Clarity Credit Card

[champers]

Has anyone used the Clarity credit card; from Halifax Bank; for withdrawing cash Sterling from ATMs? I know no charge is made for withdrawals, but what exchange rate are you currently getting, please? Any information gratefully received.

[CharlieH]

WRONG FORUM

MOVED TO BANKING

[firefox999uk]

Champers, Ive Been using my clarity card here for over 4 years now but i always go into the bank to

make transactions, I never ever use the ATM

The rate you get is the MasterCard rate which is fairly good.

https://www.mastercard.com/global/currencyconversion/

PS...the rate is calculated when the transaction is sorted by MasterCard

not the day you withdraw...this could be 2 to 3 days after your withdrawal.

Hope this helps.

PPS...Just noticed you said cash sterling, i always withdraw cash Thai Baht.

but i would think the same applies.

Have a Nice Day.

[meltingpot2015]

This Mastercard currency conversion tool has been stuck on 20 March since ....around 30 March..when I checked last. Is there any point having a tool that can only check rates that far back?. How come Visa can provide the rate for a transaction done today, when mastercard can only provide this info for a transaction done over three weeks ago. I know Mastercard uses todays rate (at the close of business) as opposed to Visa who uses yesterdays exchange rate (unless the atm pull was done on a weekend..when it uses Fridays Rate)

Also, I have noticed that the exchange rate offered by the Bank (or is it mastercard) at the point (actually I have no way of checking at that point, only soon after making the ATM withdrawal...using the available balance on the online banking app) of withdrawal is always higher at the point of ATM withdrawal. Sometimes the exchange rate over 1 GBP different. For example, 48.67 and 47.33. Soon after the ATM pull it seemed the rate used was 48.67 but when the transaction appeared on the recent transactions the rate used was 47.33. So, if you withdraw 14000THB, this amounts to a whopping 8.17GBP.

Is this an Unofficial Fee??. I used the visa exchange rate tool and the rate for a transaction on 10 April 2015 was 47.96. If I say that the transaction was done on the 11 April (for arguments sake) to get the rate for 10 April 2015, I get 47.39, which is closer to 47.33. Has anyone noticed any similarities/differences between the rates offered by Visa/Mastercard. Same..Same??

Edited April 14, 2015 by meltingpot2015

[Pib]

This Mastercard currency conversion tool has been stuck on 20 March since ....around 30 March..when I checked last. Is there any point having a tool that can only check rates that far back?. How come Visa can provide the rate for a transaction done today, when mastercard can only provide this info for a transaction done over three weeks ago. I know Mastercard uses todays rate (at the close of business) as opposed to Visa who uses yesterdays exchange rate (unless the atm pull was done on a weekend..when it uses Fridays Rate)

Also, I have noticed that the exchange rate offered by the Bank (or is it mastercard) at the point (actually I have no way of checking at that point, only soon after making the ATM withdrawal...using the available balance on the online banking app) of withdrawal is always higher at the point of ATM withdrawal. Sometimes the exchange rate over 1 GBP different. For example, 48.67 and 47.33. Soon after the ATM pull it seemed the rate used was 48.67 but when the transaction appeared on the recent transactions the rate used was 47.33. So, if you withdraw 14000THB, this amounts to a whopping 8.17GBP.

Is this an Unofficial Fee??. I used the visa exchange rate tool and the rate for a transaction on 10 April 2015 was 47.96. If I say that the transaction was done on the 11 April (for arguments sake) to get the rate for 10 April 2015, I get 47.39, which is closer to 47.33. Has anyone noticed any similarities/differences between the rates offered by Visa/Mastercard. Same..Same??

Don't know what card you are talking about, but assuming the GBP stayed pretty stable from the time of your withdrawal to the charge actually posting to your account it sounds like your card may carry a foreign transaction fee of 3% which subtracts from the card-network exchange rate. Blame that fee on your card-issuing bank. The exchange rate you get depends on the "posting" date to your account which is usually same day for a debit card but 1 or 2 business days later for a credit card which means the exchange rate can change between the time you make a withdrawal/purchase and the charge posting to your account. So, what foreign transaction fee(s) does your card carry?

And hopefully you have not been accepting a DCC rate possibly offered by the ATM which will usually be about 3% lower than the card network rate.

[meltingpot2015]

Champers, Ive Been using my clarity card here for over 4 years now but i always go into the bank to

make transactions, I never ever use the ATM

The rate you get is the MasterCard rate which is fairly good.

https://www.mastercard.com/global/currencyconversion/

PS...the rate is calculated when the transaction is sorted by MasterCard

not the day you withdraw...this could be 2 to 3 days after your withdrawal.

Hope this helps.

PPS...Just noticed you said cash sterling, i always withdraw cash Thai Baht.

but i would think the same applies.

Have a Nice Day.

PS...the rate is calculated when the transaction is sorted by MasterCard

not the day you withdraw...this could be 2 to 3 days after your withdrawal.

Not necessarily. I did an ATM withdrawal using Santander Zero Mastercard on Sunday 10 May 2015. The transaction was posted as 10 May 2015, but the rate used was Friday 08 May 2015. Please see related post below:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/821132-3-credit-card-charge/page-2#entry9405056

Edited May 14, 2015 by meltingpot2015

[WhamBam]

Champers, Ive Been using my clarity card here for over 4 years now but i always go into the bank to

make transactions, I never ever use the ATM

The rate you get is the MasterCard rate which is fairly good.

https://www.mastercard.com/global/currencyconversion/

PS...the rate is calculated when the transaction is sorted by MasterCard

not the day you withdraw...this could be 2 to 3 days after your withdrawal.

Hope this helps.

PPS...Just noticed you said cash sterling, i always withdraw cash Thai Baht.

but i would think the same applies.

Have a Nice Day.

I've just noticed this toipic.... maybe because it got a recent reply.

Been using Clarity card myself a few years now too.

At an ATM, yes you pay the ATM fee but no charge from Clarity. Also as it is a Mastercard you have the option of using Mastercard rates at the ATM. The Mastercard rate is better.

The exchange booths tend to be better with no charges from them or from Clarity. And you see on the day what rate you get. Another slight advantage of using an FX booth is the slight delay in the transaction reaching your account. Saves a day or two's interest rates for cash withdrawals.