Credit Card verification blocks

colinw

i have had three recent transactions blocked by the Visa verification process. A payment of £600+ to Expedia was blocked by both my Nationwide and Halifax Visa cards resulting in automated phone calls to verify the transactions where made by me. I then had another blocked this morning on Nationwide for £200+ resulting in another phone call. Have they tightened up on this? It is going to make the credit cards impossible to use for any decent amount.

orionmoo

colinw wrote: »

i have had three recent transactions blocked by the Visa verification process. A payment of £600+ to Expedia was blocked by both my Nationwide and Halifax Visa cards resulting in automated phone calls to verify the transactions where made by me. I then had another blocked this morning on Nationwide for £200+ resulting in another phone call. Have they tightened up on this? It is going to make the credit cards impossible to use for any decent amount.

your card may have been placed on a common point of purchase list relating to fraud. Have you ever lost or had the card stolen?

Or you couldve used the card on a website thats been compromised and had card data stolen from so your card has been deemed 'at risk'

dj1471

Expedia seem to be a hotspot for fraud, I think every purchase I've ever tried to make from them has been blocked pending verification.

chattychappy

I type this from a hotel that I booked via Expedia on my Nationwide Select card. They checked me in... the breakfast was served.... I ate it up! So no signs of a block...!

Never had a block when using Expedia....

Just goes to show "YMMV"...

colinw

orionmoo wrote: »

your card may have been placed on a common point of purchase list relating to fraud. Have you ever lost or had the card stolen?

Or you couldve used the card on a website thats been compromised and had card data stolen from so your card has been deemed 'at risk'

No never had any problems with any cards. I book loads of hotels every year using this card. Strange the Halifax one was refused as well. I use this card loads on Expedia every year

chattychappy

Most of my CC spend is overseas. I find that particular merchant/ATM/CC combinations cause a block for transient periods. For a while, HSBC machines in Saigon with Santander ZERO would trigger a block. Other ATMs, fine. HSBC elsewhere, fine. Other cards, fine. I could get Zero unblocked, then immediately it would block again in the same ATM. Then, after a few months, the problem would disappear. Ditto a particular shop in Taiwan. Used NW Select there for a while no problem. Then it went through a phase of always blocking. Now it's OK again. Other cards were always OK there.

The CCs would have you believe they use sophisticated anti-fraud systems to intercept fraudulent activity. It is obvious to me that whilst the "systems" may be very clever in the way they process the information they have to hand, we are dealing with a network of loosely connected databases. Electronic decisions are being made on a broad brush approach.