Credit card 'not authorised' in ATMs abroad

LankyMoneySaver

Hi all,

I was away in Bruges (Belgium) last weekend and planned to get cash out there on the misses Halifax Clarity credit card. However we tried it in a couple of machines and always got a message saying the card was not authorised.

We started running short of the cash we'd taken with us so one time it didn't work I then tried my Nationwide cc in the same ATM and got the same message about it not being authorised. I think this was an ATM in a branch of ING, not sure about the others we tried. In the end I had to get some cash out on my Santander Debit card (so got stung for fees, loading etc :mad:) which the same ING machine accepted.

My Nationwide CC was accepted in shops, just not the ATM so I was wondering, are there restrictions on which ATMs let you make cash withdrawals using a credit card?

Has anyone had similar issues?

Before I always just used my Nationwide debit card abroad without problems and was planning on switching to the Halifax clarity now but if I can't rely on it working I may have to start taking more cash on holiday as a backup.

Cheers,
Chris

oki25

If you call your CC provider they will put the necessary auths in place so this doesn't happen, if you did this-then ask them to check what went wrong!

Biggles

Sounds odd that both cards were rejected, and in more than one ATM. Were you asking for more than €300 by any chance?

Any

I had the same problem with my Nationwide cards (credit and debit) before now in Slovenia and Italy.
In Italy there was 1 machine that would not take them, and in Slovenia we struggled to find a cash machine that did take them, but found one. Just basicaly walked around and tried different institutions.
When I spoke to Nationwide they said the problem is not on their side, but on the ATMs bank side.. Apparently some foreign banks are just too affraid of fraud or don't recongnise the cards/logo and so won't work.

Biggles

Any wrote: »

Apparently some foreign banks are just too afraid of fraud or don't recognise the cards/logo and so won't work.

I can maybe understand that in Slovenia, and it could just be bad luck with one machine in Italy. But I can't understand it in Brugge.

chattychappy

oki25 wrote: »

If you call your CC provider they will put the necessary auths in place so this doesn't happen, if you did this-then ask them to check what went wrong!

Yeah sounds simple, but just doesn't work like that. It may or may not help. And if it doesn't work, they may or may not be able to tell you why.

I've been using CCs overseas for years. Most of my spend is overseas. Case in point is Santander Zero. As I've mentioned elsewhere, they also say you should pre-alert them to where you are going. Well I haven't bothered. For two years, not a problem anywhere - US, Europe or Asia. Put through thousands of spend. But suddenly in the last couple of months they keep blocking it. I've told them where I am, they say they'll unblock it. I use it once, it gets blocked again.

In the case of ATMs, when they don't work I often find the error messages pointless and misleading.

The only thing you can do is take backups and have contingencies. You really can't rely on credit cards working overseas as they do in the UK. When they don't, you're not really entitled to demand anything because the T+Cs (reasonably) have all kinds of exceptions to do with systems not working, fraud monitoring etc.

Biggles

Nationwide, for one, tell you NOT to ring them to alert them to the fact you are going abroad, they don't want to know and don't record the fact.

celyn90

I think they build up a profile of your travel and usage. I use mine mainly in Europe - and have never had a problem, but I did have all transactions refused in Korea until I called them and got them to lift the block on they'd placed on the card as it was outside normal use. I do let them know now when I'm travelling and they put a note on the card.

One thing I've noticed in some countries is that different ATMS serve different purposes and that only certain cards can be used - so it may be that foreign cards from certain banks are only accepted in certain ATMS. A lot of countries don't have the link system we have here where you can use virtually any card in any hole in the wall - so it maybe that the ATM you tried to use was not affiliated with bank of the card issuer.

dzug1

Belgium is becoming a difficult place for cards - something to do with the way local banks operate. I've seen a few press reports about it but can't recall the precise details.

LankyMoneySaver

It was only for €200. I've never bothered telling nationwide before I've gone away before and never had any problems until this trip. The Nationwide CC did work ok in shops and restaurants while we were there, just not in any ATMs we tried.

We didn't have enough Euros in cash with us as had thought we'd be able to withdraw on one of the CCs without problems so our contingency ended up being my Santander Debit card - not the best approach to money saving!


Is there any way of finding out in advance of going away somewhere if I'm going to be able to use my CCs in ATMs there?

Would Halifax and Nationwide be able to tell me which branches of banks will accept the credit cards so I can find one?

Soundgirlrocks

I had a similar with HSBC in India I told them the dates I would be there for and wrote to them as India is a closed currency and I was only taking a limited amount in travels cheques. They reject my card as soon as I tried to take money out :mad: To make matters worse when I found a HSBC branch in Calcutta they told me I they couldn't help me or let me use the phone as I was a UK customer. I had to use a phone at the post office to phone the UK number and got a call centre in Mumbai! So much for the world local bank