28° Mastercard Cash Advances while overseas [No more free cash advances from 1/1/14]

[FL360]

Sorry to make you confused _kab_,

When I mean cash advance here I also mean "interest free" cash withdrawals . I use the term cash advance because it is the term used by the T&C of the card. You can say when you put the card to credit and do a cash advance no interest is charged, same thing.... remember sometimes the ATM operator might charge a fee for using their ATM so it might not be totally fee free.

When I mean one card for cash advance and another for purchases the usual case will be my card for taking cash and my partner's card for purchases ...

 

[auriga]

This I don't get. How exactly does this work for you? Aren't the cards linked to the same account so what difference does it make? I am having trouble wrapping my head around this (i'm not too bright this morning)! FWIW I have requested an additional card from Wizard and they still haven't sent it...weeks have passed

Two separate accounts, not a supplementary card!!!

 

[_kab_]

Right! Well I think that all makes sense now ( I think ).

I've requested a limit increase from $5k to $10k(due to the dodgy dollar our hotels alone come to $4k - oopsie!) but the plan is to have plenty of cash loaded on to the card as well....then - for *ahem* emergencies - we'll have the usual fee attracting suspects with us incase we happen to max out the Wiz while away

I hope I have allowed enough time for them to peruse, and approve, my application for increased card limit... otherwise we're stuffed!

I've never put so much effort in to avoiding fees but it's my New Year resolution and, so far, so good.

 

[BrisMat]

Thanks everyone for getting back to me. This is all starting to make a bit more sense now. However, I must admit that I remain confused by these two statements (below). To me they seem to be inconsistent. Am I just misreading something?

BrisMat: I'm not aware of any monthly credit limit, just the card limit that is applied when you receive the card. If you put the card $10,000 into credit, you should be able to draw all of that $10,000, subject of course to daily withdrawal limits.

AS COMPARED TO:

Limits on cash withdrawals in any billing cycle :
The limit for cash withdrawal during a billing cycle is the credit limit. For example, if your credit limit is $3,000, and you put another $10,000 in, you can make purchases for $13,000, however for cash advances you can only take $3,000 during that billing cycle.

If someone could put me out of misery, that would be greatly appreciated!

Really, what I would like to do is load the card up regularly while we're overseas to use it for both interest free purchases and cash advances of up to around $AUD15,000 over the course of a month. If all of that $15,000 is 'loaded' on the card (in regular smaller intervals), is there anything (other than daily withdrawal limits) that could prevent me from using the card (interest free) for all cash advances and purchases over the course of the month?

I have applied and been approved for a card, I am just awaiting for it to arrive so that I can learn of my credit limit.

Apologies, and thanks.
BrisMat.

 

[FL360]

Brismat,

I am not sure whether Baysider has tested his/her point or not but neither did I, however I made the guide based on someone's experience back about a while ago....

may be you can test this for us !

I have a Wizard Mastercard with a credit limit of $1250. Last week I put my card $3000 into credit (for the purpose of withdrawing cash from ATMs fee free).

Last Fri 9/3/07 I withdrew $1000 from ATM - no problems.
Then Mon 12/3/07 I withdrew $1000 from ATM - no problems.
Today Wed 14/3/07 I try to withdraw $1000 from ATM - however, problem occurs now as the ATM says insufficient funds (this is not the case as the account is still in credit by $1469).

I call the service centre and they offer the following explanation:
They say that as my credit limit is only $1250 the system will only allow me to withdraw a maximum $1000 from ATMs per statement. Apparently a monthly statement was sent out on 9/3/07, and as I have already withdrawn $1000 this cycle on 12/3/07, I would have to wait until next month to withdraw the remaining cash. However, I am still able to use the credit for purchases.

If the system is set up like that, doesn't it sound a bit stupid?

 

[BrisMat]

FL360,

Thanks anyway. Sounds like it's up to me. We're off in 6 weeks - I'll be sure to report back the (hopefully, good) news once I test it out. Then I can provide answers instead of questions!

BrisMat.

 

[_kab_]

yikes it's getting weirder by the second:!:

According to their FAQs...

How much cash can I withdraw on my Wizard Clear Advantage MasterCard?
Subject to your available credit, you can withdraw up to $1,000 per day at an ATM and up to $3,000 per day over the counter at a financial institution. Some financial institutions may also limit the amount of cash you can withdraw through their facilities.

That's current as at Dec 08 so I am guessing the quoted poster's experience is a thing of the past. or at least I hope so

 

[mawki]

Seems there are two main points of confusion surrounding:

(1) Using the card for both cash withdrawals and purchases.

If you withdraw cash while you're account is in negative balance (debit), you will be charged interest immediately. As with all credit cards, you only retain ONE balance - NOT one for cash and one for purchases separately.

If you deposit $1,000 onto the card, your balance is $1,000CR (credit / positive). Suppose you make a $1,500 purchase for a hotel, your balance is now $500DR (debit / negative). If you were to now withdraw cash with a negative balance, you'll be charged interest immediately, regardless of the fact you put $1,000 onto the card to begin with. This initial payment was used to pay for the hotel.

However, if you were to withdraw cash BEFORE making the hotel payment, your balance would be $1,000CR at the time of withdrawal and subsequently not subject to any interest charges. This is because your balance is positive (in credit) at the time of the cash withdrawal.

(2) Monthly cash withdrawal limit

The only limits officially mentioned:
Daily - maximum $1,000 from an ATM, or $3,000 if you go into the actual bank and use a teller. If an ATM you use to withdraw the cash is not owned by Wizard, the owner of that ATM might also limit how much you can withdraw from their ATM, but usually this is not a problem. If you do experience a problem withdrawing from an ATM and believe you haven't yet reached the daily limit, try another ATM that's owned by another bank if possible.

There is no mention of a monthly cash withdrawal limit, apart from the experience of one poster - however this may have been a one-off problem not related to limits at all.



The only real concern I have with this card is that Wizard was just sold by GE Money to Aussie Home Loans, I hope this doesn't affect the operation of the card and it's no-fee status.

 

[FL360]

Hi Mawki,

(1) You are correct...

(2) It is a grey area, may be someone with a really low credit limit (like 1k)
can test this for us, I think you can even test it in Australia.

Also I think GE Money still owns the Wizard credit card business, only
the home loan business is being toss around between NAB / Aussis home loans ...

 

[_kab_]

Seems there are two main points of confusion surrounding:

(1) Using the card for both cash withdrawals and purchases.

If you withdraw cash while you're account is in negative balance (debit), you will be charged interest immediately. As with all credit cards, you only retain ONE balance - NOT one for cash and one for purchases separately.

If you deposit $1,000 onto the card, your balance is $1,000CR (credit / positive). Suppose you make a $1,500 purchase for a hotel, your balance is now $500DR (debit / negative). If you were to now withdraw cash with a negative balance, you'll be charged interest immediately, regardless of the fact you put $1,000 onto the card to begin with. This initial payment was used to pay for the hotel.

However, if you were to withdraw cash BEFORE making the hotel payment, your balance would be $1,000CR at the time of withdrawal and subsequently not subject to any interest charges. This is because your balance is positive (in credit) at the time of the cash withdrawal.

I think that's a clear example of how it should work IRL. Problem seems to be not many have done it and can report back with certainty! I, admittedly, have only ever used the Wizard as a credit card (totally without any problems I might add). I had wanted to use it for cash before my last trip however the BPay transfer took longer than my holiday (10 days for ref)! The trick - as has been mentioned - is to use your account # as shown on your bill/statement; a recent test using this method had the money in my account in 3 days.

I'm still waiting to her back from Wizard about my request for an increased limit which would all but eliminate any of the potential probs outlined above. I'm a simple person and I'd really just rather pay everything with credit then, once back home, pay it off in one fell swoop from my savings account!

 

[Baysider]

In other words BrisMat, if you have a $3,000 credit limit and you deposit another $10,000, you now effectively have a $13,000 credit limit, but your card balance is just $10,000 in credit. You can withdraw all of that $10,000 credit balance in cash advances (subject to the daily limits) without paying any interest. Once you go into debit you can withdraw up to $3,000 more (i.e. your original credit limit) but you'll then pay interest on every penny, including the first $10,000 !! You have to add up all of your credit purchases and cash advances when working out your card balance.

 

[FL360]

Baysider,

Are you 100% sure of this ? (regarding no cash withdrawal limit within a billing cycle, only subject to daily / ATM operator limits.)

The last thing we want to happen is people can't take out the cash
but they have expected so ....

In other words BrisMat, if you have a $3,000 credit limit and you deposit another $10,000, you now effectively have a $13,000 credit limit, but your card balance is just $10,000 in credit. You can withdraw all of that $10,000 credit balance in cash advances (subject to the daily limits) without paying any interest. Once you go into debit you can withdraw up to $3,000 more (i.e. your original credit limit) but you'll then pay interest on every penny, including the first $10,000 !! You have to add up all of your credit purchases and cash advances when working out your card balance.

 

[Baysider]

I can only quote from my own experience, and this was 12 months ago. We used the card for all of our cash withdrawals in the USA and Canada on a 40 day visit last Christmas/New Year. Our January statement shows just over $3,100 in cash advances for that billing cycle.

Seems unlikely that a credit card provider would limit cash advances, as if you're in debit and you make a cash withdrawal it nullifies the interest free period and daily interest immediately becomes payable on the total debit balance. I think card providers would want to encourage this to happen !!

 

[FL360]

Baysider,

What was your credit limit at that time ?

From someone's (bits) experience the cash withdrawal limit per billing cycle
is the credit limit,

so for your own experience if your credit limit was more than $3,100 it is still in-conclusive... even if your credit limit was less than $3,100 if the dates of withdrawal spans across two billing cycles it is still in-conclusive...

I can only quote from my own experience, and this was 12 months ago. We used the card for all of our cash withdrawals in the USA and Canada on a 40 day visit last Christmas/New Year. Our January statement shows just over $3,100 in cash advances for that billing cycle.

Seems unlikely that a credit card provider would limit cash advances, as if you're in debit and you make a cash withdrawal it nullifies the interest free period and daily interest immediately becomes payable on the total debit balance. I think card providers would want to encourage this to happen !!

 

[Baysider]

A good point FL360, and as it happens the credit limit was $4,000, so this may well support the theory that the credit limit is also the cash limit per cycle. Perhaps this is the safest assumption to work on until somebody else can show otherwise.

 

[FL360]

Agreed, we all hate being refuse cash withdrawals at an overseas ATM when we needed it the most (of course with good exchange rate and interest free)

 

[BrisMat]

Bugger, we were getting so close to a conclusive answer then! Oh well, thanks for the last few posts everyone - they're still helping to narrow down the uncertanties.

My card turned up yesterday and my credit limit is $6,000. I'll be needing to use between $12k - $15k so I guess that still leaves me as the guinea pig!

BrisMat.

 

[mawki]

I think that's a clear example of how it should work IRL. Problem seems to be not many have done it and can report back with certainty!

That's an example of how it does work, and how it works with all credit cards, not just Clear Advantage. It's all to do with timing, which transaction occurs before the other. The first transaction will come out of your current balance (in the example, $1,000CR), and the second will come out of the balance once the first transaction has been applied (in the example, either $500DR if the hotel was applied first, or whatever the balance is after the cash withdrawal if that was the first transaction).

If the cash withdrawal is performed SECOND (on a negative balance), then the cash withdrawal immediately begins accruing interest charges. Simple.

Also note that if the cash withdrawal is performed FIRST (while the balance is $1,000 in credit), and the amount taken out is over $1,000, then the difference also begins accruing interest charges immediately. For example, taking out $1,200 cash on a $1,000 credit balance, the first $1,000 of the withdrawal is interest-free, however the additional $200 is charged interest until paid off.

 

[mawki]

In other words BrisMat, if you have a $3,000 credit limit and you deposit another $10,000, you now effectively have a $13,000 credit limit, but your card balance is just $10,000 in credit. You can withdraw all of that $10,000 credit balance in cash advances (subject to the daily limits) without paying any interest. Once you go into debit you can withdraw up to $3,000 more (i.e. your original credit limit) but you'll then pay interest on every penny, including the first $10,000 !! You have to add up all of your credit purchases and cash advances when working out your card balance.

No, you're only liable to pay interest on the $3,000 you took out once your card hit zero-balance.

 

[Baysider]

BrisMat, you may find that Wizard (GE Money) would be prepared to give you a temporary credit limit increase for your travels. This is not uncommon. (Just don't tell them that you'll only use it for cash advances).