sweetsailing

Ok since we have had some interesting discussion regarding credit cards, the one question I have it this:

Do you notify your credit card company when you travel?

I ask this because I am curious if this should be done as a matter of routine when one travels. I have had time when I havent' done this and have received phone calls from my credit card company about changes in the pattern of use on my credit card. It's good that they call and ask and it's good they are checking. Since this has happened to me a couple of times, I now make it a point to call my credit card company prior to traveling, especially when going out of the country and they are likey to see patterns of use that are out of the ordinary.

I also have recently checked the fine print in my credit card agreement because I discovered that in some cases when traveling outside of the US, credit card companies charge you transaction fees which can be up to 3% of all purchases.

suze

Yes but only when I travel out of the U.S.

No_name

We always call even if it is only for a couple of days.

moldyhotelsaregross

always

My spending is so predicable when I'm at home.

Dick

It's especially a good idea if you have travel out of the country using FF miles or a credit card different from the one you will be using out of the country.

Several years ago I used FF miles for travel to Australia/New Zealand and paid the the taxes on one CC. When I booked airfare within those countries,using a different CC, I received a call from my bank.

They said they they showed my card being used for travel in Australia, but showed no record of my purchasing tickets to travel there. There computer showed a high risk that my CC info had been stolen. Had they not been able to reach me to confirm the authenticity, they were going to put a hold on my account.

Now I let my CC companies know the dates and location of travel outside the US.

A_Traveller

Yes, it's the wise thing to do, especially when leaving the country or if you anticipate making unusually large purchases or charges.

mscleo

When I leave the country, absolutely...

OO

We never have. I have had the credit card company call my DH at home once though, while I'd gone to Dallas and was doing some major clothes and Christmas shopping. They told him there was an unusual spending pattern on our credit card going on in Dallas (we lived in Savannah at the time) and unless I called, (they wouldn't take his word for it), they would cut the card off!! LOL Needless to say, my DH was more than a little anxious about what on earth I was buying. I made the call and all was well.

SuzieTrue

I don't do it for every trip but definitely where I will be spending large amounts on my card like Hawaii. I had a hold put on a card when on a ski trip to Colorado. The CC company called our home but never followed up with written communications. It was three weeks before I found out about the hold.

rkkwan

No, I don't. If it gets blocked, then I call to have it unblocked.

If you read a recent thread on the Europe forum, you'll find plenty of cases where the card gets blocked depsite having called earlier to notify the CC issuer.

Peter_krynicki

I was using a new cc in Spain. They noticed that the charges where made out of the country and called my home to see if they were valid. When I, naturally, didn't call back, they froze the card. I had another card or two to use but this was an eye-opener.

Pjk

Dayle

One important thing to be aware of: When you call your bank/cc company to notify them, be sure you also request that they pass on the info to their SECURITY MONITORING Service. The bank doesn't always let the security monitoring service know!

I found this out the hard way when in spite of have notified both card companies of the dates and locations of my international travel, they still froze my cards. Caused a major inconvenience. When I got home, I called to follow up on this and was told that the SECURITY company had not been informed of my travel.

Steph

I was just informed by my bank that I
should also notify them that I would be
using my ATM card in Europe - so the
transactions would not be considered suspicious activity.

mikemo

!Siempre!
If they know I'm in Mexico and the card is used in the US, China, Argentina or Chile, they will block without notification.
M

alan64

Every time we leave the U.S. I also call my bank regarding the ATM card.

Bobmrg

Absolutely. I have been told by MBNA to do this whenever I travel away from home domestic or overseas.

SAnParis

Yes, always when I leave the country or anytime that I may be making a lot of purchases (say in Wine Country).

taitai

We always do whenever we travel overseas.

escargot

Another one who always notifies. It's a simple phone call - I don't want to wait and have to field calls when I am traveling or have it blocked unexpectedly.

Once my son was in college in Maine went to a college meet in Canada - and the credit card company left messages at his listed phone number (at College) which of course he wasn't there to receive and wasn't calling in to check his messages and his cell didn't work where he was, but we knew his hotel for an emergency. Bottom line was they blocked it b/c no one had called him back. Another team member could cover the few things he needed , but just another reason why not just make that simple call before you go anywhere where there will be unusual use.

And once they called for high activity just a state away when I was on a shopping spree for back to school - so now I always call, in or out of the country.

abram

We do ever since my husband couldn't use our Visa to buy me a piece of jewelry when he was in Brazil.

Fortunately (for me), the jeweler let my husband take the jewelry, and told him to send a check to the jeweler's US bank account after my husband returned home. Very trusting!