The Lemon Fool

I have used Clarity for years. Always got a very good Exchange Rate. Never been charged by the ATM because I am careful. Then, paid in cash for everything like meals fares etc thus avoiding any extra charges. Then just let the direct debit clear the amount borrowed when it will. The interest I paid pays for the excellent service the card provides. Its usually just a few quid. The interest rate is going up but it doesnt deter me from doing the same thing.

I'm the OP for this thread. I did get a Clarity card but I'm not using it in Tenerife. Instead I opened a Starling account and draw EUR in cash using that card.

I use the euros in my preloaded Transferwise account to pay for meals out, supermarket shopping, topping up the bus pass etc. by card.

Annoying that the epos machines often ask if you'd like to be ripped off and pay in GBP from the Transferwise account preloaded with euros.

For info: the Deutsche Bank ATMs here in Tenerife don't charge an ATM fee; Caixa Bank for example charges 2 EUR.

Travelling in Europe, I carry a small amount of euros, say 300, in cash and use my Santander Zero credit card for everything else.

To avoid rip-off cash conversions and atm fees, I get my cash from my HSBC euro currency account before I leave. You can easily open a euro (or usd?) account with your bank by transferring cash from your regular account. The exchange rates are excellent but you may have to pre-order your cash if the amounts are high-ish. A few 100 euros should be no problem. I don't recommend just getting cash from HSBC without a currency account as the over the counter rates are not good.

Over the last year, I have used my Santander Zero card for almost everything in Austria and Malaysia without paying fees and got excellent exchange rates. Of course, you must insist on settling in local currency.

Maybe I am just happy in my ignorance.

TP2.

This morning I've received new terms and conditions for my Clarity card, which seem to take away the basis I had for using a useful credit card, but Clarity are not too clear! I used to use it for all transactions while on holiday, including drawing out cash, and then pay off the cash with a rough interest calculation added as soon as I returned to the UK. The rest of my expenditure would then appear on the next statement with no fees for currency exchange, to be paid off as normal.

The new conditions say " A single transaction may attract more than one fee. For example, for a cash withdrawal in a foreign currency we charge a cash transaction fee and a non sterling transaction fee", in a small section with an exclamation mark within section A5 - Fees and Charges.

Elsewhere in A5 is says:
Cash transaction fee (any currency) Amount N/A
Non sterling transaction fee (any non sterling transaction, including cash withdrawals) Amount N/A

Well named that card!

That's better than the weasel word "may" that appears in many T&Cs. I'd much rather they said they charged a fee, and elsewhere that fee is 0, than hint that there might be a fee in some circumstances they don't define.

I checked the ambiguity with Customer services a few minutes ago, and was assured that nothing has changed in terms of use while abroad, ie. no transaction fee or exchange fee.
Pity their literature had no Clarity!

I have found with Halifax that they seem to have one set of generic T&Cs for all cards, which are at odds with specialist cards like Clarity.
(Their advisers don't even realise the key differences so they add to confusion)

Working in a tangentially related field, I know full well how easy it is to do specific (mass) mailings for specific (masses of) people according to simple criteria like what card they have. It's baffling they continue to make life so hard for themselves.