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A few weeks ago I was vacationing in Big Bend National Park, which is in a remote corner of Texas. When trying to pay for our breakfast, my credit card was decl

A few weeks ago I was vacationing in Big Bend National Park, which is in a remote corner of Texas. When trying to pay for our breakfast, my credit card was declined. On the phone with them, they said the card had been flagged as being used in fraud because we were off in the middle of nowhere, away from our normal spending patterns. The ONLY way to reactivate the card is for the CC company to SMS text us with a code, which we have to read back to them. The thing is, the very reason they flagged us - that we were way off in the middle of nowhere - also meant that we had no cell phone service, and couldn't receive the SMS. And given the vast size of Big Bend (getting out of the park from the hotel is a 45 minute drive), it was questionable if I'd be able to drive to a location with cell service if I couldn't fill my gas tank first. The hotel manager overheard me arguing on the payphone with the credit card company, and he drew me a map of some pockets of cell service within the park, so in the end I was able to get it taken care of. One ironic part of this was that the card is in my wife's name. When they wouldn't listen to her, she gave them verbal authorization to talk to me in her stead. They were willing to believe her identity for this, but not for the re-activation of the card, which doesn't make sense. I also asked their CSR why they flagged the card. They said that I should always notify them if I'm going away. I asked them what the criteria is for that, since this was an in-state trip (I live in Austin, and Big Bend is also in Texas). The CSR said that's odd, and he doesn't know why that would happen. So good for them that they watch for fraud, but the failure mode for their heuristic is the most catastrophic possible. If the very reason they flag me also prevents me from fixing the problem, then it's a rather badly-designed system.

binarymax 9y ago
This used to happen to me all the time with Lloyds "Worldwide Service". When I would travel, I would tell them ahead of time where and when, and inevitably the first time I used my card in another country it was declined and I'd need to call in to card security and clear it. Mind you this would cost a couple quid due to the overseas use of my phone. These weren't exotic locations either, it would happen in NYC. Then one time to me it happened when I was exhausted after a very long flight, trying to check into a hotel. I got on the phone with them, sternly told them the history of events and the situation, and demanded to be compensated for the time and hassle otherwise I would switch banks. I pointed out their bank was misnamed "Worldwide Service". They put £100 in my account, and the problem seemed to go away after that point (I still needed to inform them ahead of time, but that did the trick).
creepydata 9y ago
This is a big reason I carry multiple credit cards and multiple debt cards with multiple banks. I'm paranoid about getting locked out of my funds while travelling. Wouldn't help if my wallet was stolen but there is still redundancy there.

binarymax 9y ago

This used to happen to me all the time with Lloyds "Worldwide Service". When I would travel, I would tell them ahead of time where and when, and inevitably the first time I used my card in another country it was declined and I'd need to call in to card security and clear it. Mind you this would cost a couple quid due to the overseas use of my phone. These weren't exotic locations either, it would happen in NYC. Then one time to me it happened when I was exhausted after a very long flight, trying to check into a hotel. I got on the phone with them, sternly told them the history of events and the situation, and demanded to be compensated for the time and hassle otherwise I would switch banks. I pointed out their bank was misnamed "Worldwide Service". They put £100 in my account, and the problem seemed to go away after that point (I still needed to inform them ahead of time, but that did the trick).

creepydata 9y ago

This is a big reason I carry multiple credit cards and multiple debt cards with multiple banks. I'm paranoid about getting locked out of my funds while travelling. Wouldn't help if my wallet was stolen but there is still redundancy there.