Calling Your Credit Card Company!!!!!!

[mikeblum]

little saftey fisrt this time...will be calling my credit card company before leaving town to forwarn them of some purchases coming up on your next cruise...the last 2 times we have left the credit card company called our home and talked to our children asking for my wife and i wanting to know if we were aware that there has been some strange activity on our card...ya i guess the wired activity on our card was all the jewelry purchasing in st thomas...let the credit card company know that you are traveling out of the country before they freeze your card which could be a little embarishing while making a purchase...

[NorbertsNiece]

You are so right.

It's happened to me too..... thing is when they call my cell abroad guess who's paying for the call? Me! Then they start going through the security questions and I get riled because how do I know it's really the Credit Card company calling?

So I called them before our last cruise and gave them the 5 countries we were visiting..... and told them to expect dollars as well as Euros to be used. The call also included having to spell some of the countries.... saying I was visiting the Mediterranean was too much for the girl in the call centre to handle.

[98Charlie]

We've called sometimes and sometimes not (usually just forgot). But, we've never had a problem either way.

 

Maybe we just travel enough that they realize that our neighborhood is a bit larger than the average:p

 

Charlie

[travelntreats]

Really depends on the bank the card is issued thru... I only take 1 c.card with (usually AMEX) and notify them... never had a problem yet.

[sunshine174]

I have never called before and have never had a problem. Like a prior poster, we travel often also, so I wonder if that is why there are no issues. Also, if there is airfare, hotel charges etc. do they maybe look at that and see that you are on a trip?

 

I may call this time though because it is our first cruise experience and I would hate to run into trouble in the middle of the ocean!

 

Shirley

[ab1881]

We did two weeks in the Baltics in June and stayed on in London and Paris for a week after. I called my credit card prior and gave them the lists of countries we were going to and I still had a problem in Paris buying a handbag. I was so furious, I even had a letter stating they thought there was fraudulent activity on my account when I got home. Thank goodness I also alerted my Amex account and was able to use that one without a problem. Moral of the story I always let two different cards know in case there is a problem with one.

[jlbkty]

little saftey fisrt this time...will be calling my credit card company before leaving town to forwarn them of some purchases coming up on your next cruise...the last 2 times we have left the credit card company called our home and talked to our children asking for my wife and i wanting to know if we were aware that there has been some strange activity on our card...ya i guess the wired activity on our card was all the jewelry purchasing in st thomas...let the credit card company know that you are traveling out of the country before they freeze your card which could be a little embarishing while making a purchase...

 

I did call mine prior to leaving. They called the house anyway.

[mikeblum]

my oldest daughter will be home...she probably won't even answer the phone if she doesn't recognize the number...then she'll attempt to call me on my cell which will be in the room safe...after hearing the voice message...

[Yvonne]

I'm leaving Friday for my Sunday Mariner cruise with my Mom and I definitely plan to call the credit card company on Wednesday or Thursday to let them know I'm going to be using the card in Detroit, Orlando, on the Mariner, in St. Thomas and St. Maarten.

 

I don't recall ever calling them before, but DH did have some fraudulent charges on one of his cards one time so now we're more cautious. And with the economy the way it is, I think it's just better to let them know.

 

Even if they do call home my DH will be here so they can talk to him. :)

 

Hopefully there won't be a problem with the card but I will have some cash with me too, just in case.

[Shanafan]

I have never called before and have never had a problem. Like a prior poster, we travel often also, so I wonder if that is why there are no issues. Also, if there is airfare, hotel charges etc. do they maybe look at that and see that you are on a trip?

 

I may call this time though because it is our first cruise experience and I would hate to run into trouble in the middle of the ocean!

 

Shirley

We travel quite a bit considering we are nowhere near retiring and I always call my CC company. I have the RCCL Visa and we use it exclusively. Last year a week before one of our trips someone got ahold of our card number. I had just made a purchase in Michigan at our local Walgreens and someone was trying to use my card in Florida to purchase a big screen TV. They called us and let us know they froze the card. We did have our new cards before we left on our trip.......thankfully.

 

Our first cruise we did not know about letting them know we would be making large purchases. We were in St Maarten making a rather large jewelry purchase and we had to get on the phone while in the jewelry store and give our info so that they knew it was really us trying to make the purchase. Since then, I call and tell them not only that we will have a couple thousand dollar charge from RCCL at the end of the cruise, I also let them know each island we will be on. They note our account and we have never had a problem since.

 

Bottom line is it only takes a minute and if it saves a headache (just in case) on your vacation it is priceless.

[karena1]

I always call before we go. I have had issues even here in the states if we go somewhere and I don't call. BofA is just as particular as my last CC, so I just always call and let them know where we are going to be. Much easier than having issues when we are in the islands somewhere. I also carry my ATM/Debit card as a backup in case something would happen, not to mention plenty of cash, but so far as long as I call, we never have any issues in the islands.

[GMoney]

I have never called before and have never had a problem. Like a prior poster, we travel often also, so I wonder if that is why there are no issues.

 

Shirley

 

Yes - that's exactly why. Most if not all major credit card issuers have fraud detection software that "learns" your transactional behavior and spending patterns.

[jimsig]

My wife and I went to London last fall and made sure to call our CC co's to let them know we may be making charges outside the US. To be on the safe side I called 3 or 4 CC's even though we only planned on using Visa and AMEX. 4 months after I am back I get a wiered chage on a card I never used while we were gone and it was from somewhere in the UK. I called to dispute the charge and the woman asked if I was sure I had not made the charge. I told here I was sure as I had never used that card when I was in England. With that the woman says "well the UK is not England so you will be all set." !!!!!

[whiteway906]

Thanks so much for the reminder. Just got off the phone with my cc company. Can't have them throwing me the block just as I'm trying to pick up a new bauble in Diamonds International!

[HeathernRichardOcala]

We just got back from vacation yesterday. Our credit card company put a hold on our credit card and we hadn't even left the country yet. They put a hold on the card Friday night and thankfully we used the card on Saturday before we left on our cruise on Sunday.

 

Make sure to call your credit card company...

[DEL67]

I always notify my credit card companies as well as the banks that issue my ATM cards whenever I go out of the country.

 

I never had any problems until my last trip to China. My preferred ATM card worked at the Beijing airport, but nowhere else. Luckily I had my other ATM card too. Upon my return home I called the bank which said they had no recod of my previous call. When I complained, their answer was "we get 1000s of calls" and anyway they did it right on my previous trips. From now on I will double check!

[gdwest]

I called Bank of America (my Royal Caribbean card issuer) before our Mariner cruise last week. I gave them the days we we scheduled to be in St. Thomas and St. Martin.

 

Our cruise was rerouted due to the tropical storm to Grand Cayman and Cozumel--we had no problem using our card--went right through...so much for calling ahead!

[phoenix1181]

In addition to contacting your credit card issuer, it's a good idea to take more than one card. Knowing you're going to be using your card in Spain, Bahamas, or wherever doesn't guarantee the card won't be blocked.

Knowing where you're going to be is a big help but it doesn't eliminate the possibility of the card being stolen or compromised. If you do have a problem and need to call, DO NOT use the toll free number......... It won't work and boy will you feel dumb when you finally figure that out. (That's experience talking :rolleyes: )

[tinkerme1]

I agree with the advice to take more than one card with you on your vacation.

 

It is also important to let your CC company know that the charges will be coming from "Miami" as well as where you are traveling to, since the charges on the ship are run through RCI's Miami location! List all locations you'll be traveling to, and you should be fine.

[brwneyez424]

We always call the credit card company before we cruise no matter where we go. Last time the company put a hold on my sons credit card and he had to use mine for purchases even though he called. When we got home he called them and they said from now on call the fraud department and notify them, they will put it on file that he is traveling.

[Happy ks]

We called our CC companies and our 2 different bank accounts before leaving. They were all specific about which countries we were visiting and the dates we would be gone.

 

I find it odd that people expect a customer service agent to know what countries you will be visiting if you just say you're cruising the Med, of if you are in the UK, or Caribbean, as those places include numerous countries. They want you to be specific about the countries as card fraud can show up sooner if the card is used out of the countries you specified.

 

There is also an international number you can call if your card is lost or stolen out of the US, 800 numbers don't work out of the country. If you can't find the number on the back of the card, look it up on the CC's or bank website. I typed out a list of our cards and emergency numbers, leaving one in the safe at home and one in a safe place during the trip. If your card is stolen or lost, you really need that information to immediately cancel the card.

[NorbertsNiece]

Hi,

Maybe I'm wrong.... I can accept that..... I am wrong sometimes ;) .

However when I ring a multinational company to give details of my foreign travel, at their request, I do expect the call centre operative to know what the Mediterranean is even if they can't spell it, and to understand that London is a capital city and as such doesn't have a county but that's another story.

[mikeblum]

granted i haven't taken a world geograsphy class in about 35 yrs...but isn't england a part of the uk...or am i just another dumb american who has lost his geographic marbels...

[4everafter]

Everything is so crazy right now! I called before our Labor Day trip because I was going to use a card that I hadn't used in 6 months with zero balance. I told them where we were going, and how much the approximately the RC charge would be at the end and....I wrote the number down of the department that I was speaking with just incase.

 

I'm going to start paying cash for ship charges anyways because my little brats (;) )have figured out the cards are like magic money anyways.

 

When we cruised spring break last year and I got all the way up to the counter, all through security, with kids, and I left my amex in the car!! oh well, I used discover but its always good to have a back up.