MSE News: Taking cards abroad: Should I tell my bank?

reclusive46

Roger1 wrote: »

I rarely use my personal AmEx abroad because of their 3%-ish surcharge. When I have used it without advising AmEx, the card was accepted.

I have to use a Corporate Amex when I go to the USA on business and I've never ever had the card blocked. I only had it declined once and I swiped it again (Seconds later) and it worked fine.

Pincher

What they should do is add a few parameters under "Manage your Account" like "Disable activity outside the UK, yes or no". They could even create an app for your mobile phone.

With buying online, it could be a bit tricky, as the merchant could be based in Spain or wherever. I think Skype is based in Luxembourg, for example, but at least you are home, so it's no problem enabling it and disabling it.

SnowQueen

I advised my bank (who also happen to be my employer) that we were going away but it made no difference whatsoever. Tried to withdraw from an ATM abroad and it got refused. Couldn't ring as we were in the mountains at the time so no signal. Fortunately it was the night before coming home and friends kindly lent us what we needed.
Decided after that to take more cash so for the next holiday took my debit card to my local post office to get our currency however said bankers (yes, my employers again) then decided to charge me for taking my money out of my own account. Somewhere in the region of around £5 for roughly £500 worth of currency.
Needless to say we now deal in cash when buying currency and make sure we have enough for the entire holiday.

reclusive46

SnowQueen wrote: »

I advised my bank (who also happen to be my employer) that we were going away but it made no difference whatsoever. Tried to withdraw from an ATM abroad and it got refused. Couldn't ring as we were in the mountains at the time so no signal. Fortunately it was the night before coming home and friends kindly lent us what we needed.
Decided after that to take more cash so for the next holiday took my debit card to my local post office to get our currency however said bankers (yes, my employers again) then decided to charge me for taking my money out of my own account. Somewhere in the region of around £5 for roughly £500 worth of currency.
Needless to say we now deal in cash when buying currency and make sure we have enough for the entire holiday.

It very much depends on the bank. Some banks are very trigger happy, where as some arn't.

Nationwide, Amex and Capital one all seem to be good. The HBOS group and RBS and NatWest to an extent are trigger happy.

iltisman

I think it depends on previous activity I use my NatWest card in the US which I visit regularly and have no problems but my wife who came along with me at Xmas had an identical card rejected at the first transaction.

DaleN

jackieblack wrote: »

Post Office (also fee free for foreign purchases) isn't listed either.

I always phone Post Office credit card to notify before travelling, and have never had any problem using the card abroad. I once asked the operator whether it was really necessary to phone first, and he said that it definitely was. Normally they say something along the lines of "ok that note has been added to your account", which would suggest that they are just putting a note on the account rather than changing any anti-fraud controls.

One of their operators once also mentioned that you should phone at least 24 hours before arriving in the foreign country, because their systems only get updated overnight. If you only phone them just before getting on the plane, and then use your card soon after arriving at the destination, it may be declined. (I don't know if this applies to other cards.)

reclusive46

DaleN wrote: »

I always phone Post Office credit card to notify before travelling, and have never had any problem using the card abroad. I once asked the operator whether it was really necessary to phone first, and he said that it definitely was. Normally they say something along the lines of "ok that note has been added to your account", which would suggest that they are just putting a note on the account rather than changing any anti-fraud controls.

One of their operators once also mentioned that you should phone at least 24 hours before arriving in the foreign country, because their systems only get updated overnight. If you only phone them just before getting on the plane, and then use your card soon after arriving at the destination, it may be declined. (I don't know if this applies to other cards.)

Halifax is similar, they say 72 hours, although i have a feeling they say this as it doesn't update on weekends and it's probably only up to 24 hours on week days.

Pincher

If memory serves, it used to be sorted out this way:

1. The cashier gets a note from the swipe machine to call the card issuer, while you are there.

2. If it's a bad credit problem, the call centre asks the cashier to either confiscate or cut up the card, in front of you.

3. If it's just a routine trapped transaction, they just ask to speak to the card holder, and perform a security check.

These days, they probably haven't got enough humans to deal with all the overseas transactions.

I have also heard of a random check, but cannot say it's true or not.

reclusive46

Pincher wrote: »

If memory serves, it used to be sorted out this way:

1. The cashier gets a note from the swipe machine to call the card issuer, while you are there.

2. If it's a bad credit problem, the call centre asks the cashier to either confiscate or cut up the card, in front of you.

3. If it's just a routine trapped transaction, they just ask to speak to the card holder, and perform a security check.

These days, they probably haven't got enough humans to deal with all the overseas transactions.

I have also heard of a random check, but cannot say it's true or not.

It's call an authorisation referral, unless you've gone over your credit limit or the card has been cancelled, all card present transactions that are 'declined' are actually referred (With the exception of Visa who allows issuers to decline transactions it feels are almost definitely fraudulent), its just some machines don't understand the message, so say it was declined (Mainly automated machines) and when its busy a cashier doesn't really want to have to call up the authorisation centre. 95% of referrals are never acted upon (That was the latest American Express and MasterCard figure anyway).

cheesy*wotsit

Every time I go abroad, I notify my bank (First Direct) before I go. This proved to be very helpful the last time, as I withdrew some of my holiday funds to change to currency, but the machine didn't give it me - and £500 had "debited" my account! :eek:

I rang First Direct and explained that I needed the money as I was going on holiday abroad in a couple of days. They said that it was usually a 31 day turnaround from them investigating to me possibly getting a refund, but because I'd already told them I was going away, they refunded straight away. No hassle and I love First Direct.