Visa Debit Card Letter

But you should always contact your bank's security division about travel even if you don't get a letter. I would hope that my card is always blocked until I tell them where and when I am going.

Frank, I agree with that 100% but this is the first thing I have gotten from them in writing regarding their blocks. I read weekly on this site where someones card will not work even after they have said they did all the right things. Same as in my case as the card would not have worked if I had not called again to check. Once over there, it has to be a concern when you hit an ATM and are denied because someone on this end did not do their job. I don't want to have to spend a few hours trying to get things worked out but until I use my cards over there, I will worry about whether it will work or not when I land next week.

Tony, that's partly why we suggest always traveling with two cards linked to two separate accounts (two banks is even better). If one fails to work, the other should be OK. Still, you do have to be diligent about making sure they know where you will be and when.

That is why we take two debit cards tied to two different account and three different credit cards. Hopefully one will work. It is past my bed time.

We took 2 debit cards to Ireland, tied to 2 different accounts. No problem with either. The potential problems listed above is precisely why we travel with substantial cash (50 dollar bills produced after 2004), even with a 1-2% higher exchange rate in a major bank...just an added measure of peace of mind so you don't get caught without any back up. Dan

Due to the random overwhelming blocks like this I changed banks!

Sorry, but this is "we don't really want to do anything to protect you that's hard for us" A level of block like that is a sign of poor security and a "panic" approach.

See, this just makes me crazy. For years Visa and MC have encouraged the use of cards because it's been so profitable for them. Everyone could have many cards, run up high balances, use them for tiny purchases. Now due to new legislation their profit margin will dip. I think it's fine that they block your card in places where you are not, but they should still make it easy for you to alert them to your travels, and they should follow up on that!

They've also resisted the use of a PIN for every transaction, credit or debit. This is common in Europe, and should be standard here. While this would cut down on fraud, it would also cut their profit. They make more money from merchants on credit transactions rather than a PIN transaction.

Tony:

This is the very reason I have 1000 - 1500 euros in cash on me when I hit the ground in Europe. It does not matter what I paid for them - I need them to exist until any card problem can be rectified. My cash has never been refused at any location anywhere.

That just works better for us. Just one traveler's opinion. Have fun.

Rather than exchanging to Euros, if you travel with your home currency (e.g., US$) you will have a fallback if something goes wrong with your plastic but you won't incur the expense of currency exchange if things go as they should. I have only had one instance where I couldn't withdraw Euros at the time I wanted to (it was on a Saturday morning and I suspect that my bank back home was offline for a couple of hours for maintenance) so most of the time I haven't had to pay to exchange $ into €.

I travel with one debit card. I am not going to open an account just because I am going on trips. I travel a lot within the US and don't have time to do two accounts.

I do take a few hundred in "cash" and have the pin on one of my credit cards which could be used for cash advance in an emergency.

My only issue ever was with BofA where they "forgot" to put the alert on my account after I spent an HOUR on hold with them. The phone call from Spain was NOT pleasant.

I am now with a bank that has lots of international travelers so I expect no problems. That's one of thier strong points.

I posted on this site in 2005 about a major problem my husband & I had with our one & only ATM card while in Venice. Couldn't get funds after trying numerous ATM machines. Also visited 3 different banks in Venice to get a cash advance but were told by all 3 "no can do". Funny we didn't have problems in Rome, Florence, Vareena or anywhere in Switzerland on that trip. The 3 Venice banks blamed our home bank, our home bank blamed the ATM's in Venice. We never figured it out but you can bet your sweet %#* before our next trip we opened another bank account & had 2 different ATM's & credit cards on 2 different bank accounts just in case. That's my story & I'm sticking by it.

I suspect that very few people on these Web sites travel abroad without notifying their bank. Yet we have no way of knowing if the bank or Visa (or MasterCard) actually entered the data in their IT systems. They simply expect us to trust them, but they do not have to bear the consequences if we notify them and then our debit or credit card does not work when we land in another country. There has to be a better way. It should not be necessary to carry at least two debit cards and at least two credit cards, but that seems to be our only option.

Karen mentioned that using a PIN for all transactions is common in Europe, but I did not find that to be true at all. Quite the opposite actually. The only time I recall using my PIN was at an ATM. For purchases I always signed for them.

I always contact my credit union before traveling. For one of my trips they didn't notify the fraud division, and after the first use of my card when we landed they put a hold on my accounts. It took several days to discover this because I didn't need any money for a while. When I finally got in touch with someone they took care of it, and suggested I carry the phone number for the fraud division when I travel...just in case. I put the number in my cell phone so I will always have it now.

Karen was talking about Europeans having to enter pin numbers when making a transaction. Most European cards have smart chips, and with smart chip transactions, you enter a pin instead of signing for the transaction like we do.

I also had trouble getting cash from ATMs with my debit card. However, I had no trouble using that same card to pay for purchases as a credit transaction, which is what I ended up doing for most of my trip.

I agree with Jon. I took Euros and Pounds with me. I gave my son half and we each put our half into our money belts. Before we left each morning, we took out our daily amount so that we never had to get into our stash in public. I worked well for us. I worried too much about "what could happened" that I spent the extra money to buy Euros and Pounds from my bank so I won't spend my vacation stressing and trying to find an ATM. We did take 2 ATM cards for each account, but never had to use them. I had problems with my mastercard. I called both credit card companies twice before I left. My card was rejected at hotel. I called card company and they showed that I would be in Europe (where and when) but never released the hold on the card. Not something I wanted to deal with after 10 hour flight.