Credit Card Blocked - Unblock by Online ATM

Curious4238

I tried to use my credit card abroad but because the assistant put in the wrong amount three times, the card was blocked. I have been told by my Bank that I need to visit an online ATM and complete a balance enquiry to have this removed. My Bank cannot determine which ATM’s are online, however, but have told me that an online ATM will always be a VISA ATM.
Can anyone advise me as to how I access a Visa ATM online? I am still abroad.
Many thanks.

Gingernutty

Try here

http://www.visa.com/atmlocator/index.jsp#(page:home)

RonaldTyer

Thanks Gingernutty, I have seen your link, this is for online ATM and banking. I think this way is really great.

Curious4238

Hi, thanks for providing the link. However, sorry but I can't see anything about an online ATM. What am I missing?
Thanks again.

SnowTiger

Curious4238 wrote: »

Hi, thanks for providing the link. However, sorry but I can't see anything about an online ATM. What am I missing?

Aren't all ATMs online?

Is PIN resetting available abroad? Sometimes the menus and range of options available on foreign cash machines are a bit confusing. Balance query abroad never seems to work for me.

I'm not sure why a shop assistant inputting an incorrect amount three times would require you to reset the PIN, unless they were entering the amount when the PIN was being requested.

Having been to a country where credit and debit cards are not in common use, I know how flummoxed some assistants are when presented with a foreign card. :rotfl:

boo_star

I don't think the advice you got is 100% correct.

Resetting a PIN via an ATM almost always requires the ATM being one of "theirs."

A bit difficult when you're abroad...

What was their reason for not doing it over the phone?

Eydon

boo_star wrote: »

Resetting a PIN via an ATM almost always requires the ATM being one of "theirs."

Not sure that is correct because not every card issuer operates an ATM network (MBNA for example).

OP - what is it that needs to be reset? Is it that the operator entered the amount wrong three times (not sure why that would cause a card to be blocked) or that the PIN was entered incorrectly three times (which would block the card for Chip and PIN).

If it's the former, then it looks like the card issuer have flagged the account to reset if you do a balance enquiry at an ATM (pretty much all ATMs are online).

If it's the latter, then you should be able to reset the PIN retries counter at any Visa or Mastercard ATM.

SuperHan

Curious4238 wrote: »

Can anyone advise me as to how I access a Visa ATM online?

I think you may have misunderstood.

There are (possibly, but your post implies) two types of ATM, an online and an offline ATM. An offline ATM would let you withdraw money without actively checking your balance, but an online ATM would check your balance there and then using.

(I had thought all ATM's were online though, so my understanding may be wrong. It could be that overseas ATMs are considered offline?!)

You can't access these online, you still need to physically walk up to an ATM and put your card in. The online just describes that they have an active connection to the banking network, so the bank would know you had put your card in and performed a balance enquiry.

reclusive46

SuperHan wrote: »

I think you may have misunderstood.

There are (possibly, but your post implies) two types of ATM, an online and an offline ATM. An offline ATM would let you withdraw money without actively checking your balance, but an online ATM would check your balance there and then using.

(I had thought all ATM's were online though, so my understanding may be wrong. It could be that overseas ATMs are considered offline?!)

You can't access these online, you still need to physically walk up to an ATM and put your card in. The online just describes that they have an active connection to the banking network, so the bank would know you had put your card in and performed a balance enquiry.

There hasn't been an offline ATM over in over a decade. If it asks for a PIN it'll be online as offline PIN (pin checked against the card) is not allowed at ATMs.

agrinnall

While I also don't think there are any ATMs that are always offline it's possible that an ATM could be operating in fallback mode - however, this would be a rare occurrence and I'd suggest the likelihood of it happening to an ATM you've chosen will be so slim that you shouldn't worry about it.

SuperHan

reclusive46 wrote: »

There hasn't been an offline ATM over in over a decade. If it asks for a PIN it'll be online as offline PIN (pin checked against the card) is not allowed at ATMs.

I had thought as much before reading this post!


I suppose maybe an overseas ATM is considered offline? Especially given the issues noted by others when abroad.