Best card for not getting blocked

2

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  • chattychappy
    chattychappy Posts: 7,302 Forumite
    Until recently, I spent more time abroad (mostly SE Asia and Europe) than in the UK.

    First of all, in my experience it never made any difference whether you notify your provider in advance as to whether you got block/decline - and indeed some now say don't bother. BUT, I did sometimes notice that cards would magically unblock after a few days. Perhaps notifying in advance means some kind of manual review afterwards.

    I find that sometimes particular locations or even particular shops would trigger blocks with particular cards, but not others. For example, for a period of time, the ATMs at Saigon's airport would always cause my Santander Zero to block. You could tell them that transaction was legit, the card would be unblocked, but the very next day it would block again if you used the the same card in the same ATM again.

    A particular restaurant in Taipei would always decline my Clarity mastercard, but not my PO Office mastercard. But no block, just a decline.

    Anyway, enough waffle. The only solution is to have multiple cards. When away from the UK, I would generally have 4 "travel" cards and a couple of others. I would typically have two in my wallet. I would also carry/keep more local currency than I would in the UK. I wouldn't "keep them for emergencies", but actively use them from time-to-time. Perhaps this will reduce the chances of a block when you really need them.
  • gordon_k
    gordon_k Posts: 45
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    Thanks everyone for your helpful responses.
    etienneg wrote: »
    I'm surprised you say that Nationwide don't want travel details. I've just checked in their internet banking. Under the Manage my details & settings tab, there is the facility to advise of travel plans separately for current accounts (debit cards) and credit cards.
    Yes, it says on their website you no longer need to inform us of travel plans, but when I messaged them I was directed to this form. Question is, does that tell their auto system to expect unusual transactions - e.g. from country X, taxis, travel bookings etc - or does it simply flag up a notice for staff, who will not enter into the process when I have no means of comms...
    eskbanker wrote: »
    The way you should be reading those statements is: "We'll treat every attempted transaction on its merits, regardless of whereabouts in the world you are", i.e. they won't block transactions simply by virtue of being made abroad but conversely they won't guarantee that all transactions made would be authorised, whether here or abroad.
    That's heartening - but it would be really good if they made that explicit - the whole thing seems quite opaque.

    Clearly there is an issue here, in that the bank or bs probably has good reason not to make their precise security strategy public, but it does make it rather hard to plan with any confidence.
    The only solution is to have multiple cards ... I wouldn't "keep them for emergencies", but actively use them from time-to-time. Perhaps this will reduce the chances of a block when you really need them.
    This seems a good strategy. If I'm now gonna be abroad more often I think I might do that.
    Vortigern wrote: »
    I'd suggest a Nationwide Select credit card for purchases, since you are already known to Nationwide.

    As a backup, and for emergency cash, I'd suggest Halifax Clarity or the Barclaycard Travel card.
    Cheers. If more foreign travel is going to be a thing, it does make sense to have a card(s) that's tailored to it.
  • eDicky
    eDicky Posts: 6,547
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    gordon_k wrote: »
    Cheers. If more foreign travel is going to be a thing, it does make sense to have a card(s) that's tailored to it.
    I think that's the right idea - travel with several cards that are intended for free overseas use, perhaps less chance of them being blocked and if one is then just use another one. Any card can fail, be declined or lost, especially during travel.

    Apart from the 'travel' credit cards there are the fintech app-based accounts, Starling Bank, Monzo, Revolut, Loot, and the Tandem cashback CC. I carry them all and have never had one blocked. The sophisticated apps give instant notifications but the cards still function without phone connection.

    I'm curious where you will be that has had no mobile phone access these days...
    Evolution, not revolution
  • chattychappy
    chattychappy Posts: 7,302 Forumite
    edited 8 August 2018 at 8:22AM
    gordon_k wrote: »
    This seems a good strategy. If I'm now gonna be abroad more often I think I might do that.

    It is worth having someone you trust in the UK opening your post. You may also run into problems of cards expiring when overseas. Generally I was sufficiently covered with other cards and could wait until my next trip back home to pick up a new card. On a couple of occasions I had my trusted friend post a new card onto me, though I would only do this if they were of the type that needed activation.

    On occasion I tried to get providers to issue new cards earlier, but they would never do this. When I've reported cards lost/damaged, the newly issued card typically has the same expiry as the old one, though I think this isn't necessarily the case.

    My "bottleneck" in all this was my debit card. At the time my bank account required the card+card reader for all debits. This expired and I didn't want to risk getting a new one sent over. I survived by paying off cards with another card that happened to have a balance transfer promo running. I paid the promo card off by doing a BT from another card. DD lovers will laugh at this arrangement, but it only cost me a few quid and kept me going for a couple of months.

    You mention no mobile coverage. You must have regular internet access so you can pay off cash advances and check for fraud. If you have good internet, you can use skype to make calls.

    Keep a list of all your card numbers and the phone numbers. I had this as an encrypted word file on my laptop which I had also emailed to myself. (So I could re-download from webmail if necessary.)

    Finally, bear in mind that if you are actually living overseas, there comes a point where you might be in breach of T+Cs and/or under an obligation to tell the CC whereupon they might close the account.
  • Anthorn
    Anthorn Posts: 4,362
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    In my own personal experience automatic anti-fraud measures are more readily applied to foreign currency transactions including Euro transactions. This reached such proportions for me that I was phoning the card issuer to advise them that I was about to spend with my card. That problem was the reason why I started using USD and Euro denominated prepaid cards and also the reason why I got a French bank account.

    In my experience no card denominated in GBP is any better nor any worse than any other.
  • I can recommend Nationwide Select Credit card. I only had a problem once in South Korea but it might have been something with terminal or Visa in general. I used Mastercard and it worked in the same place. Nationwide refunded exchange fee charged on other card.
  • Vortigern
    Vortigern Posts: 3,242
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    I can recommend Nationwide Select Credit card.
    For anybody who has a second cardholder on their account it's worth using one of the cards that has different numbers for the main and the secondary user. I had a Nationwide card stolen,reported it immediately but both cards had the same number and both were blocked until replacements arrived.

    Halifax Clarity and Barclaycard would have different numbers on each card and would not suffer the same problem.
  • 18cc
    18cc Posts: 2,120 Forumite
    I recommend 1. Tandem credit card for travel. 2 Starling debit card for travel (but you need a smartphone as app only)
  • Penelopa.Pitstop
    Penelopa.Pitstop Posts: 1,144
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    edited 9 August 2018 at 1:05PM
    Vortigern wrote: »
    For anybody who has a second cardholder on their account it's worth using one of the cards that has different numbers for the main and the secondary user. I had a Nationwide card stolen,reported it immediately but both cards had the same number and both were blocked until replacements arrived.

    Halifax Clarity and Barclaycard would have different numbers on each card and would not suffer the same problem.
    Barclaycard blocked both cards regardles of different numbers. Went through this, when lost mine.
  • Vortigern
    Vortigern Posts: 3,242
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    Barclaycard blocked both cards regardles of different numbers. Went through this, when lost mine.
    A Halifax Clarity card was stolen at the same time as the Nationwide card. We were able to give the number of the stolen card. Only one of the two Halifax cards on the account was blocked, but both Nationwide cards were blocked as they had the same number.

    Did you tell Barclaycard the specific card number that was lost, or did you just say "I've lost my card" - and they looked you up by name and address?
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