Bank freezing card when abroad

Ronanom

A friend of mine had this happen to them while abroad in America..

They tried to pay for items in a large popular retail store in New York and to their surprise, the credit card transaction wouldn't go through...

After a few (expensive) phone calls home to find the bank's phone number they asked that the bank would phone them in america to explain what was happening; however the bank would not phone out and so they had to phone a special irish number from a mobile in the states.

They found out that the bank just decided to halt any payments out on their credit card (their limit is well in excess of what they had already spent) without giving any warning or notification - which as you would expect caused a great deal of embarrasment at the retail counter.

Can anyone add their 2 cent to this? They're fairly pee'd off at the wholle situation and the least they could expect is a written apology and perhaps any phone charges paid for..?

Oryx

Its a very common security precaution when a card is used in unusual circumstances. I work in retail and see it all the time. Youd be glad of it if it was preventing a scammer using the card. Obviously foreign purchases flagged the card as suspicious. A single call usually rectifies this, unfortunately this was complicated in this situation.

Ronanom

KtK wrote: »

Its a very common security precaution when a card is used in unusual circumstances. I work in retail and see it all the time. Youd be glad of it if it was preventing a scammer using the card. Obviously foreign purchases flagged the card as suspicious. A single call usually rectifies this, unfortunately this was complicated in this situation.

A simple phonecall would have sorted the whole thing out alright but nothing was said, i'm sure they have her number on file

Oryx

Ronanom wrote: »

A simple phonecall would have sorted the whole thing out alright but nothing was said, i'm sure they have her number on file

No, the bank never phones you, or at least Ive never heard of it happening. But once the customer phones them, its rectified immediately.

spurious

When I'm planning a spending trip abroad, or a long-haul trip, I ring the credit card company beforehand to let them know where I will be.

I had a similar experience to your friend once, but no more.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

moved to banking forum from consumer issues

ircoha

Ronanom wrote: »

A friend of mine had this happen to them while abroad in America..

They tried to pay for items in a large popular retail store in New York and to their surprise, the credit card transaction wouldn't go through...

After a few (expensive) phone calls home to find the bank's phone number they asked that the bank would phone them in america to explain what was happening; however the bank would not phone out and so they had to phone a special irish number from a mobile in the states.

They found out that the bank just decided to halt any payments out on their credit card (their limit is well in excess of what they had already spent) without giving any warning or notification - which as you would expect caused a great deal of embarrasment at the retail counter.

Can anyone add their 2 cent to this? They're fairly pee'd off at the wholle situation and the least they could expect is a written apology and perhaps any phone charges paid for..?

I have 3 of the more popular cc's and as I look at them now on my desk, they all have bank-contact numbers on the back so.... 1:0 to the bank in my opinion.

next: the bank did not cut the limit, they halted payments, big difference so 2:0 as your title is misleading.

As noted by an earlier poster this is std op procedure now for use of cards outside the chip and pin areas so 3:0

Written apology for what: it seems to me that there is more to this than meets the eye because if the bank was satisfied after speaking with the person pro-porting to be the card holder that everything was ok the payment would have been let go through. 4:0

Pay for phone calls: no chance

cashback

ircoha wrote: »

I have 3 of the more popular cc's and as I look at them now on my desk, they all have bank-contact numbers on the back so.... 1:0 to the bank in my opinion.

next: the bank did not cut the limit, they halted payments, big difference so 2:0 as your title is misleading.

As noted by an earlier poster this is std op procedure now for use of cards outside the chip and pin areas so 3:0

Written apology for what: it seems to me that there is more to this than meets the eye because if the bank was satisfied after speaking with the person pro-porting to be the card holder that everything was ok the payment would have been let go through. 4:0

Pay for phone calls: no chance

I agree with all this.
I can never understand why people whose card is not working will blindly keep attempting to use it, when a simple phone call would clear the matter up.

Ronanom

cashback wrote: »

I agree with all this.
I can never understand why people whose card is not working will blindly keep attempting to use it, when a simple phone call would clear the matter up.

True, but most banks over here have 1800 or 1890 numbers which can't be dialed from the states

MartMax

Ronanom wrote: »

True, but most banks over here have 1800 or 1890 numbers which can't be dialed from the states

i thought every Irish credit card has a 01 customer service at the back, not 1800 or 1800... i might be wrong but both AIB and UB cards I own, have 01 numbers.

Marty

ScouseMouse

The banks have fraud control depts which monitor transactions for unusual patterns. I bought a sat nav from pixmania at midnight (which was on bargain alerts) and had a call at half nine next morning checking it really was me. When I go to the states, which I do regularly, I still ring them and let them know.

If a scammer copies my card, it is good to know that someone may notice. My friends mum has a card which was copied and they stopped it straight away. She uses it rarely, but always in dublin, at the same shops etc etc. When it appeared in Prague, they were on to it straight away.

SarahSassy

spurious wrote: »

When I'm planning a spending trip abroad, or a long-haul trip, I ring the credit card company beforehand to let them know where I will be.

I had a similar experience to your friend once, but no more.

+1

Ciarrai76

I never thought about ringing the credit card company to let them know you are going abroad - makes sense though and something I will do in the future as it is a good idea.

It is good how more on the ball these credit card companies are nowadays in the case of fraud.

cashback

Ronanom wrote: »

True, but most banks over here have 1800 or 1890 numbers which can't be dialed from the states

AIB's is an 01 number. BOI have an 1890 number but also an overseas number on the back of the card.

L1011

mart_max wrote: »

i thought every Irish credit card has a 01 customer service at the back, not 1800 or 1800... i might be wrong but both AIB and UB cards I own, have 01 numbers.

Marty

056 (Wexford I think?) number on mine for "if outside rep. ireland",. Bank of Ireland Advantage card. Written on the back of the card.

parsi

KtK wrote: »

No, the bank never phones you, or at least Ive never heard of it happening.

I have been contacted twice by my Bank in relation to foreign payments - once was 10 minutes after the payment and the other was a day or two later.

eve

parsi wrote: »

I have been contacted twice by my Bank in relation to foreign payments - once was 10 minutes after the payment and the other was a day or two later.

Same here. I had to use my CC to withdraw cash in Barcelona last year and the bank called me on my mobile within 20 minutes to check it was ok.