money but clearly some folk on here have cash to volunteer to financial institutions.
 
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