Comments on: Warning: before traveling overseas, call your credit card company

By: Tony

Tony — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:46:37 +0000

I just saw your blog. Nice advice/information. This summer, I went twice to Germany and Czech Republic — used travelers checks. I felt I got ripped off by those changing places in Germany and Prague. It seems the Prague change stations are controlled by some Mafia — they advertise no change fee to bring the travelers in and then give you real low rates. Some even advertise good rates of exchange and slam you with extremely high fees. I had to walk out of many of those after demanding the final amount after their fees.

Strangely, in Perth, Australia, I got best service and rate at a regular bank. Why the European banks do not want to deal with money changing?

By: 7 Things To Know About Using Credit Cards During International Travel | Credit Card Assist Blog

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 07:58:34 +0000

[...] for fraud. If you’re going to be traveling internationally with your credit cards then you should call the company and let them know so that they won’t do this to [...]

By: T. F. STOCK

T. F. STOCK — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:41:38 +0000

Capital One’s Travel Notification Policy applies to domestic as well as international travel. I live in a Mid-Atlantic state and have had charges declined in New York City.

Despite repeated requests, they have yet to provide me with a written statement of their policy beyond a form letter that reads:

“Please be informed that for security purposes we urge all our customers to inform Capital One about their travel to cities within or outside USA. This policy that Capital One has is to ensure that we keep a close watch ion your account with us.”

Note that the letter says nothing about declining charges.

My only defense seems to be to have a standing notice that I may be travelling to another US city and a separate notice when I plan to travel abroad.

By: $0.36

$0.36 — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:58:58 +0000

You mean the $0.36 on a $100 spent fraud protection.

It does not protect me at all!

So for online transactions I use Amex Charge Cards. These have fraud protection. You pay maximum $50, only. Even if the fraud was $1000 before you had a chance to call them.

Thank you Amex. You’re a godsend!

By: danny

danny — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:30:08 +0000

Wow.. I’ll definitely be calling my credit cards companies before my vacation. Great read and very informative! Thanks Elliott!

By: Karen

Karen — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 06:21:08 +0000

Capital One did that to me when I was visiting Seattle (I live in Canada), since then I’ve learned to call in advance as they’ve requested.

By: Shanon

Shanon — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:41:38 +0000

I had a bad experience a couple months ago, when going to france for a semester abroad. I got to the currenvy booth and my card was rejected. I then went to the atm, where it not only rejected a withdrawl, but actually retained my card. I freaked out because i was now broke and alone in a foreign country. I was able to get a new card, but that took 2 weeks and by then i has wired the money to a new account in france.

By: Ken

Ken — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 03:23:39 +0000

Here’s another situation where it helps to call the CC company in advance: I sometimes go on 2-5 day motorcycle trips. Most motorcycles have a range of 200-300 miles between fill ups. To the CC fraud department, it looks like numerous gas purchases outside the home area. Citibank locked my card once, but a quick call to their 800 number cleared things up. Since then, I’ve always called in advance and never had a problem.

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 02:35:14 +0000

My father lives overseas four months a year (in Paris) – and has for years now – and has found that Capital One is the best to use overseas because of the foreign transaction/fee issue, BUT they are still a pain in the butt to deal with when there’s a problem. He ALWAYS calls about 10 days-2 weeks before he’s leaving, and they still always manage to screw him up while he’s gone – stopping the card at some point every single trip. Because he goes for two months at a time, it’s too long for them to put into their computers and keep that not active for the entire time. Also, inevitably there’s always some sort of bogus problem where they stop the card, and he gets furious, making me deal with them. I do, and he’s even had to call from overseas numerous times which is not easy to do. It’s such a problem. While they say one thing, they really do another. I have a feeling that all of the cards are bad about this though. It just seems that Capital One has taken this to new heights since that’s the one that always seems to have the huge problems. I have literally spent (documented) hours on the phone trying to deal with multiple people each time, and it’s such a nightmare! The right hand does not talk to the left hand at that company. If it weren’t for their feeless foreign transactions, we would have stopped using them a long time ago.

By: Richard

Richard — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 22:38:51 +0000

We had an odd experience when we purchased a cruise from Oceania Cruises. Although we made the transaction with their offices in Miami, to cut its processing expenses, apparently Oceania outsources their credit card operations to an outside firm. Consequently, when the transaction was processed, it came across as a foreign transaction and the aforementioned credit card company automatically assessed a 3% foreign transaction fee, even though the charge was made in US dollars by a US company and the credit card company performed NO currency conversion whatsoever.

I’m surprised Capital One approved a $10,000 “foreign” transaction without first giving me a call or raising a red flag! But then again, they stood to clear an easy 3% profit from me on the deal (plus whatever additional fees they charged the merchant!)

By the way, American Express also offers a straight 2% conversion fee and does not tack on an additional foreign transaction fee. Furthermore, AmEx Platinum card holders can exchange US currency at any overseas AmEx branch office without paying a conversion fee. So if you’re planning to travel abroad, I’d strongly recommend making AmEx your primary or secondary credit card. (Don’t worry about the higher annual fees – there are plenty of promotions offering fee-free AmEx cards for your first year).