CC Declines and Uppity SC's (long)

[trunks2k]

That happened to my mom and I once when we went to Ireland (both of us). Luckily it didn't take that long to clear up; only had to confirm that yes, I was in possession of the card and I was overseas. I can only imagine what'll transpire when we go to Japan next year...

You can call them in advance to let them know you will be using your card outside of the country and they won't block the card. I did that when I went to Europe this summer, and the only time my card got blocked was a couple weeks before I left and I had bought tickets for Ryan Air and EasyJet. Since I bought them while still in the US, CitiBank flagged my card. But I didn't have a problem at all when I was in Europe.


CitiBank has a habit of flagging my card on the slightest hint of irregularity. Two charges at Sears in one day? FLAGGED!

[heather124]

She has the cold hard cash.... And freaks over a card?

I was thinking the same thing. We have it happen from time to time at my work with American Express Cards, everything else will work, they won't. People usually will just hand over a different kind of credit card to use.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Oh, the only time that is supposed to come up Lace is when their card is expired and they haven't receieved the new one yet or have just forgotten to bring it. So when we get that we're just supposed to get them to use another card rather than go through the hassle of ringing the bank. Next time you get that, have a look at the expiry date..

Well, all that happens over here if a card's expired is that it's declined. Also I believe I told you about our manager? O_o

[pbmods]

Durandal, I love your Username!

That is all.

[LdyJedi]

How do I know this? I have about $800 worth of bills draft to my credit card within two days of each other. My bank flags this as suspicious activity, and puts a hold on the card. Every month.

This happens to my husband fairly regularly, because he travels extensively in his line of work. Even when I CALLED the credit card company in advance of an overseas trip (they freak out about purchases in Paris and then Bangalore, it seems), they still called with a fraud alert. At least I was home to take care of it that time. It's a real pain when we're both on the road and they call the house phone. That does no good when I'm in Michigan and he's in Florida!

[Auto]

Would telling your card issuer in advance when you'll be on that trip help any?

I did that before I went to Morocco earlier this year. I asked MC if there would be any problems if their computers suddenly had my card being used in a country I've never visited.

They said no problemo -- charge away.

But I always sort of expected to have problems. But I didn't.

[MadMike]

I probably should have called my bank before my wife and I went on our cruise and started using my credit card a thousand miles away from home. Luckily, there weren't any problems.

The following year, when I finally got the basement finished and was buying all kinds of electronics for down there, I did have a problem. This was back when Circuit City still worked on commisions, and each salesperson you dealt with would run up the purchases themselves. I bought a VCR and a DVD player, and each of those went thru without a problem. Side note: This was the same department and the same salesperson, so I don't understand why he didn't ring them both up together.

When I tried to buy a sound system, it declined. I couldn't figure out why, as that purchase put me a little closer to my limit than I cared to be, but still should have fit. I ended up applying for a store card, and then once I found out they had a "6 months same as cash" promotion, I had the other two items removed from my card and put on the new store card. I figured I'd be OK after that, especially since I had just removed a couple things from the card.

I was wrong. After that, nothing worked. Tried to buy dinner for me and my wife, and it declined again. Luckily, we had enough cash between the two of us. The next day, I tried to get some gas, and it happened again. By this time, I figured something had gone wrong, and had brought some cash along just in case, so no problem there. But it was a weekend, and my bank (a credit union) was only open weekdays, so I had to wait until Monday to get it straightened out.

It turned out that when I made three consecutive purchases in a short time at the same place, especially one that sold electronics, it matched a "classic theft pattern." The lady on the phone apologized several times, and got things squared away in about five minutes.