What card to use instead of Halifax Clarity?

Southdowners

Southdowners

Free Member
Joined
May 7, 2015
Posts
3,358
Likes collected
25,320
Location
West Sussex
Funster No
36,248
MH
Concorde Charisma
Exp
Since May 2015
I prefer my banking transactions to be with an organisation which doesn’t feel the need to preach to me and exclude me if I don’t wish to conform to their view. They’re a bank not a guardian of my thoughts.

Anyway, I’m going to send my card back to them with a suitable covering letter and need to apply for another card to use whilst travelling. Can anyone recommend one please?
 
Thanks for the input. I'll look into them.
 
A question about Revolut.

I have a Revolut card but I'm struggling to find out if they actually charge to use the card abroad?
 
Southdowners said:
A question about Revolut.

I have a Revolut card but I'm struggling to find out if they actually charge to use the card abroad?
Click to expand...
They dont charge commission etc. You occasionally get a transaction charge if you withdraw cash from an atm but it does tell you first. Its basically a preload card. The thing I really like about it is that you can buy your euros when you choose so most of our current trip has been at €1.20 that I bought in March? You can also put a market order so that when the market reaches your chosen rate it buys.
 
Another vote for Revolut. Change pounds to Euros when rate is good. I also use a Santander card for fuel abroad so Revolut funds do not get ‘held’ for several days.
 
I have Revolut and Starling, both are free to use abroad (except weekend withdrawals from ATMs) and I recommend them both. Starling allows you to have an account in £ and one in € so you can take advantage of favourable exchange rates by moving money across ahead of a trip.
 
I use revolut, I buy currency beforehand at the best rate at the time, currently I have Euros, Pounds and some Scandi countries pre loaded...
 
carolyn said:
Santander zero no longer available, we have one fortunately.
Click to expand...
We have too. We've also got a Nationwide CC and a Metrobank CC - no charges with any of them. We use a Metrobank debit card for cash withdrawals.
with metro bank when we were in France buy something with cc a text arrived a couple of seconds later with how much you spent in pounds.
 
Last edited:
Have a look at Curve, it's a 'storage' account card, by that I mean you store details of your other cards with Curve and then use your Curve card for transactions that way you avoid any charges from the original card providers as the transactions are shown as UK ones. When abroad I use my Curve card with my Tesco credit card and another stored on my Curve account, this means I get Tesco points and no transaction fees ... I think I've explained it correctly! :giggle:
 
Chase is a great account. 1% cashback on all spending. No foreign transaction charges, Mastercard exchange rate. Also 1.5% on their savings accounts. Easy to keep most most of your money in the savings account and move it across to the current account on your phone when needed.

The only down side is there is a short wait for new accounts now as it has been so popular.

Other good travel cards but without the same benefits:

Barclaycard Reward card - 0.25% cashback
Monza
Santander Zero
 
Southdowners said:
A question about Revolut.

I have a Revolut card but I'm struggling to find out if they actually charge to use the card abroad?
Click to expand...
I too have a Revolut card as well as a Starling card and have used both without problem throughout Europe and Turkiye. No charges EXCEPT Revolut make a small commission charge when used between 17.00 hours Friday to midnight on Sunday.
Both cards give a near perfect exchange rate.
 
I use a mixture depending on exchange rates. Wise is a prepay, but you buy Euros (or most other currencies) at the market rate. So I'll be using Euros I bought at 1.18 when we set off in a fe weeks. I'll also got Kuna a few days ago at 8.75. I've a FairFX but dont use it much as their service has gone down hill and have recently got an EasyFX.
 
I have used Caxton fx for several years now and as long as you have transferred sufficient funds into it from your main bank account it’s ideal.
 
carolyn said:
Santander zero no longer available, we have one fortunately.
Click to expand...
PrettyandFluffy said:
I have Revolut and Starling, both are free to use abroad (except weekend withdrawals from ATMs) and I recommend them both. Starling allows you to have an account in £ and one in € so you can take advantage of favourable exchange rates by moving money across ahead of a trip.
Click to expand...
So does the revolut card, we live in france and use it all the time to move money from the UK, found it easier and as cheap as using XE even for large amounts.

We have also used it in the USA, Australia and Morocco with no problem.
 
Another vote for Chase. It’s been a breeze to use so far. No transaction fees at all and 1% cash back on most purchases. The 1.5% interest rate on savings is also very handy and it has full protection of funds up to £85k, as with most banks. Another useful stealth saver is the ability to opt in to round up each purchase automatically and put the difference into a separate pot which pays 5% interest.
 
Widge said:
So does the revolut card, we live in france and use it all the time to move money from the UK, found it easier and as cheap as using XE even for large amounts.

We have also used it in the USA, Australia and Morocco with no problem.
Click to expand...
Not sure why you are quoting my post? I was just letting people know Santander Zero is no longer available.

I also have Revolut, Starling and Monzo. Do you need a list of all the countries I have used them all in?

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Southdowners said:
I prefer my banking transactions to be with an organisation which doesn’t feel the need to preach to me and exclude me if I don’t wish to conform to their view. They’re a bank not a guardian of my thoughts.

Anyway, I’m going to send my card back to them with a suitable covering letter and need to apply for another card to use whilst travelling. Can anyone recommend one please?
Click to expand...
Why have you fallen out with the Halifax?
We have used the clarity card for years.
 
carolyn said:
Not sure why you are quoting my post? I was just letting people know Santander Zero is no longer available.

I also have Revolut, Starling and Monzo. Do you need a list of all the countries I have used them all in?
Click to expand...
Sorry I thought I was quoting the prettyandfluffy post and saying that with Revolut you also can have multiple currencys on the card.
 
Widge said:
Sorry I thought I was quoting the prettyandfluffy post and saying that with Revolut you also can have multiple currencys on the card.
Click to expand...
No probs, I was confused as it didn’t make sense! I’ve now had 2 mugs of strong coffee so I’m less grumpy.
 
Minxy said:
Have a look at Curve, it's a 'storage' account card, by that I mean you store details of your other cards with Curve and then use your Curve card for transactions that way you avoid any charges from the original card providers as the transactions are shown as UK ones. When abroad I use my Curve card with my Tesco credit card and another stored on my Curve account, this means I get Tesco points and no transaction fees ... I think I've explained it correctly! :giggle:
Click to expand...
I too have a Curve card and that’s exactly how it works. You also have the feature of upto 30 days to switch transactions to another stored card. It use to be unlimited but it’s changed and here is the blurb:

Curve will still be free, but we’re introducing limits to the free Curve card:
  • Set 1 Smart Rule
  • Add up to 2 payment cards
  • Go Back in Time 3 times per month
Introducing Curve X
Rather than removing the free tier, we’ve added a high-value, low-cost subscription tier called Curve X, priced at £4.99/month.
  • Add up to 5 payment cards
  • Go Back in Time up to 60 days
  • Go Back in Time as many times as you want
  • Spend without fees abroad up to £2000/month

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Join us

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Back
Top