Halifax has blocked my card :(

WelshSun

Hi,

Just doing a bit of pre-Christmas shopping, and Halifax have just blocked my Credit card.

They want me to phone a number, but the problem is I am out of the country. So don't know how I can phone them.

Is there any way that I can unblock my card online? Thanks Sun!

flexrider

nope sadly

All banks and building society does this if a transaction is unrecognised your account can become blocked for preventation of fraudenualnt use and monitoring purposes to unblock you must contact the bank on number provided

pain in the bum but there banks there protecting themselves from being sued if something dogey happened

dalesrider

WelshSun wrote: »

They want me to phone a number, but the problem is I am out of the country. So don't know how I can phone them.

Is there any way that I can unblock my card online? Thanks Sun!

Funny but I thought that phones were something that the rest of the world had too... :rotfl:

Credit cards

08457 283 848
+44 8457 283 848 from outside the UK
08459 444 555 if your card number begins 525303
+44 1733 573 189 from outside the UK

opinions4u

WelshSun wrote: »

Hi,

Just doing a bit of pre-Christmas shopping, and Halifax have just blocked my Credit card.

They want me to phone a number, but the problem is I am out of the country. So don't know how I can phone them.

Is there any way that I can unblock my card online? Thanks Sun!

My card has an international number on the back of it.

Their web site includes international dialling codes in various places.

Make the effort to sort it out.

barbarawright

Banks now usually recommend that you tell them if you're going to be using your card abroad as a fraud prevention measure. Though that doesn't always stop them blocking it. It can be a pain but I've had HSBC catch fraud on my account so these measures can work. You won't be able to do it online though - as well as your security details, they'll ask a few questions about recent transactions so they know exactly which ones are fine.

Meadows

WelshSun wrote: »

They want me to phone a number, but the problem is I am out of the country. So don't know how I can phone them.

Unless you are somewhere remote (up a mountain, in a jungle) then there are phones everywhere including hotels so all you need to do is use one of those if you want your card reactivated! (did you think to tell them in advance that you would be using your card in another country so they didn't block it for unusual use?).

Enterprise_1701C

I always tell mine in advance when I am going overseas, they usually reply saying thank you for the information but they cannot guarantee they will not question transactions, but I have only ever had trouble when I tried to buy a large a few hundred pounds' worth of jewellery in Kenya (have you ever seen the colour of Tsavorite, who could resist!!).

meer53

You have two options.

Phone them.

Don't phone them.

chattychappy

In my case, telling the CC in advance makes no difference in whether my cards get blocked. I've even unblocked them only to have them blocked again on returning to the same shop - whilst other cards don't get blocked in that shop at all. It seems to me that phoning in advance might result in cards becoming unblocked automatically after a day or so. But then I've had cards unblock themselves when I haven't called.

Some cards will only let you register a fixed number of countries for a fixed amount of time.

So I have multiple cards. If a card stops working, I switch to another. If it hasn't come back to life after a day or so, then I call them up next time I'm somewhere where it's easy to phone. I have NW Select, Santander Zero and PO Mastercard.

But even if you only have "standard" cards, take them anyway. Yep they might load by 2.75%. But if, say, you're spending £200, that is still only £5.50. If you're in Asia on a UK mobile, you'll easily spend that. Of course skype type systems or local sims are cheaper.

As mentioned, most cards publish numbers for international use. Irritatingly I sometimes get cut off with a message saying that this number is for "international users" even though I am overseas - presumably because of CLIP issues. (Calling Line Identification Presentation.) Also, whereas in the past these numbers usually you got you straight through to somebody useful, increasingly they just put you into the same queue as the domestic number.

Vortigern

I had a card rejected in the USA. I had an alternative card which I was able to use. When I returned home, I rang the first credit card company to complain. They said that I should have asked the shop which rejected the card to make a call to their (i.e.the shop's) card processing company, who would then contact the card issuer. All this at the shop's expense and to the possible annoyance of the people queueing behind me.

So it may be worth the OP's while to attempt another purchase and then follow the advice I was given. Let us know if it works.

travellerboy

Meadows wrote: »

(did you think to tell them in advance that you would be using your card in another country so they didn't block it for unusual use?).

I did exactly that earlier this year. I had two cards I used abroad ( Saga Platinium and Halifax Clarity) and informed both companies prior to leaving UK with all infor and dates.
Saga ( Bank of Ireland ) were so helpful when I informed them of my requirements -it was also a normal telephone number. On the other hand Halifax were an absolute pain, it took over 15 minutes to talk to someone, then they were very unhelpful, eventually I succeed in registering the card for my holiday ( Halifax use the expensive 0844 number by the way)

The first time I used the Halifax Card abroad, it would not work, it was declined. Then used the Saga Card without any problem.
I didn't contact Halifax and out of curiosity tried it again a few hours later, it worked without problem. Decided to dump the Halifax card and now use the more reliable Saga peolple who tend to get it right first time unlike Halifax.