Informing Credit Card Company of Your Holiday Plans

[Geeman]

Does anyone tell their Credit Card companies they are going on holiday and to where?

The reason I ask is I have been told they may not process purchases abroad as it looks like a suspicious transaction.

What do you do?

[ChrisE]

All depends on the company. I know with Barclaycard and Amex you don't need to, but other half used her Halifax CC in New York and Halifax put a hold on the account until she contacted them.

[Gemini157]

I would be interested to see what others say.
I have never told my credit card company, when travelling to Europe, or the States or Canada. I have had no problems.
Having said that, we tend to take a fair amount of dollars in cash with us, so are not using the card each and every day!

[tink66]

I have a Nationwide cc which I use very infrequently so I always let them know when I will be away.

[Shani]

Always have done with HSBC and never had any problems. No idea what they'd be like if I didn't. I just send a message through online banking.

[Libbyimo]

Im with bank of Scotland ,and had trouble in the past whilst abroad, so now I always let them know,since i did no problems at all.

[SBF]

The Virgin credit card has a procedure for letting them know when you're away to avoid this. You text a number with your dates and they send an automated text response.

Doesn't work though. I've just returned from holiday and, even though I was in my stated area .. on my stated dates, they refused a transaction. I telephoned them and they told me that, despite having informed them of my travel plans, there's still no guarantee.

[bella9]

I always let my banks know. I take my Halifax Clarity, PO, and my AMEXs. I had my PO cc blocked while in Florida, I rang and told them that I'd informed them of my dates abroad. Turns out because I'd used the card to get a 99c DVD from the Redbox machine, the bank thought the card had been stolen, and a small purchase was being made to try out the card. Pretty impressive! Thankfully, I had an additional card, though, because I'd done my usual mega shop in Walmart and the first card was refused.

ETA: only had the one issue in several trips, and LOADS of usage. 😊😊

[barry206]

I always tell bank an cc company when we are away..never had a problem

[dking2001]

Never have done and never had a problem ... until this year. Tried to use a Halifax card for a largish transaction on first night in Florida (we had to buy clothes etc for the family as cases had been misrouted). Transaction was blocked and I spent 25 minutes on the phone to the company before getting it unblocked.

The guy in security told me that the issue was most likely caused by the fact I used the CC at a vending machine on Aligator Alley for a few dollars and then followed that up with a large ($600 dollar plus) purchase. Apparently this is what the card cloners do, use the card for a low level transaction where they are not observed, such as a vending machine, then use for big purchases. So my spending behaviours here triggered a fraud flag and hence card was blocked.

Incidentally, they refunded the cost of my £25 mobile bill to get it sorted.