MSE news: Going abroad? Avoid the blocked card holiday nightmare

wingnut143

I know this is going off topic slightly but I wanted to let people know about this - apologies if there's a similar thread somewhere else. My partner and I had a holiday in Florida in May this year. I bank with Cahoot and told them I was going to be away and they made a note of it. However, in quite a few shops the card kept being refused. However, I think this was due to the chip and pin, rather than the bank refusing the card. Very early on in the trip a kind lady in one shop tried several different ways to get her till to accept the card, and managed to get round it. So in every other shop where the card was getting refused, we were passing this info onto the shop assistant and were getting some very blank looks, as if to say "this sounds dodgy, and I'm not going to try it!". This became a real pain as my partner's debit card was getting refused in every shop/restaurant and we don't have a credit card. I contacted my bank while I was away and they told me to stop using it as a debit card and withdraw money - which I was annoyed about as I would be charged more for this. Luckily we had more than enough cash to cover most of what we wanted to do. A good job, obviously!!

Vampgirl

Interesting article but I wonder how accurate any data like this is (or ever can be)? We have never called card issuers before going abroad and have never had a card stopped whilst we were away. This is using cards from Lloyds & NatWest credit and debit, and also Halifax & Egg credit. I have even used the same card on 3 continents on one day (Egypt, Netherlands & US) without any problems.

The only time we had a card stopped was when we booked flights on ba.com (UK origin transaction) and then a cruise from a US travel agent (US origin transaction) within the space of a hour or so and that was quickly sorted by a call. Maybe we've just been lucky or maybe spending abroad is considered part of our "normal" spending pattern so it doesn't raise any flags

One thing I have noticed though (especially in Egypt) is that if your card doesn't work first time, its always worth trying again a couple of minutes later as the "decline" is often due to the local merchant equipment not making contact with the issuing network properly. If you try again and get a better quality line then it often goes through no problems.

brewerdave

I have a GM Visa card issued by HFC (Which as far as I'm aware) is part of HSBC - I have always phoned them before going on holiday but on the last couple of occasions in Turkey and Madeira the card has been blocked; on the other hand my Natwest Mastercard has never been stopped. In fact, when I phoned Natwest they told me the travel information was not required!!
Interesting about shops etc not wanting to get authorisations by phone.Recently hired a car in the UK from Enterprise - my Visa card was "declined" - when I queried with agent she told me it was Company policy not to phone for authorisation.I wonder how many people have problems with car hire agencies?

colddrake

You don't have to travel to have this problem. When I registered for a conference in the US, Mastercard (John Lewis Partnership card) refused the transaction. When I rang in a panic to find out why (places were limited and I'd been waiting 6 months for the chance to go), a patronising man told me that they'd just protected me from a fraud, the internet was a dangerous place and I shouldn't buy things from unfamiliar overseas websites. Imbecile. Barclaycard were perfectly happy with the transaction. Mastercard has also refused Paypal transactions on the grounds that these are probably fraudulent, even though my account history is peppered with them. They do this in a particularly stupid fashion. Like Amazon, Paypal puts through an initial tiny charge to verify the account is live, followed by the rest of the amount. Apparently when Mastercard sees the initial Paypal charge, it automatically(!) refuses the next transaction. Which in my case by sheer chance was me shopping at Waitrose, not Paypal.

bobcoates

I've lost count how many times I've had cards blocked or nearly blocked. But it's always been when at home, never abroad... yet!
My latest was yesterday. LTSB. Spent the massive sum of *** 61 pence *** which obviously had all the alarm bells ringing at LTSB.
I'd booked a hotel in the Lake District and used my card as guarantee. The hotel took 61p as a test payment.
Only found out this morning when I used the card again. Declined!

What's more, LTSB won't talk to me over the phone because "I haven't set up a password for my card". Apparantly I should have given them a password when I applied for the card.
Well I've had the card for over 30 years. There was no such concept as passwords on cards in the 1970's when I applied.
I now have to report to the local branch with photo ID to get it all sorted. More likely cut the card up and forget it.

The time before was a month ago when I booked an internal flight in India on the web (different card). I suppose that's a bit more understandable.
Time before that, bought a carpet at a shop 2 miles from home for £150. Next time I used the card, declined! "Unusual spending pattern". True. Carpets aren't an everyday purchase for me.

And I've lost count of the number of calls from card issuers' fraud departments asking me to confirm transactions because of "suspected fraudulent activity" on my account.

There never has been, I've never suffered from any credit card fraud.
I understand the bank's lose a lot to fraud and need to have procedures in place, but for me it's getting beyond a joke.

I've taken to always carrying at least two credit and two debit cards with me, especially abroad, as nipping back from my upcoming Indian holiday to visit my local LTSB branch isn't an option!

Helen_Greatrex

Hi,

I've had several problems with Halifax with regard to this as they have blocked my card a few times while I've been abroad (after both going into a branch and ringing them to notify them).

For example I was travelling in Ghana last year and had notified Halifax where I was going and the exact dates I would be away. The debit card was my only way of getting money in the country (you can't use mastercard or maestro).

When I arrived in Ghana I found my card had been blocked, so I rang Halifax to get it sorted. It took 3 long phone calls at my expense for them to unblock the card (I was promised a refund on the calls but it turns out no mention of this turned up on my account notes). It then took 2 working days for them to restore the card, which was a huge problem considering I arrived on a saturday morning. Then a few weeks later during my stay, my card was recancelled due to suspicious transactions from Ghana! This then took another few expensive calls and days to sort out.

I now have a new visa debit from a different bank and have had no problems.

Best wishes
Helen

sexyboy

bobcoates wrote: »

I've lost count how many times I've had cards blocked or nearly blocked. But it's always been when at home, never abroad... yet!
My latest was yesterday. LTSB. Spent the massive sum of *** 61 pence *** which obviously had all the alarm bells ringing at LTSB.

I was advised by the coop bank that typically fraudsters will do several small transactions to see if the card is valid. mine was blocked when i purchased about 4 sim cards at a penny each a few years ago

Eddi_the_Seahorse

I have a NatWest Mastercard and a Co-Op Visa card. Earlier this year I went to Australia and I informed both providers, in advance, that I was going overseas.

Unfortunately, my Visa card had recently been secretly cloned when it was used to pay for a meal in an Indian restaurant. Whilst I was in Australia it was used for about £2000-worth of fraudulent transactions. These were all internet transactions (not chip & pin), so were not immediately picked up as suspicious. I only discovered the problem when I returned home and saw my Visa statement.

The pattern is as sexyboy describes - a couple of small transactions first (which would not set off any alarm bells), then the big ones once the fraudster is satsified that the real card hasn't been blocked.

To be fair to the Co-Op Bank, their staff could not have been more helpful (or apologetic), and refunded everything the fraudster had spent. But if there is a lesson to be learned from this, it is to make sure you don't let a card out of your sight - even for a moment!

lfc84

i called nationwide in may to inform them i would be going to usa in june. the call centre told me "oh, we dont need to know anymore. we used to, but not anymore". low and behold, card gets blocked by them. i call from the us..."yes, we block cards, if you dont tell us in advance".

this is the second time in recent years they've done this. so i have paid it off and i am going to cancel next week.

i save some money on exchange rates, but end up spending money to get in touch with them. whilst it might not equate, i might as well avoid the hassle that i have had and get the points on my other cards as normal.

Kingwipeout

charlieboycat wrote: »

Anyone any recent experience (good or bad) of using Egg Money abroad?

Egg have an automated system where a computer calls you (pronounces your name phonetically so sometimes sounds funny) and asks you to confirm your transactions by pressing a button on your phone keypad or can connect you to their fraud department if you prefer to speak to a human. This has happened to me several times and works really well. Big thing to make sure is that Egg have your mobile number and not just your home number.
Funny enough I'm sure Lloyds TSB have the same thing but never seem to use it so my debit card has been blocked but never had a problem with my Egg credit cards.