Call your Credit Card companies before your cruise.

[MillauFr]

Banks aren't 'taking care of you' by blocking your account. They're taking care of themselves. If there is fraud on your account, they pay for it, not you. You'd be put out, but it sounds like you are being put out when there's no fraud, too.

I do agree, however, call your card provider and let them know you may have unusual charges. If nothing else, they may discuss your credit limits and help you make sure you have what you need available.

Agreed. They banks are only looking out for themselves. I have never paid a cent for any of the fraudulent charges that were made on my credit card.

 

[professorandmom]

I travel I just use my mobile app to put the travel notice on all my cards.

Thanks so much for this tip - I dug a bit and found the notifications in my mobile ap...awesome! Now we can see if it works...

 

[2Bnºoºt2B]

I've been doing it for years but last year some of the card companies here in Canada said they no longer require pre-notification - one even noted it on their automated introductory message when phoning in. One card company said something about sophisticated software tracking programs now ... I'm sure that technology is trickling down to other countries ... can't remember the last time we had to swipe and sign in Canada because of the credit card chips and PINs ...

 

[jahber]

How funny. This morning during church my husband was contacted by our bank. His debit card had suspicious transactions this morning. Most of them were for less than $2. Weird. But I must say, the bank was totally on top of it and had already begun reversing the charges.

Oddly enough, last month I made a bunch of random eBay purchases (we homeschool) for big and small amounts, and not one of them was flagged. They must have one smart algorithm.
Just to be safe I put a travel alert on the cards using the app.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I've been doing it for years but last year some of the card companies here in Canada said they no longer require pre-notification - one even noted it on their automated introductory message when phoning in. One card company said something about sophisticated software tracking programs now ... I'm sure that technology is trickling down to other countries ... can't remember the last time we had to swipe and sign in Canada because of the credit card chips and PINs ...

Most of the large credit card issuers are now using predictive modeling techniques to develop the algorithms and it's really improved the accuracy of catching the fraud. The chip and PIN cards won't be able to do away with fraud completely because of online purchases. Almost all of the fraudulent purchases on my credit cards have been done through online retailers. Although I wonder if there won't come a time when we have to have chip readers at home to make online purchases.

 

[2Bnºoºt2B]

How funny. This morning during church my husband was contacted by our bank. His debit card had suspicious transactions this morning. Most of them were for less than $2. Weird. But I must say, the bank was totally on top of it and had already begun reversing the charges.

Oddly enough, last month I made a bunch of random eBay purchases (we homeschool) for big and small amounts, and not one of them was flagged. They must have one smart algorithm.
Just to be safe I put a travel alert on the cards using the app.

Most of the large credit card issuers are now using predictive modeling techniques to develop the algorithms and it's really improved the accuracy of catching the fraud. The chip and PIN cards won't be able to do away with fraud completely because of online purchases. Almost all of the fraudulent purchases on my credit cards have been done through online retailers. Although I wonder if there won't come a time when we have to have chip readers at home to make online purchases.

Upon seeing your profile pic jahber for some strange reason a picture popped into my mind of a row of monkeys sitting in front of abacuses monitoring suspicious credit card transactions - lol

Thanks Maggie'sMom ... that was the process! When my brother and I were in Philly back in June for Comic Con, his cc was denied - there was a LOT of small amount charges being made that was immediately flagged by the system so the company "shut his card down" so to speak. We are so used to "tapping" our cc for small purchases or entering our PIN that it was a bit weird when travelling to the US this year having to swipe and sign for the most part. I remember making a purchase at the Hard Rock in Philly - the clerk had turned around to pack my purchases and in the meantime I saw that the terminal was set up for PIN purchases so paid for it that way - she was surprised as she had never seen one done before. But then crooks will always find a way to bypass security ... as now credit card skimmers are being found on top of legitimate units on gas station pumps if you utilize pay at the pump.

 

[Churchladychurchlady]

How funny. This morning during church my husband was contacted by our bank. His debit card had suspicious transactions this morning. Most of them were for less than $2. Weird. But I must say, the bank was totally on top of it and had already begun reversing the charges.

Oddly enough, last month I made a bunch of random eBay purchases (we homeschool) for big and small amounts, and not one of them was flagged. They must have one smart algorithm.
Just to be safe I put a travel alert on the cards using the app.

Thieves will often "ping" a card using very small amounts before hitting them with bigger ones.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Thieves will often "ping" a card using very small amounts before hitting them with bigger ones.

Yep. DH & I were sitting at home when our credit alert system dinged that we'd just made a purchase. It seems we bought some random book at an online store (think it was like $19.95). Yeah, I don't think so..... Called the credit card company immediately and said "that's not us". They canceled the purchase, canceled the card and issued us a new one.

 

[jahber]

Yep. DH & I were sitting at home when our credit alert system dinged that we'd just made a purchase. It seems we bought some random book at an online store (think it was like $19.95). Yeah, I don't think so..... Called the credit card company immediately and said "that's not us". They canceled the purchase, canceled the card and issued us a new one.

What's funny though is that I had made a whole bunch of random purchases of books on eBay in amounts from less than $4 to over $20 in the same day. How did the bank know it was me? I wonder if they can get shipping info from PayPal and verify it that way. That's the only thing I can think of. Some of the fraudulent purchases were for less than $1 or $2. I guess a lot of those are pretty suspicious, but my kids buy stuff on iTunes for $.99 and have never had a problem. Does anyone know if the banks can verify things like where a package is being sent?

 

[FigmentSpark]

Yes, they can. They can also see if 10 other cards have small purchases going to that same address, but with differing billing addresses.

 

[JJZMgailey]

I have Bank of America and whenever I travel I just use my mobile app to put the travel notice on all my cards. I think most banks have that feature on their corresponding mobile apps. I like putting the notice on the account myself because I'm not relying on someone else to complete it for me, and I can see it/edit it at any time. I haven't had any trouble yet, knock on wood.

Do you know if I can just put my debit card on the travel notice while leaving DH's card alone? I'm the only one going this time and he'll be home with the kids.

 

[JanBlessed]

Great Thread and advice ! So glad that I read it

 

[CesD]

had our card declined in Cozumel. i called the card company when we got back and they said charges from mexico are more likely to get flagged.
one year we took a road trip through 5 states and our gas card was not flagged. the next month we get gas 50 miles from home in an area we go to several times a year and we get a call from the CC. felt kind of random.
i second the suggestion that spouses carry different catds so if one is lost, stolen or declined, you still have another.

 

[m3owbox]

Do you know if I can just put my debit card on the travel notice while leaving DH's card alone? I'm the only one going this time and he'll be home with the kids.

Jackie, it might depend on the company. But most likely you can do it online. I have USAA and Wells Fargo, I the option to put both my card and my husbands card on the travel alert.

 

[2Bnºoºt2B]

Do you know if I can just put my debit card on the travel notice while leaving DH's card alone? I'm the only one going this time and he'll be home with the kids.

I'm not sure how it works in the States but in Canada you can set a daily limit of what can be debited or in a single transaction from your chequing/savings account - as debit is usually charges against whatever amount you have in your accounts, I'm not sure if the bank monitors activity there as opposed to credit cards ... anybody more familiar with this?

 

[Aerin75]

Do you know if I can just put my debit card on the travel notice while leaving DH's card alone? I'm the only one going this time and he'll be home with the kids.

_Should_ be okay. I've done it a couple of times over the last year when out of town for business and my husband didn't have an issue at home.

 

[Rabb it]

Do you know if I can just put my debit card on the travel notice while leaving DH's card alone? I'm the only one going this time and he'll be home with the kids.

For sure, each person's mobile app uses their own online log in info, so if you log into yours it will only let you edit your own card, DH would have to log into his own online banking/app to change his card.

 

[gwmort]

We just got back from a European DCL cruise. We alerted all of the credit cards about the trip beforehand through their websites.

One issue we ran into were the "chips". Apparently in Europe most transactions are handled by inserting the card into a chip reader instead of swiping it (the practice is just starting to pick up where we live here in Delaware). I saw it in my research and made sure my main credit card would be compatible, the bank actually had to send me a new card just before the trip.

My American debit cards had chips in them but they didn't seem to work right over there, never had any trouble with the credit card we special ordered though and we were glad we did.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

One other thing about calling credit card companies...

My DW and I have two main CCs that we use and despite the fact that they are both "joint accounts" and we are both "authorized" and whatever, whenever their is an issue with either card, they will only talk to the "primary" cardholder, which is me for one and her for the other. This strikes as antiquated at the least and financially dangerous at worst. What if the primary cardholder is not available? We are both on the hook for the charges, so shouldn't we both be able to speak for the account?

Has anyone else run into this, or do you find that credit card companies are willing to speak with both spouses equally?



Oh and as for American Credit Cards in Europe, I was in France last year, just before I got my "chip" card, and I found that most/all French vendors that had a credit card reader could take either the chip or the swipe, but many of the employees didn't know how to "swipe." When I did it on their machine (after asking permission) it worked fine, without a chip card. So I bet that would work if your American Chip wasn't working in their chip readers.

 

[lovedisney123]

Thanks for the reminder, I just did this for our trip.