Question
Over on another travel forum that I frequent, there's been a discussion about how good an idea it is to call your credit card issuer before you travel overseas and let them know that it really will be you trying to charge 500 Baht worth of noodles in Bangkok. No argument there, but then the assertion comes up that Citibank is informing people that such notification is required before such travel, and tough on you if you suddenly realize that your Visa is no good toward your dinner of Schweinsaxxe in Schwyz.
I have issues with this. The others say "No, that's a good thing - it's for your protection." I say "Heck it is, Visa and MC have zero fraud liability now; It's for the issuer's protection, and the first time I can't use a card because the bank's computer gets cold feet about the transaction (in the civilized world) is when I call the issuer (collect) and tell them what the chances are I'll ever carry their card overseas again." http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mad.gif Then they say "Oh, no you should always call your issuer first - I once had trouble using the card in my own home state because I didn't call and tell them I'd be going out of town." http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif
Am I wrong, or are these other people just sheep?
What do you do?
PS: I enjoy a very good relationship with my CapitalOne card: 1% foreign exchange fee, 90 days same as cash for every purchase (I've held onto the terms of that offer for around 3 years because it says it will never expire), and (most importantly) when I suddenly did start using the card in Bangkok without calling and saying mother-may-I, I received a couple of messages on my answering machine (back home) asking me to verify that it was really me doing that, BUT all of the charges (a couple of them fairly large) went through flawlessly at my end.
[This message has been edited by pdhenry (edited 06-26-2003).]
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dup .. doh!
[This message has been edited by LIH Prem (edited 06-27-2003).]
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Capital One is one of the best issuers. Personally, I don't like Citibank all that much because of past history with them, so I really can't comment on them, but it sounds like they haven't changed that much. FUSA also used to be very proactive with their internal fraud unit, and would question any charge outside your home area, or if you made several large charges the same day or maybe even 3 gas station charges in the same day sometimes. This stuff tends to happen more often when you first get a new card, or do things that thje computer might flag as "out of your normal pattern", but I imagine that the program also takes into account years of use and more data the longer you have any one particular card, but the data doesn't necessarily flow between cards even from the same issuer.
After several years, they don't bother me anymore. I think we had to threaten at one point to cancel our cards if we had anymore problems with their internal fraud protection blocking our ability to use the card. I don't know if that's why they backed off, but they don't block anything and generally don't call me anymore, and I use their cards quite a bit, and have a farily long history with them now. I'll see what happens when we drive x-country in July. BTW, I did call a couple of issuers when we vacationed in Asia last year, just to be proactive about it, because if they do call you at home, and you have no way to get the messages you might be screwed if you can't use the card. In my case, Asia travel was outside my normal pattern, so I decided to be proactive about it.
-David
[This message has been edited by LIH Prem (edited 06-27-2003).]
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It is not a requirement to call Citibank before you travel overseas - especially if you do it quite often. However, it is a good idea if you are going on an extended trip or plan to visit countries out of your normal travel pattern, off the beaten track or known for high fraud levels (i.e. Indonesia)
I used to travel between the US and Europe 1-2x a month and used my Citi card everytime without ever calling ahead. The only time I had a call from them was when I moved over to Madrid and used my card for 3 whole months before they called me to confirm my usage (but they never blocked the card) since 3 months in a row outside of the USA was longer than my prior pattern.
The anti-fraud units are not only for the bank's protection (although they do protect the bank). They also help you - there have ben cases where the bank's have alerted customers to identity fraud or other types of fraud long before the customer would have realised it and in time to stop additional damage.
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http://www.benjaminwagner.com
Great music!
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Originally posted by pdhenry:
the civilized I didn't call and tell them I'd be going out of town." http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif
PS: I enjoy a [b]very good relationship with my CapitalOne card: 1% foreign exchange fee, 90 days same as cash for every purchase (I've held onto the terms of that offer for around 3 years because it says it will never expire),B]
Several years ago no matter when I mailed my payment it posted late. (Late fees)I finally sent an overnight FEDEX it still posted late. I informed my State Attorney General.
You can only mail to a PO address now.
They blamed the Post Office - I blamed them
Got rid of the card
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I only find it necessary to call ahead if something really out of the ordinary is going to happen. And that isn't just "I'm going to London for a few days."
Last time I called for something like this, I called AmEx to tell them that I had run up a large bill that month and I was going to eastern Europe for a couple weeks where I'd be spending a lot more money.
d
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I've never had such a problem. I recently went to UK after a few years of no overseas trips. No issues with MBNA.
In past years I traveled more, and I used various cards, all with no trouble. I always have backups if there's a problem, but I suspect if I had a problem I'd be inclined to ditch such a card. As was said above, any policy about this is for the issuer's protection, not the consumer's, because we are not liable for fraudulent use.
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I've never really had a problem with my Citibank card. They've never blocked me while overseas. Not even the time when I had to do a cash advance at a bank in Malaysia (to pay a US$3000 customs duty!). I have had on a couple of occasions Citi flag me and request a call by the store clerk, who then handed the phone over to me for some verification. But that was in the USA!
Ok, I got a call the other day, because I had charges post in Singapore, San Francisco, and Dallas on the same day (one internet-based). But they didn't cut me off.
fiat_owner
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I've never had a card blocked but once I did get home for a three week European vacation and found a message from Amex asking if I really used my card at a London internet cafe. I called them back, but since Amex hadn't heard from me they charged it back.
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"I was once dissappointed that I didn't get an upgrade, then I saw a homeless man without shoes. Somehow, the upgrade didn't seem all that important."
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I agree. If this is your first trip overseas using a particular credit card, tell them in advance. I've read that credit card issuers have been known to deactivate accounts that have activity which they might see as suspicious. Large charges and a bunch of charges from different countries might raise a red flag. With my experience, if your account activity has always had lots of large charges, and another one comes, no red flag is raises. But if all of a sudden you have a big charge, where all your previous charges were just charging lunch at Taco Bell, it will raise a flag. Once on a card a hardly used, I made a large furniture purchase. As soon as I got home, the bank called me (on a Sunday). They wanted to verify I made the purchase. I said yes, and things were OK. But if you suddenly made a purchase in another country, they might not be able to reach you, so they might deactivate the account.