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Credit card verification and too much Junk Mail!!

So I am having two issues and hoping my wonderful forum friends can help.
1) We recently returned from an RS tour in Greece and I only used the hotel wifi. Now, back home, I am being inundated with junk mail!! Like triple the amount I used to get before we left on the trip. The weird thing is that my husband also used the hotel wifi and he is not getting the excess junk mail. I have a hotmail account and his is different. Can anyone help me get rid of this junk mail? I have tried blocking, but this does not seem to work. Someone told me about filters, but it doesn't seem hotmail has this. The only solution I can think of is to change my email number, but I have had for 18 years and it would be such a pain.

2) I just booked a 3 night hotel stay in Europe and man, it was a lot of hoops to jump through. My CC would not go through (I have Bank of America) and so I called my bank and they could not help. So I called the number that was on the declining my CC page and it was Verify by Visa, which is apparently something hotels in Europe are doing now to protect them. Geez, am I going to have to call every time I book a hotel in Europe?? That's what the agent told me. What a hassle if I had to book four or six or 10 hotels!!! Are other forum members having to do this? Is there a way around this?

Ok, thanks in advance!

Posted by
8162 posts

You need to trade credit card to one that has verify by visa
Try to clear the complete history of the browser you use to open email with and change your password

Posted by
2916 posts

You need to trade credit card to one that has verify by visa

What about if you use MasterCard instead? I don't think I have a verified by Visa card, but I've never had an issue with using my CC online for French businesses. I think I generally use one of my MCs.

Posted by
2679 posts

I just booked a whole bunch of hotels in places that often trigger fraud alerts...Romania, Lithuania and more. I used a Hawaiian Airlines MasterCard and never had a decline. My B of A visa is always a pain.

Posted by
3560 posts

@jazz travels-what is a credit card that has verify by visa? I would think that a major CC company like Bank of America would have this and the agent told me most American CC companies are having to do this, she mentioned Chase etc. Are you saying there are cards that I would not have to do this? Please specify.

Posted by
2790 posts

Bank of America’s horrid service when it comes to international travel is why I pulled all my businesses from them.

I’d just get a card from another institution

Posted by
14715 posts

I'm just back from a month in France using hotel wifi, restaurant wifi, museum wifi and airport wifi. After none of my trips have I had issues with an increase in junk mail! I have a yahoo email.

How about a new email just to use when traveling? Then you can keep your old email for your regular life...if you can get the junk mail under control.

I don't have a BoA CC. I had some problems trying to book a French train with my Chase Visa so I tried my AMEX Delta Skymiles card and it went right through. I KNOW American Express is not the best card for Europe but wow, it worked so well online.

Posted by
11569 posts

Verify by Visa has popped up when I make purchases for many years, not just in Europe. It is protection for your account. Just enter your password for it, easy and wise. I have two Visas cards, not B of A. I have CapitalOne and Wells Fargo VISA cards.

Posted by
3560 posts

@CWsocial..........all morning trying to enroll my BofA CC in secure or verify by visa. Both BofA and visa, claim not to know how for me to do this. Very, very frustrating! I hate to cancel the card, it's how I get Alaska airline miles racked up.

Posted by
5362 posts

You have to register and create a password. I think they may have changed the name of the program so I'm having a hard time finding it. I'll look again when I'm home.

Posted by
5362 posts

From what I am reading, the program is no longer called Verified by VISA; it's now called VISA secure. And the way it works has changed. You no longer create an account and a password.

https://usa.visa.com/pay-with-visa/featured-technologies/verified-by-visa.html

(According to that website...)

What happens when I finish shopping?
As you complete the transaction, you may be prompted to verify your identity if additional authentication is required. It’s important to take special precautions when shopping online. This extra verification step helps ensure the person using your card is you.

If I do encounter this extra verification step, what will the extra check be?
The financial institution that issued your Visa card has a number of tools that can help verify your identity such as a one-time passcode or biometrics. If you encounter this extra step, simply follow the instructions on your screen to verify your identity.

Although I didn't realize it at the time, I recently encountered this "extra verification step" when using my BofA credit card to book a hotel in Russia. In that case, BofA sent a text and a one time passcode to my phone. I had to enter the passcode into the booking process to complete the hotel booking.

I did not have to call the hotel. I did not have to speak to anyone from BofA or from VISA.

Side note: I do wonder how this would work if I was in Europe and had my phone in airplane mode. But during my recent (Sept and Oct) trip, I had filed a travel report with BofA and I never had this happen, although I was charging all of my hotels to my BofA card. Each transaction went through with no "extra verification step," So perhaps the travel notice made the verification step unnecessary.

Posted by
707 posts

Wife and I usually book through Booking.com, and have never had a CC problem, at least that I can remember.

Posted by
2141 posts

Joel,
I had an issue 3 years ago with my Chase card with a hotel in Amsterdam on Booking.com. I had to use my citi card instead.