Inform banks of travel plans?

Yes, some cards/banks don't need you to alert them of travel plans anymore.

Yes, I have been told this by one of my banks and the other lets me put a travel notice in. I have not had any problems with either. It is important to have a back up card with you because just about anything can happen while traveling and a back up is necessary.

I have been asked not to give travel info to our CapitalOne card office.

Done it both ways and never had a problem. Now our bank and credit union both do it on line. We take three credit cards and two ATM cards each tied to a different account.

I've got 2 CCs which no longer want notifying...I tried both of them out recently and yep, it worked fine! I do make sure I spread out pre-payments for various things on both cards so if someone looks at it they can see a certain country is in the plans by train or museum tickets.

My bank is a local Credit Union that still wants notifying and the other is a brokerage account and they still want notifying which is fine with me.

Depends on the bank. For me, Chase doesn’t want to know, but Wells Fargo and my local bank do.

Times are changing. I used to have to call the bank. Then, around 2020 or so, my bank started letting me notify them online. On my latest international trip -- in May of this year --- I didn't have to do anything. All of my credit cards worked fine overseas.

Geez, it has to be way more than a decade ago that my bank stopped needing to hear from their clients about impending travel.

As others have said, most banks/credit cards do not really need to know. Part of this is the chip technology built into cards. If you conduct a transaction in Europe, they know the card is there, you have not reported it stolen, so you must be there. If you try to do an online transaction from Europe...that may raise a flag.

Couple of things to keep in mind...

• The credit card company is taking the risk, not you, if fraud happens (can happen even if you notify) it is largely on them.
• You do need to provide them with a way to notify you while you are traveling. We assume nowadays that people are responsive 24/7 regardless of where they are, but that may not be the case. Best if you will have cell service with your contact number while there, then if you have an issue, they likely will be calling right away. Backup would be your email. Basically, rather than rely on a travel plan, the CC company would rather be able to talk to you if they see a suspect transaction.
• I do not travel with a single credit card, I have three I take, a couple more on my Google Pay. I also have two Debit cards, though cash is becoming less important.

All in all, I stopped calling or entering a travel notice 10 years ago or so, never had a problem, your experience may vary. Probably one reason I get by is they profile me as a frequent traveler. If this is your first trip to Europe (or anywhere far) then that in itself may be a flag.

I second what Paul said. The credit card companies that no longer allow you to give a notice of foreign travel will alternatively notify you if they detect the use of the card in an unusual place. I have never had one call me, but I have received text messages and emails. You may be able to call the company with a number on your card If a charge is declined. If the company has an app, you may get a notice through the app and also may be able to affirm a charge through the app.

How do you discover that your bank has an issue with a foreign charge? Unfortunately, your first notice may be when a charge you are trying to make is declined. If this happens to you, look for a communication from your bank.

This situation may be the most important reason why carrying a smart phone may be necessary these days.

Major CC I have, no; local CU, absolutely.

Chase and Bank of America no longer want me to notify them of foreign travel, and I've had no problems with them on two trips to four countries in the last year. Citi still wants notification. I'd be more comfortable if they wanted to be notified but, as Paul said, the real risk is on them. No doubt the chip technology has improved card security at home and elsewhere.

Credit Union, yes. In fact they just sent an email reminding people to give them travel information so they don't have problems using their cards, especially at ATMs.

Bank, no - they don't need it.

I had forgotten that one of our banks has a place when you sign in online where you can enter your travel plans.

Some do, some don’t.

Definitely check your online account for a way to report travel online. Call center wait times are ridiculous lately, and every card I have allows online reporting, or says specifically on the website that it doesn’t need it.
Also, I’ve gotten texts to confirm international charges. Fine unless you don’t have your phone and access to the phone number the bank has. One more reason to have service on your home phone number when traveling. If you can’t, maybe there’s a way to delete your number with the bank so they have to use email or other means?

American Express, no we don't inform them anymore.

USAA, yes, we do as they ask for that and make it really easy to do it online.

I think some of the credit card transaction flagging must be algorithm-driven. I have Chase Sapphire Rewards with the three other members of our family as authorized users. The only member of my family that ever has transactions flagged is my husband. I can up and fly to Europe and none of my transactions are ever declined. He goes to a music festival five miles from our house and his transactions are declined. I get a text alert from Chase and have to approve them.

I wish I could notify Chase that we were traveling so we would not have to worry about a transaction being declined, even if I can approve it fairly quickly. Wells Fargo still wants to know if I'm going to be traveling with my debit card.

My bank lets you do it online. Which is better than arguing with a clerk somewhere that the UK includes England, and London is not a country.

But I would call your bank and ask for a non-toll free phone number you can use to call from overseas (800 numbers dont work) if there's a problem. I had a card canceled on me due to a bank hacking, while I was in Italy, and had difficulty finding out why.

My main problem is when booking things online for a trip. Sometimes it gets flagged, sometimes not. Someone from AMEX explained their fraud review system to me, but this was a few years ago. Basically a hotel reservation abroad shouldn’t be a red flag, it makes sense that you’re booking it in advance and not physically there. And, almost any hotel is going to want ID that matches your payment method.

I use two cards, Schwab Debit and capital one credit card and always have both in Europe along with Apple Pay. There’s a Chase card kept separate and would be an emergency back up since I only use that card for free Instacart in the USA.