![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1255625-100x100.png\")
I been to central Asia a couple of times and I have to say that there are not many places to use an ATM card.
I been to central Asia a couple of times and I have to say that there are not many places to use an ATM card.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/css/images/default.gif\")
BoA doesn't seem to realize what they did to this person. Depending on the exact situation when the card was locked. This person could have been left without money for food. They could have been denied a hotel room if they were checking in that day or been in hot water if the card stopped working half way through the day.
I had something similar happen when my card was fraud locked while on an unplanned trip for a funeral. The hotel deactivated my room card until we got things fixed with the bank.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-129735-100x100.png\")
@bohemian: BoA apparently detected fraud (I did not see in the previous article where they had simply stopped it because whe was using it in Russia)and to minimize damages to the bank and the customer, put a hold on the account. Lets say for the sake of arguement that there was real fraud on the account, and that BoA did NOT place a hold on the account, the OP would have been complaining that BoA was not protecting her.
I have been on vacation and my credit card company placed a hold on my account. It was a pain in the @$$, but I understand why they did it.
Internatinoal travelers should always have multiple sources to obtain cash, and should never rely on a single ATM card. IN this situation, the OP hadother cards that she could use, and was traveling with her boyfriend who also had access to cash.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1114821-100x100.png\")
@Rachacha: Rachacha, the \"no harm, no foul\" mentality only enables companies to treat us like crap. It is unfortunate that you appear to think that because the OP happened to luck out and have other sources of funding, it's all good.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-86807-100x100.png\")
@Rachacha: I don't get it, if we can't expect one card to work, what's the point of having multiple non-working cards? Oh, right, then you wouldn't get to feel better about yourself by blaming the victim...
@Rachacha: They detected fraud because she was using it in Russia.
Aaaand, she called to tell them she would be using it in Russia.
This was unacceptable on BofA's part.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-664105-100x100.png\")
@Rachacha: My understanding is that htye flagged it as fraud simply because it was being used in Russia, after the OP informed the bank of her travel plans.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-342383-100x100.png\")
Just a note on the headline-- the new card was sent to me at home in NYC, not to Siberia.
I would highly recommend vacationing to Russia though, I had a great time :)
I was there a few times before 1989 and after and I must admit I had more fun before the fall of communism when the Dollar was king. Also having friends and family change money for you was better because if you did it officially they would give you sequentially numbered bills which made it easier for them to track your purchases (and you).
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-552772-100x100.png\")
Do they even have ATMs in Siberia?
If I were designing bank of america's olap I'd sure as hell have it freeze an account immediately (no siberian pun intended) if someone started using it in bumf*ck russia. Even with the call, it screams fraud.
OP seems reasonable using a BOA visa check card at ATMs in Russia, no telling how many of those are skimmed...ever hear of a traveler's check? Who hikes across Russia (or visits Russia in general)? This chick could've caused an international incident...no wait...she did.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-6173-100x100.png\")
@nstonep: Russia's an awesome place to visit. I feel sad for you that you haven't been, and have no interest in going. St. Petersburg, in particular, is one of the world's great cities, and especially nice during the White Nights. Moscow's a little more industrial, but Red Square is not to be missed, and out in the countryside in the western part of the country are tiny little towns with tiny little historic churches and houses. Moscow and St. Pete are both home to absolutely spectacular art museums that anyone with even a little interest in art should really go see if they ever get the chance. And the architecture! (And the history! And the people! And the handcrafts! And the literature & literary tourism!)
I haven't been to Siberia, but who with the travel bug DOESN'T at least sort-of want to visit those terribly remote places like the Mongolian steppes and Siberia and the Amazon jungle? I suspect I personally am a little too fond of bathrooms (I know they have plenty of bathrooms in Siberia) to go a lot of those places, but there's a romance in the remote.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-178471-100x100.png\")
@nstonep: You must not travel often.
I have friends who travel all of the map, even to those far away scary places. A call ahead of time should be plenty as long as they take the time to verify that the caller is the owner of the account.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-98237-100x100.png\")
@nstonep: Idiot! She CALLED them, just like you're supposed to do, to let them know where she was going to be. I'm glad you don't work on MY database.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-132151-100x100.png\")
Hey hey now name calling isn't necessary. He acknowledged that she called (\"Even with the call, it screams fraud.\", he just apparently thinks that isn't good enough.
@nstonep:
FYI-
The card is set up to use internationally. Calling from a telephone number associated with your card and verifying your identity through CSR questions is more than reasonable and actually quite typical for international travelers. I've done this many times with no interruptions. Really, what else could she have done?
@TinkishDelight: I'm sorry, you may want to read nstonep's comment again, because he is being an idiot.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-345859-100x100.png\")
@nstonep: Yeah! If she just stayed in the good ol' US of A, she'd never have the problem of credit card skimmers or fraud! Oh wait...
I'd agree with Amazon being a little too impersonal. If there gonna go the gift certificate route then perhaps a 100 gift certificate to a local Siberian Grocery Store would have been better. A travelers check seems like it would have been a bit more appropriate.
Well, she was in Russia. Couldn't she have visited the data mines there and gotten her PIN from them? I'm sure they had it before BofA even mailed it. ;)
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-121828-100x100.png\")
@GitEmSteveDave:WalkinOnSunshine:
I have a picture in my head now, a group of miners coming up in the elevator at the end of a long day, covered in bits -- those 0s are hard to clean off, they get caught on everything . . .
Her original card shouldn't have been canceled in the first place. If BofA wanted to be fair, they need to change their business practices.
I also have BofA and have had an experience with my card being temporary inactive. I made a purchase in one twon then drove 20 minutes to anoter town where I met my wife at the gas station. I used my card to fill up my gas tank and then I used it again to fil up her gas tank. Ten minutes later I got a call from Bof a fraud department letting me know that my card had been flagged and thatI need to call them. Since I was driving I was unable to call right away. A couple of minutes later I received a text message saying the same thing (this was a free text message too). When I got home I found out that htere was a message on my home phone and I had received an email notice as well. I called them back and had everything resolved in less than 5 minutes. I teally appreciated the attentativeness that they had toward my account and my finances.
If the OP had set up these alerts I do not think that it would have been the problem that it was. There are so many different options to getting alerts from BofA.
@billlnv: The problem is that she called to let them know she'd be out of the country, so they shouldn't have frozen her account to begin with.
@billlnv: I totally agree that this offers some piece of mind about your own finances, but they're not doing this out of kindness. If you have fraudulent charges on your account, it's their responsibility to cover them so they're out the cash if they can't reverse the charges with the merchant for whatever reason. It's definitely a mutual benefit for them to be on their toes, but this business of fraud locking a card almost immediately is to cover their own behind, not yours.
\"I will probably open an account at a more globally-oriented bank like Citibank or HSBC the next time I travel abroad.\"
Just fyi, Citibank has TWICE cut off my card while I was traveling in remote areas (even though I told them of my travel plans well in advance of leaving).
The second time, back in 2005, I had a completely ridiculous experience where they wouldn't turn the card back on even though I asked them to via the secure email function of their customer website. They said that even though I was logged into the website and communicating with them, they wouldn't turn it back on until I called on the phone, as if that is somehow more secure.
Finally, after several ALL CAPS messages sent over a couple days, they turned it back on...but never notified me: I found out when I finally got through to them on a phone and the CSR had no idea what I was talking about.
This was such a frustrating experience, I still get mad about it when I recall it.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-956761-100x100.png\")
I also work for a financial institution (not BofA thankfully), but we do not send out PINs in the same letter with an ATM/Checkcard.
To mitigate risk, if a letter containing card *AND* PIN were to be intercepted, imagine the headache of seeing an account cleaned out from PIN-based transactions. The liability for PIN-based transactions are not the same compared to credit-based transactions.
I am amazed though that BofA couldn't match the PIN on the old card to the new card that was sent out.
I just don't understand why CONTACTING THE BANK BEFORE YOU GO ON A TRIP and ALERTING THEM ABOUT SAID TRAVEL is not enough to keep cards from being unexpectedly canceled under the suspicion of fraud. Why isn't this system up to par??
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-590531-100x100.png\")
@TinkishDelight: \"Hey hey now name calling isn't necessary.\"
Of course, I imagine the residents of Irkutsk don't appreciate being known as living in \"bumf*ck russia\" either. Perhaps speedwell figured one insulting pejorative deserved another (milder) one.
@MauriceCallidice: Nah, Speedwell called me a name once because I disagreed with something, so I think that's just how she rolls.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-945163-100x100.png\")
Ooh, a whole $100. That'll make up for the inconvenience. Cheapskate bastards!
I had something similar happen to me with US Bank....asked them for a new debit card a week before I left for Australia. They confirmed they would have it for me at the local branch before then. It never showed up. They said they couldn't forward it to my hotel in Oz so I said just send it to my home so my roommates can forward it to me. A week later in Oz I call my roommates and the card isn't there. I call the bank and they say they've had the card for days. I throw a fit and they agree to send me a card to my hotel in Oz. A few days later I have my card and go to the ATM because I'm completely out of money now. My pin number doesn't work so I call US Bank again and they say my pin number is being mailed to my home and that they can't get me a new pin in Oz. I tell them the entire story and I asked them if they are prepared to tell me now after all we've been through that they won't let me withdraw any money. They said sorry. Closed my account as soon as I got home. Fuck em.
I recommend starting an account with a local Credit Union. I've forgot to notify them of my travel plans before and they still didn't cut me off.
Good for BoA for at least attempting to make up for their mistakes, but that was a pretty weak effort.
Suppose you were on visiting another country like Shannon was. How much money would I have to offer you (you get paid after you return), for you to agree to go without access to your bank account during this trip?
For most people, that's a major headache and a trip-ruining inconvenience, and possibly enough of an issue that you'd have to resort to begging for money in order to pay for food and shelter. I would estimate the average person would accept something between $500 and $1000 for this kind of trouble.
Shannon was very lucky that her boyfriend had access to his Citibank account and that the problem was minimized.
And actually, BoA is lucky too. The TV media would be excited to pick up the news story of the poor girl stranded in Siberia, forced to beg in order to survive, and it's all the fault of Bank of America.
The OP did everything BofA tells you to do so she could have a hassle-free trip to Russia, and BofA still screwed it up.
The only right thing for BofA to do was to turn her original card back on so she could continue to use it while on her trip. But apparently their policies or their back-office systems or something are so messed up, they can't do that.
Barring that, the Amazon gift card isn't really quite enough. How about offering to reimburse her for extra expenses and inconveniences necessitated by their failure? Say, $10 a day, or more if she can provide receipts? Plus, say, $25 for every time she tried to get them to straighten it out and they failed to do so?
I quit using BofA over twenty years ago when, despite repeated attempts over almost a year, they couldn't manage to deliver me a set of blank checks.
Wells Fargo is no better, really. I tried to get copies of some year-old statements on my account, which is associated with my name and SSN. These statements were supposed to be available online, but weren't. I wasted an hour at the local branch while they failed to retrieve them, then called the CSR line. WF dinged the account twice for $150 fees to retrieve the statements, which they'd told me they wouldn't do, and mailed both sets of statements to my parents in Texas.
I'm normally very calm and dignified, but dealing with the Kafka-esque WF CSRs and supervisors around this reduced me to a screaming maniac and engendered the only time I've ever used a four-letter word in a business call. In retrospect, it was really funny the way their reps would contradict themselves in less than a minute. The best was when a supervisor told me there was nobody higher than him to transfer to. I then asked for the name and address of their California registered agent for service of process. \"Why do you need that?\" he asked. \"My lawyer will want that.\" \"Hang on, I'll transfer you to my boss... but I don't want you to think it's because you mentioned a lawyer.\"
Large banks are an infected zit on the face of the American financial system.
I find this interesting because I have used my BoA card over the course of 10 states in 3 days and didn't even get a blip on their radar. My husband has used it in three countries over a one week period, and nothing. None of these uses were at an airport or hotel, and several were random ATM withdrawls spread around the regions. We never called to give them a heads up, they never seemed to care.
The real service problem BofA needs to fix is their issues with locking credit/debit cards used during trips when the account holder has already told BofA about the trip.
This happens to me EVERY time I travel and use my BofA issued credit card. I call before the trip and tell them I'll be traveling. And what happens the first time I use the credit card during my trip? Yep, denied. I call them again, and the card is unblocked. I use the card the 2nd time. Denied. This will go on for the entire duration of the trip.
$100 Amazon gift cards don't solve that problem. Getting a credit card from another bank does, however. Which is exactly what I've done. BofA is not getting a single transaction fee from me on any of my trips any more.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-537475-100x100.png\")
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-257467-100x100.png\")
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-410559-100x100.png\")
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1034061-100x100.png\")
The gift card is what kills this for me.
Oh here's $100. Well, not really, because you can't save it or invest it or do anything else but spend it. And we probably got it at a discount because we buy these in bulk, so it's not like we're out $100. But please do shut up and go away. Thanks for being a BOA victi, errr, customer.
@larrymac: Yeah, $100 (even if it, outlandishly, actually cost BoA $100 to give her the card) is NOWHERE NEAR adequate compensation for screwing up and stranding one of their customers in a remote area of a foreign country without access to her money, especially when you take into consideration that she informed them of the trip ahead of time.
@larrymac: Considering the bonus money that our TARP funds are subsidizing for BoA, they could have advanced their customer funds, sent a limited, temporary debit card,
..in fact, they could have done a couple dozen things, but her last name wasn't Goldman, Sachs, Paulson, etc.
@larrymac:
I agree, a gift card is just a way to pay someone off and appease them, they don't do it out of sympathy. We should take lessons from the United Songwriter.