Advising Halifax Clarity when travelling abroad

lisyloo

I'll call back on a cheap phone at a time to suit me.

As a tourist I don't have access to a cheap phone in Asia.
Why would you not take a call on a UK mobile?
If a fraudster was using your card they wouldn't call you would they? or am I missing something.

The automated systems are long winded so I'm just not prepared to deal with them at £1.30 a minute or whatever (and during the night!) on those terms.

When I called Halifax myself I was put on hold twice. I had to go through to the "fraud" department. It took 13 mintes and was about £20.

Then I pick up it up overseas without paying a huge price.

I don't think tourists have those options.
It's either hotel landline or UK mobile.
I guess some people might be able to use Skype or other apps. I didn't have that on my ipod or laptop and the wi-fi was quite patchy.

AddieB

I would like to say that we've just come back from 11 months touring Europe through 18 countries including Russia and Morocco. We used our Halifax Clarity card for EVERYTHING. We used the card whenever possible and we used it to withdraw cash as it was the cheapest rate available for doing so.

We never had it stopped, but we did take the time to inform them we were going abroad to multiple countries before we left.

Roger1

About using phones abroad, I have found the banks happy to note my Swiss mobile and (in the past) my US mobile. I also have a UK-ish SIM (actually Jersey) in an unlocked mobile which looks like a UK mobile number (07xxx etc) which I give them when I am travelling elsewhere.

There are several available. The one I use is from ekit and offers free reception in 70+ countries and a flat fee of USD 0.25 in many more. (Making calls from many countries costs USD 0.49/minute plus USD 0.00-0.35 fee.) Buying from Lonely Planet offers reasonable prices for the SIM. Several SIM options, I use the Passport Service. http://www.lonelyplanet.ekit.com/ekit/MobilePurchase/Sims

There are cheaper options for making calls. IMO the large number of roaming countries at $0.00 to receive calls makes the ekit SIM good value.

Degenerate

hunsbury0 wrote: »

also take backup cards eg post office type etc.

Definitely the way to go. I take Halifax Clarity, Nationwide Select, Santander Zero Credit, Santander Zero Debit and Metrobank Debit cards with me when I go abroad.

chattychappy wrote: »

I have found it makes little or no difference if you call in advance and I have long since stopped bothering.

Me too, actually after reading your previous comments on here. I just got fed up with spending typically an hour on the phone (by the time I've contacted several banks, held in the queue, etc.) every time I went abroad, so the last couple of times I followed your example and saw what happened. No problems yet.

guesswho2000 wrote: »

This is especially important where you're using a UK card in a country with no chip & pin

I think this is particularly relevant, as I mostly travel in European countries that are fully chip & pin ready. The likelihood of a chip & pin transaction originating from abroad being fraudulent is pretty low, as chip & pin requires both the physical presence of the card and knowledge of the pin. Dodgy overseas transactions are usually card not present or magstripe & signature transactions using cloned magstripe cards.