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Even better, make sure the backup card is from a small bank with real people. Or better than that, reverse the roles. If you are going to stick with cards from big evil corporations, then you better have one for each transaction.
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Even better, make sure the backup card is from a small bank with real people. Or better than that, reverse the roles. If you are going to stick with cards from big evil corporations, then you better have one for each transaction.
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I had the reverse happen to me.
I lived in Brazil for a while and specifically didn't take my (then) Norwest credit/debit cards with me. To my surprise I began receiving statements and replacement cards at my address in Brazil after the bank somehow tracked me down in country and decided to automatically update my address.
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Discover card called and sent me email before cancelling my card. They did block the account (blocked, not cancelled) until I called.
Bank of America did the same thing to me also. I called a few days before to let them know that I was going to be in London and Paris. They said there would be a note on my account. But, the first time I tried to get money out, my account was already frozen. Since international calls are pricey, I IMed my husband on our host's computer, and had him call Bank of America. After almost an hour of pleading and explanations, with my slinging information at him over the internet, they finally unfroze my account. Thank goodness my sister was with me, otherwise I would have been stuck at Heathrow!
When traveling, particularly outside the US, it's helpful to have a few hundred dollars in traveler's checks. I get them denominated either in Euro or sterling and I've never had a problem getting them accepted.
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\"as long as they paid a reasonable rate, I was willing to chat with them\"
That's the single funniest line I've ever read on the Consumerist. Well done!
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@SNForrester: hahaha indeed. And it's a great way to point out their crappy business practices to them.
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@katstermonster: I actually almost spit out water when I read that. The original comment, not yours :P
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So if the address they have on file is not the address you're living at, how can you really fault them for sending correspondences to the place you're supposed to be living at? It might be a good idea to updated your creditors with your actual contact information in the even that they need to, you know, contact you. When they can't get a hold of you, why shouldn't they cancel the card?
Damn these big companies for not being able to read people's minds and anticipated their moves without being told (giving a travel alert != living abroad for several months with your old address on file).
@supercereal: Sometimes notifying backfires. If you call Amex and tell them you will be using the card out of the country, they are likely to either erase your credit line or outright cancel you. The mere fact that you are planning a trip makes them nervous and when they are nervous, they cancel the card out from under you. In Amex's case, much better to not say a word.
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I went traveling with my husband last year and called both my bank and amex about my travel plans.
I had used the amex card maybe a couple of times on the cruise ship to book excursions, I have to say I didn't experience any problems.
However for the most part we used cash.
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@supercereal: I told the bank exactly how to reach me, and they had my phone number and email address. I wasn't in one place for the whole time so a forwarding address wasn't viable. Mind reading would have been a nice touch, but short of that, I would have been happy if they tried to get in touch before sending an active card to any address.
@Carey: Fair enough -- I don't think I meant to come off as hard as it probably sounded.
Anyway, it's probably safe to assume that if things aren't changed officially in their book, they're going to forget it. No excuse, though, 'specially given their forewarning of your whereabouts. As far as card mailing goes, for Citi at least, any card they send you can't be activated unless you call from the phone they have on file. The best way to do things in my mind.
Hope it was a fun time, nonetheless!
Chase used to do these \"fraud alerts\" with me. I would charge something (gas, etc.) while in a neighboring state and WHAM, Chase would call my office, my home and my cell until they got me to verify. UGH!
None of the charges were every fraud and I explained that I check my account online several times a week. If there was a fraudulent charge, I would call immediately. Finally, I convinced them to calm down and take the flags off my account
Wonder how much actual fraud these banks catch by stalking good customers who simply are traveling?
@PLATTWORX: I've had fraud warnings on my CITI card a number of times (once was really fraud, though). The problem is that they always call your home/office numbers. Well, that's all well and good if it's really fraud, but if you're traveling internationally, that's not exactly useful.
I've tried calling to tell them I'm going somewhere, but they always claim they can't do anything with that information.
The one time they caught actual fraud, it was 2 weeks after i returned from an overseas trip.
I lived in Germany for a year in college, and my local credit union locked out my card three months into my stay. I was traveling, only had that debit card with me (big mistake in retrospect), and wasn't able to get it sorted out until I got back to my dorm. The credit union had been notified of my travel plans, and must have noticed that there were withdrawals happening in Germany for the few months prior, but somehow took that long to lock it out.
I learned my lesson, and am much more careful now.
My experience with HSBC was when their website took my payment out of an old, deleted account that their system was no longer support to have. Triggered an overdraft fee from my credit union.
I called HSBC and (after asking for a supervisor, which I suspect is code for \"transfer me to an American CSR\") she checked and saw that I always paid from the same account, and that the other account wasn't even listed anymore. I asked for and received a credit in the amount of the overdraft fee.
HSBC: Caused the problem, but in the end the solution was acceptable.
Then I went down to my Credit Union to deposit cash to cover the charge. I explained the situation, and they informed me that the charge was covered, as long as I deposited the money within 2 weeks (nice!) and since it was my first ever over-draft, they were going to credit it back to me (BONUS - they OFFERED, I didn't ask!).
HSBC was OK, but really, what I learned was that my Credit Union is AWESOME.
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Has anyone found that a location/country would be more likely to trigger these fraud investigations than another? Does it seem to be just because the transaction originated in a country other than the billing address country?
Thanks for everyone's comments. I don't travel out of the country but every 5-7 years and had never given the chances of this sort of problem a thought. You have enlightened me!
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@scarletcat: It probably depends on the company, and may be more than just the country. I'm out of the country once or twice every year (always notifying them first), and the only time they raised their electronic eyebrows (but didn't freeze the account, thank God) was when I flew from San Jose to Cabo San Lucas via LA, and -- horrors -- used the card in all three places in the same day!
HSBC did this to me when I tried to use my card in Japan. When it was declined, I tried to login to my account and that had also been deactivated.
Ended up having to talk to the fraud department and verify stuff like my last statement amount.
I learned very quickly to never use that card overseas.
The world's local bank is brain dead.
@LastError: I HATE it when they ask me for my current balance after they've locked me out of my account. If you can't let me check it, why do you somehow think I've memorized it? I think the amount was $457.30 or something and they wouldn't accept \"around $450?\"
I went to Japan in January. I carried three cards. A debit card from a local bank, and a debit and credit card from a credit union. I told both that I was going to Japan well in advance and even followed up just before leaving to be sure. You'd have to be really dumb to mess that up. They told me all would work as advertised. And it did, mostly. When I tried using the CU debit card as credit, it didn't work. For some reason, there was some word in \"I'm going to Japan\" they didn't quite get.
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Lord knows I hate to defend any credit card company these days and yes I have been drinking....
I actually have new respect for HSBC these days. 8 years ago after our bankruptcy (no I don't need to hear your comments on THAT) when NO ONE would touch us, HSBC was the first to give us a shot at a new life. The interest rate was high yes, and the credit limit low but under the circumstances it SHOULD have been. Over the years, as we've proven we can handle our finances they've given us generous limit increases and decreases the APR. In fact, last month we got a letter from them thanking us for our continued business and not only DOUBLING our limit but CUTTING our APR by 8%! We are now paying 6% where we started at 21%. And no, it's not a promo rate.
On the other hand, Chase, with whom we have an auto loan at 5% for 2 years now refused to lower our ratejacked WaMu card from 31.99% because GASP we have an 8 year old bankruptcy!!! Uh.....didn't they figure that out when they approved our auto loan??? This is why we haven't used that card and never will again and why we just turned in the paperwork to the credit union to transfer our auto loan to them for 5.25%. It's well worth the extra 1/4% to me.
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Whenever I travel internationally, I call my 3 credit cards and have them put notes in my account about my trip and the dates. One of them is Amex which I feel has, or should have, superior customer service.
I don't use them much at all while traveling, mostly to pay for hotel stays and the occasional meal. I also rotate them, I don't use one exclusively when I travel. One charge to Amex, next one to Chase, next one to RBS, repeat. I've never had any issues with them being flagged, but even if one was, I still have 2 other options.
I suppose all 3 of them could be flagged, but the chances are lower and surely I could convince at least one of them that I am indeed traveling.
I guess the cliff notes of this post is to have a Plan B when you travel internationally, maybe even a Plan C.
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I guess I was fortunate that when I told PNC that I was going to spend a week in England and planned to use my card there, they actually took note of it on my account because I didn't have a single debitcard-related issue on my trip.
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This happened with my Citibank card. I was trying to buy something online, and it came back declined. I logged onto Citibank, and it said my account was frozen due to security risk. I called them up, and they said it was nothing to worry about, one of their merchant databases had been compromised, so they were going to mail me a new card. Um....what if I had been overseas or travelling at that time, and that was my only card? How come no one bothered to notify me my card was going to be cancelled? So my new card took about 7-8 days to arrive...
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About 10 years ago drove from MI to TX and as soon as I charged gas in WI it tripped a possible fraud alert phone call to my home #. I continued to charge gas and motel rooms all vacation long and got the fraud message on my answering machine when I was home. On the one hand it was nice they noticed a change in pattern on the other, if they'd cut me off for taking a road trip, I'd have been hosed. My car broke down along the way. Twice.
Yeah, that's why you call ahead to let them know you will be travelling. I thought that was common knowledge?
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I have had an HSBC account for ... well years! I did a ton of travelling a few years back and phoned and warned them. I was told they would put a 'travelling' flag on my account.
I didn't have any trouble until I was about to leave the US and travel to Australia. I had bought a laptop in the US and the manager that served me apparently was an idiot and had no clue how to do the transaction. He ran the card through and (due to the amount) it required an extra check. Which he tried to override. He did this three times before figuring it out.
When I got to Australia I had an email from my parents (they were receiving my bank mail) and said they thought fraud was on my account. I tried to go to an Australian HSBC account but told that the 'worlds local bank' had different branches in the countries so they couldn't help me. I messaged them online (through their secure 'ebranch' or whatever it was called) and they still wanted me to phone.
I made a quick phone call which was rather silly - I phoned them, confirmed who I was (like I had online) and they just wanted me to confirm what had happened. The three extra transactions were all refused and so there was no problem there. Once that had been done, they were happy.
At no point did they cancel my card (although I think they had put some extra checks in).
Having said that I know someone who used to work for them and a few years ago they were outsourcing all the UK work to India and that was causing problems (phone the UK and chances are you will be speaking to an Indian), but I have never had an issue with it.
Also I was told the 'travelling' flag only lasts for about three months, although I travelled for longer then that and I didn't have any problems. On the few times I had to call (_rare_ times, like when a card expired) I kept reminding them I was travelling and they were fine with it.
Well that's enough. Just remember to call and warn your bank you are travelling, like other people have said!
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I'm about to cancel my Chase account because I tried to send money via the WU website to someone I actually know and it has an automatic block. They called me once I tried to put the order through and said that it would be unblocked. But.. it was never unblocked. I called them and asked them to unblock me for reals this time. It took them 30 minutes of holding to come back and tell me that there is a permanent block and they cannot remove it. I asked them why I should stay with this bank if they won't even let me use my own money how I want to use it, and that it is insulting to assume that every customer is such a flaming retard that they need these sorts of things put in place. They couldn't answer that question.
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The point in the article should be in bold: This is why a backup card is so vital.
Never, EVER travel without a backup card - no matter how much you love your bank.
@GTI2.0: The better lesson should be that we need to fight for better customer service.
I always traveled with a backup card with a different bank, and without fail both my cards were cancelled the moment I used them in Europe, despite always letting the banks know of my travel plans. I used Bank of America and a small local bank. I had issues with both EVERY time.
I ended up figuring out a legal way to \"work the system\" and open up a bank account in Finland, but wouldn't have been able to do that if I hadn't had some very specific circumstances. Wouldn't it be great to be able to use our banks in the US without being assured that we will be stuck in a foreign country with no access to funds?
Why do WE have to be responsible for the banks' asinine policies?
@GTI2.0: As long as you do not forget it. I paid of a significant amount on my credit card when I was going to Europe last year. Verified it was in good standing. Called the bank to let them know I will be using my card in foreign cities for 2 weeks. I did everything I could think of.
Then I forgot the card on my desk at home. :(
@GTI2.0: I suppose one should take the extra step of making sure their credit card is not from the same bank as their debit card.