MSE News: Going on holiday? Avoid the blocked card nightmare

stephjenks

I contact RBS when I booked my holiday to Morrocco and they told me I didn't need to advise them. I withdrew £200 successfully on the 2nd day of my holiday from the cash machine in my hotel, but when I wanted to withdraw a further £100 on day 4 I discovered they had blocked my card. To say I was furious was an understatement

deejbee

Is missing from the list. They block your card too. Then, in my situation, after telling them to unblock it for 2 weeks, block it again after 1 week. Then, after the 2 weeks is up and I've returned home, they failed to block it again and I had £1500 taken from my card in small amounts.

I mean, if you're going to c**k something up, they certainly are specialists. :T Well done Smile.

nedsram_2

Chester85 wrote: »

The article needs to state, there is no point in calling Nationwide at all

Nationwide themselves say don't call them and when you do (I mentioned it last year when actiivating a new card) they won't do anything

They do not make or hold notes on account due to the nature of the card and many users extensive use so you are wasting a phone call

It will maintain standard security (i.e if you spend way over normal amount then above what is considerd a holiday spend) checks but no more

We recently holidayed in the Czech republic and Poland. No problems with our Nationwide cards as such, but one major bank in Poland was declining my debit card. I checked with Nationwide and it wasn't at their end, so it must be that Nationwide debit cards are not on that bank's list of valid cards. I had a nightmare in Germany some years ago for precisely the same reason. I was forced to drive 25 miles to withdraw cash. :mad:

And a scam. When on holiday in Spain recently, every ATM I used was asking me if I would accept a charge for using the card. The implication was that if I refused, the transaction would be declined. In each case I didn't get the benefit of Nationwide's zero loading. I now believe that if I had said "no" I would have still got the money, and benefited from Nationwide's zero loading. Can anybody confirm this or otherwise please?

Smint100

Tesco blocked my credit card on holiday in France, but a quick call soon unblocked it

Not too unhappy about it as I'd previously had my purse stolen in France, and it gave my husband a chance to laught at me

Priceless (for him!)

Eddie_Fish

I can certainly confirm that telling Nat West in advance guarantees nothing.

Before a trip to Argentina earlier this year I had alerted my credit card companies that I would, possibly, be using my credit card there between specified dates. In the event I experienced no problems. During the trip I needed to use a Nat West debit card to obtain currency from an ATM. I telephoned my branch from Patagonia and was assured that there would be no difficulty in using the card and, indeed, my first attempt to use it was successful. However, all subsequent attempts were unsuccessful. Eventually I telephoned the international number on the back of the card and succeeded in getting the card unblocked. The call cost me £45.50.

On return I asked Nat West to reimburse me the costs of the call which, to be fair, they did without demur. I had provided a copy of my mobile phone bill as evidence. In discussion with the bank it became clear that the main stumbling block from their perspective (apart from having given me inaccurate advice) was that they did not have my mobile phone number on their records. Had they done so, they would, they said, have contacted me to verify that the transaction was legitimate. In further discussion with Nat West they went on to tell me that even if, in future, I alerted them to the use of the debit card overseas they could not guarantee that it would not be blocked. I attempted to elicit what criteria would be used to decide whether to block or not but they could not tell me since the "protocols" governing such decisions changed daily. However, now that they had my mobile phone number they would initiate a call to seek verification. If the card was blocked at the first attempt, I would be reimbursed any costs if I had to initiate the phone call.

All this was in complete contrast to the Nationwide Building Society who did not want to be told of my overseas trip and whose debit card we used without any difficulty. They had, however, been told about the overseas use of the credit card.

Goldenclogg

I had a disaster start to a holiday in Thailand thanks to RBofSc and Halifax. My partner and I both warned our backs with dates of travel and both our cards got blocked from the start. It took 2 and 3 days to get them active and £70 in mobile charges which added to our holiday budget. My wife had several conversations and explained she was on her own with no money at one point and was told, "Sorry we cannot help!". These banks are an utter disgrace but we do not have a choice of banking...yet.

jtk_2

I've always phoned American Express, HSBC, Santander and MBNA and never had any problem. Whenever I call them, they always ask when we're going and when we're coming back, so for the sake of a phone call, I'd recommend letting them know. If nothing else you've got something to beat them over the head with if you do have a problem.

digital

Doshwaster wrote: »

I have a Nationwide account which I *only* use for foreign travel. Before leaving I will transfer in my expected spending money (and can always top it up with Internet banking as HSBC to Nationwide transfers are now instant). Not only do you get cheaper withdraws but another advantage is that if the card ever gets cloned then the miscreants won't have access to your main current account.

This is exactly what we do.

However, despite emailing Nationwide (they get the emails whether they want/like them or not, along with second emails when I get the statutory unhelpful first responses) to tell them the dates we would be using our Flexaccount and Gold credit cards in Alaska and Canada, the debit card was blocked immediately we reached Canada despite us having used it for over a week as we travelled down the coast of Alaska.

We texted our daughter back in the UK to ask her to contact Nationwide to explain what had happened but Nationwide could only suggest that we tried to withdraw cash from a counter in a bank. It was a Sunday!

Nationwide told us later that their debit cards are automatically blocked in Canada! Pity that that isn't on their website and in their emails after you've notified them.

If it wasn't so cheap to use their cards we would have cut them up immediately. As it is, the credit card has now been replaced by a Santander Zero card. Nationwide's loss.

MKB

Is anyone else having as much trouble as me dealing with Santander? Every time I have to call them, it's an incredibly frustrating experience.

Prompted by today's MSE email, I just called Santander's 01512 credit card customer services number to tell them about a couple of overseas trips during August.

(1) Calls to 01512 are answered by voicemail then cut off because it detects I'm calling from within the UK.

(2) Re-dialling on their 0845 number, I have to go through over two minutes of menus before I get to the option for a human.

(3) I am then asked verbally for my credit card number and date of birth, both of which I have already keyed in.

(4) I then fail security because, no, I cannot tell them what the Chip-and-Pin transaction I made in the past 7 days was. I tell them that, as far as I aware, I didn't make one. The woman says she can't help me then.

(5) I ask to speak to a manager. The woman says that's not possible and hangs up on me.

(6) I call back. This time I get through security, because the previous woman was wrong and I was right - there were no Chip-and-Pin transactions recently.

(7) I get the holiday details set up for my first trip. I then try to get the second trip set up. Not possible. Only one trip at a time is allowed. We agree to extend the duration of the trip to include both trips, but I'm advised that my card will probably get blocked if I try to use it in the UK in between trips.

This is far too frustrating. What should have taken 2 minutes -- and be possible to set up online -- has taken 25 minutes and left me about ready to snap.

Apologies for venting!

MAGICIAN

CRUISE holidays The credit card you registered at Southampton check in to cover your onboard bars and shopping is processed by the ship via its satellite link once a week in Miami, if you just happen to be visiting a Port of Call say Villefranche on the same day and take your card ashore and buy a few goodies. Your card will be blocked and possibly swallowed by the French machine as stupid credit card computer cannot work out how you can be in France and the USA at the same time....