Using credit cards online (not just for Europe) then switching cards to pay
 

Forgive me if this is a naive question - I just had my c.c. number stolen so the bank had to close my acct. If one makes a reservation online, ie. hotel or car rental, then presents a different card when it's time to pay, this will not be a problem with the merchant, right? I'm thinking I'll use one acct solely for online purchases and reservations, and use another card when actually paying in person. This will help limit my risk somewhat and reduce the inconvenience associated with having to get a new acct# and card issued for the one I prefer to use. Anyone experience problems paying with a different card than they used to reserve? Thanks.

Hi,<BR><BR>It should not be a problem although for example at Hotel Check in you may be asked for the credit card used to pay for the first night deposit- I did but then at check out I could have used a different c/c to pay. I just used my original card)<BR><BR>Regards<BR>Gregory

Alice, I don't think that it will be a problem. I have paid several times with different cards than the one used to reserve. SNCF (French Rail) did ask to present the card that was used for the online reservation, but that was the only one. Should that occur, just explain the situation of the stolen card, and with proper ID it shouldn't be a problem.

Alice---you'll have to pardon my slow mind, but I just don't understand what advantage you gain in doing what you described. I see no reduction of risk whatsoever. If you are really asking this question primarily because you made a reservation using a now-closed credit card number, the answers have already been given. But as a generic solution to reduce risk in some way, I don't see the benefit in using one card for reservations and another for payment. Maybe you could enlighten me and any others who would like to know what you are thinking.

I know online sites with the 's' and the padlock are supposed to be secure; I guess I'm just trying to limit the chance of being invaded again, or rather, contain the risk within the acct that I don't carry with me. But there is probably no less risk using a card in person, and I don't know how anyone got my card number. It was just a thought. This is funny, though - one of the fraudulent charges was from a company called "Vivid Tours". I asked the cust svc rep if that was some kind of travel agency or something. He said, "no, it isn't travel and let's just leave it at that, ok?"

I have always used 2 Cards - one with the minimum balance allowable (in Australia $500) which I use solely for use on internet, phone bookings etc. and another with larger balance which I travel with etc. <BR>So far this has worked well - but I guess everything is open to fraud these days.

I think hotels don't care what card you pay with, they always just take whatever card you give them. They probably would care if they tried to charge a deposit or something to the card number you gave them and it wasn't working any more. <BR><BR>I don't think that limits your risk in any way, but I think I understand what you are doing and I guess I can see your point, why not, for convenience if you need to close it. I think I can figure out what Vivid Tours is. Are you saying they stole your number off a website you made a purchase on? Or some other way. It's not really any of my business, I just hope it wasn't a big company if it was (although you usually hear about those in the news, someone stole some numbers out of AOL's records once, as I recall).

oh sorry I see you just said you don't know how they got it. The only people I know who had that happen, someone stole it from a slip at some store, I think

Yeah, that's probably why Wayne doesn't think it will do any good, and he's probably right... Well, I guess it's like the "15 minutes of fame" - it will come around to everyone eventually. Thanks for the discussion...

I think it might be a problem. If you made a reservation with a card that has become 'hot' such as happens after it is reported stolen, this will be a problem. If your hotel goes to charge the account (for example if you arrive late and they charge a fee for one night before you turn up) they will not be able to process your card and are very likely to drop your reservation. So it's a good idea to contact them before to give them your new card number. I had a similar problem when I booked with one card which expired (and was renewed) before I flew there. The hotel contacted me by email asking for a new card number, otherwise they would not hold my reservation after 6pm. So do be careful.

As soon as my new card arrives, I am going to contact each hotel and make sure they know the new/correct number to maintain in the records (I lost a reservation a long time ago but didn't realize it until I arrived to check in, won't happen again!). My original question was more along the lines of keeping 2 open c.cd. accts, and using one to 'hold' reservations, then actually handing over a different one to pay. But I think we're deciding that it probably doesn't matter much.