Vacation Checklist and Things To Do Before Leaving On Vacation Checklist

I'd certainly vouch for informing bank/credit card company - having
been stuck in the US with little cash, credit card not working (for the
simple fact that it was being used abroad so CC company put a block on
it), 7 hour time difference making it very difficult to call the bank
at home to resolve. Bank recommended that we inform them in future,
have done this and no problems since then.

HTH

Ade wrote:
> I'd certainly vouch for informing bank/credit card company - having
> been stuck in the US with little cash, credit card not working (for the
> simple fact that it was being used abroad so CC company put a block on
> it), 7 hour time difference making it very difficult to call the bank
> at home to resolve. Bank recommended that we inform them in future,
> have done this and no problems since then.

What kind of credit card company do you have that blocks you when you
use it overseas????? I travel with 3 credit cards and spend anywhere
from 60-95% of my time each year outside the US. I don't have problems
like that.

I suggest that rather than tell someone in the CC company your home
will be empty for a few weeks you change CC companies to one that is
run professionally.

It was the first time this card had been used abroad in the 4 years
that I'd had it - right at a time when a lot of cloning and then being
used overseas was being done. Personally I'd rather stick with a
company that is hot on security like that for the sake of a little
inconvenience.

I once had a person actually tell me that he places dirty
movies, *** toys and anything else he would not want his
heirs to associate with him, into a bag and places the bag
with other trash in a trash can. That way, if he survives
the cruise, he can retrieve his "valuables" and if he dies
on the trip, his things will be tossed out with the trash
and not associated with him.

Nonnymus (true story)

RichC wrote:

> I just had an instance with my master card in Florida. I was charging about
> $1,000 for a mattress & when they went to apply the charge the sales person
> had to call the bank & had to put me on the phone & answer a few questions
> concerning my mothers maiden name & where I last used the card & for how
> much the sale was.(approx). I've never had a late payment. Very strange.
>
>
I don't believe that it's the amount of a purchase or even
the location as long as it's within your "pattern." Like
you, I've had larger charges challenged after having
traveled by air to a place or when moving about on a cruise
ship. If you live in Kansas City, for instance and suddenly
a $1000 charge is attempted in FL or St. Thomas, it trips a
flag at the credit card company.

The system seems to be very sophisticated and growing even
more sophisticated. When traveling by auto, I've never had
a charge challenged, since, apparently, there is sequential
"movement" in the places I've charged things, and I
particularly suspect the charge at filling stations and
restaurants.

My most recent challenges were 1) buying a water heater at
Sears and within a few minutes buying a second water heater
at Sears for a friend. Before that, it was buying about $2k
of baby "stuff" in TX, after flying there and not having
charged anything else along the way. I suspect that had we
driven there, charging gas and meals along the way, it might
have gone unchallenged.

When something like that happens, I don't consider it to be
an insult at all. I understand why a credit issuer would
require verification.

Nonnymus

Thus spake "Tchiowa" <tchiowa2@************> :

>
>Ade wrote:
>> I'd certainly vouch for informing bank/credit card company - having
>> been stuck in the US with little cash, credit card not working (for the
>> simple fact that it was being used abroad so CC company put a block on
>> it), 7 hour time difference making it very difficult to call the bank
>> at home to resolve. Bank recommended that we inform them in future,
>> have done this and no problems since then.
>
>What kind of credit card company do you have that blocks you when you
>use it overseas????? I travel with 3 credit cards and spend anywhere
>from 60-95% of my time each year outside the US. I don't have problems
>like that.
>
>I suggest that rather than tell someone in the CC company your home
>will be empty for a few weeks you change CC companies to one that is
>run professionally.

Citibank flagged my card when I used it in Australia and LA in a ten
minute period. While I was on the phone with the fraud squad I told
them we were going to Oz and they made a note of it so there wouldn't
be any problems. Also notified the credit union so we could use our
ATM card.
--
dillon

I didn't climb to the top of the
food chain to become a vegetartian.

Don Wiss wrote:

> Maybe the clerk didn't swipe the card? I had this happen once at a Home
> Depot when I was buying $3,000 of kitchen cabinets. The credit card company
> rep said it was because the clerk keyed in the number instead of swiping.
> That's a red flag. Plus the amount was high.

Sometimes abnormally large and unusual purchases put up flags. I rarely use my
credit cards, and if I do it is either for a meal in a restaurant or
occasionally up to maybe $200 on a purchase. Last Christmas I was out shopping
and ran up about $1500 in less than a half hour. I used my cell phone to check
messages at the house and found that the credit card company had called to
confirm the purchases. The guy told me that it was flagged as an unusual
pattern of purchases with my account.

>>>>> I just had an instance with my master card in Florida...

I bought a $12 stopwatch at a sporting supply store on the east side of
Orlando, and that purchase was enough to have my card closed down. These
sorts of stops on credit cards are apparently coded by location, and perhaps
store-type--it happened within minutes, because a few minutes later I tried
to pay for gas aa few blocks away and my authorization was denied. A sports
store suggests tennis shoes (although I had actually bought a cheap
stopwatch) and east side of Orlando would suggest non-touristic (as opposed
to the Disney area) which was evidently enough to have them immediately
close down the account.

Another credit card company recently informed me recently (despite the fact
that if they were to look at their records that I travel internationally
every few months, and domestically at least once a month) that I should call
them in advance before I take international trips.

Although this sounds like the benefit is to prevent the consumer from fraud,
the obvious rationale is that credit card companies have created a rubric of
potential fraud locations and purchase patterns--since THEY are responsible
for FAR more substantial losses than any one of their card-holders is.
These apparently cumbersome fraud-algorithms have them shut down purchases
instantly for card-holders who make a purchase outside of a jerry-built
likely-purchase pattern.

Icono Clast <IClast@JPS.Net> wrote:

>Chris Blunt wrote:
>> Credit card companies build a profile of your normal card usage,
>> and in an attempt to prevent fraud, watch for unusual activity
>> that doesn't appear typical of your normal spending pattern. If
>> you try to use the card in a way that triggers their alarm bells
>> they'll do those kind of checks to make sure nobody else is trying
>> to use your card.
>
>Nonnymus wrote:
>> I suspect that had we driven there, charging gas and meals along
>> the way, it might have gone unchallenged.
>
>Really?
>
>Thrice in the past year or so, when I got home there were 'phone
>messages from the credit card companying checking on whether it was I
>using my card at out of town hotels.
>
>Those messages were followed-up by letters.
>
>Duh-uh.
>
>They knew where the card was being used (hotels) and should have
>contacted me where I was, not where I wasn't, i.e., at home.
>
If the use of the card was fraudulent by another person, you would not
have been at the hotel - you would have been at home.

Although I have had doctor's offices do this. When Bob had a heart
attack and had an angioplasty in Miami, the doctor's office phoned our
home in Maryland to tell us that the follow-up appointment had been
postponed instead of calling our local number which I thought was
singularly stupid of them since they had both numbers.

>BUT, as advised in this thread, I had notified them where I was going
>and stating the obvious that there would be purchases for fuel, food,
>and lodging 'tween points.
>
In that case I think they must not really have paid attention, and I
would have a significant beef with them.

>When I pay the bill sitting here, I'll enclose a note telling them
>where I expect to be when and will also notify them by 'phone. I'll
>also send them a large additional sum as I'll not be home to pay the
>next bill.

When we travel we use only one card, which is a credit union card that
is automatically paid from our checking account each month.

grandma Rosalie

Dubiously Fragrant Muffin <deepfreudmoors@eITmISaACTUALLYiREAL!l.nu>
wrote:
>On 13 Apr 2006 07:06:16 -0700, "Tchiowa" <tchiowa2@************> wrote:
>>Ade wrote:
>>> I'd certainly vouch for informing bank/credit card company - having
>>> been stuck in the US with little cash, credit card not working (for the
>>> simple fact that it was being used abroad so CC company put a block on
>>> it), 7 hour time difference making it very difficult to call the bank
>>> at home to resolve. Bank recommended that we inform them in future,
>>> have done this and no problems since then.

>>What kind of credit card company do you have that blocks you when you
>>use it overseas?????

>Lloyds TSB did that to me. They had all my contact details, and could
>have simply called me on my (UK) mobile phone or sent me an email, but
>instead they just cancelled my card and left me to deal with the
>consequences of being in Hong Kong with no access to my money.

Wouldn't it be better to simply let the credit card company know in
advance where you will be traveling in the world and during what
periods? That's what we do here, and have never had a problem.


Caveat