Before leaving for his honeymoon, Derek called Bank of America to make sure he could rely on his debit card while he was in Japan. Bank of America assured him that he would have no problem accessing money. Yet on the third day of his honeymoon, neither he nor his wife could draw cash from their cards, stranding them with only $15 in cash.
He writes:
My wife and I went on our honeymoon in March of 2006. We both had saved about $2,500 to spend on our ten day trip. Rather than paying currency exchange fees and carrying a huge amount of cash with us, we opted to carry our Bank of America Visa debit cards with us and withdraw smaller amounts of cash at Citibank ATMs (which only have very minimal cash withdrawal fees).Both of us called Bank of America’s customer service about two weeks prior to our trip and went through the whole ridiculous ID verification nonsense you talked about. We spoke to their fraud protection department and let them know on each of our individual cards that we would be in Japan during that time and that we would be making frequent large purchases and cash withdrawals on our cards. They assured us that everything was taken care of and we’d have no problems using our cards while we were in Japan.
On the third day of the trip, we went to Akihabara to make some video game purchases. I found the only Wii system we saw the entire time we were on the trip and tried to buy it. My card was declined, which was incredibly embarrassing and difficult to deal with because of the language barrier. My wife tried her card and it went through, thankfully. The next shop we came to had something she wanted to purchase, at which point her card was declined. She paid with the cash she had left over, leaving both of us with about the equivalent of $15 total in cash.
We assumed we’d hit some sort of daily limit and thought we’d just get more cash out the following day and it’d be fine. When our cards were both declined at the ATM the next morning, we got worried. We spent the last of our cash on the cheapest phone card we could find so we could call the bank and get this mess taken care of. We scoured their website looking for a 24-hour customer service number but couldn’t find one (with the time difference between here and Japan, they had just closed their main customer service department and it would’ve been 10 or so hours till it opened again). We tried calling the other 24-hour numbers to see if there was a way to get to someone that could help us.
We ended up having to spend an entire day sitting in our hotel room doing absolutely nothing waiting for their customer service department to open. We didn’t have any money for food and all we were able to eat was a few candy bars we had picked up a few days prior. When we finally got to talk to someone that night, they said we should’ve tried the 24-hour number and that the other people we spoke to should’ve given it to us. Both cards had been frozen due to unusual activity and they basically said it doesn’t matter that we told them exactly what we were going to be doing. They assured us we wouldn’t have any more problems this time, but when we went to get money out (about a mile away from the hotel) my wife’s card was declined again. After walking back to the hotel and getting it fixed again, we were able to use our cards for the rest of the trip without a problem.
Still, we wasted an entire day on our honeymoon in Japan, wondering if we would even be able to fix the problem at all. When I called customer service when we got home, I was told that the problem was our fault because we were relying on those two cards. Their reaction to what happened was that I should’ve had other credit cards or cash available in case there was a problem with our Bank of America cards. It took me more than six months and countless phone calls with threats to move my accounts (two checking, two savings, a money market savings, and a mortgage loan) over to another bank for them to take any responsibility and offer me a $300 credit for the time lost and the poor experience.
Sorry for the lengthy email, but I couldn’t resist when I read your article. Bank of America has absolutely horrible customer service and more people need to be aware of it. I’m glad someone with access to a widely read forum was able to post this sort of information and get the word out.
Don’t rely on a single bank or form of payment, especially when traveling. Treat your money like an investment and diversify.
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Important lesson to learn – better to be safe than cheap. Get travelers checks and have both cash and credit cards on hand too. My dad learned this the hard way on our recent trip to China. Fortunately, I was along and had done all three, so we were covered.
@Crumbles: that’s not how I read it: I took at as they BOTH (as a couple) saved 2500.
@ShortBus: And an F- for comprehension for you.
They both saved $2500, which was their spending money. The trip would have cost more than $2500.
Next time you’re traveling out of the country (or, hell, even within the country), take a real credit card. Better yet, take two.
@Buran:
We’ll be looking forward to his letter to the Consumerist detailing his tale of woe.
I know what it’s like to have a trip ruined from an unexpected problem (had my camera stolen with all my exposed film), and can totally sympathize with wanting to stay in your hotel rooms doing nothing.
So this is more advice for the future than criticism of the past, and I’m probably writing it more for myself.
If it happens again that you’re out of money for a day, put some room service on the hotel tab so you’re not worried about food.
Then, go do something free (or nearly free). Ask the hotel clerk for ideas for free activities. Ask a stranger. Ask a waitress at a coffee place. Find someone who speaks your language and ask them.
Try these ideas:
Shop — but don’t buy.
Go to a mall.
Sit in a park.
Wander around the streets.
Go inside a church, respectfully.
Visit a local version of something back home if you’re in another country and see how it differs from yours. Like how a Japanese Home Depot differs from a US one. Go to a local supermarket and look at all the different food, produce, and other products.
Browse a bookstore, even if you can’t read a word of the language.
Visit the truly local tourist attraction that no one else ever visits.
But don’t stay in your hotel room and mope, as difficult as it might be.
This is why i frickin’ LURVE my bank. I closed all my other bank accounts when I was 18 and moved all my cash to one bank, so I’ve had my money with them for some time now. Once when I travelled a lot, they actually phoned me up to check “are you really in Holland right now, ‘cuz we see cash being withdrawn on your card.. Just wanted to check because you were apparently in Denmark yesterday”…. Now they’re used to me, I guess because they never call anymore when I do that.
Also, I’ve been able to bank over the internet with any bloody browser I want since 1997 – unlike some other banks. Meh!
SEB – formerly known as Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken , I love ye!
@shortbus: Fail at reading comprehension. Mentioned in the submission: “We both had saved about $2,500 to spend on our ten day trip.” Now assuming that they spent all $5,000 on their trip (one must read into word problems) …$2,500 x 2 = $5,000; $5,000 divided by 10 days = $500 per day. BofA credited them $300, thus $200 more would have been appropriate.
@ShortBus: If you read a little closer, that was $250/day per person.
On a trip with a friend of mine to Europe a couple years ago, he spent a large part of his cash in Amsterdam, and wasn’t worried because he was going to have his BoA card, and was having a deposit come in that would provide him with more money.
We get to Munich, and he checks his balance, which was only up like about $100, instead of the $800 or so it should have been. Calls the 24 hour number, where he’s told he has to speak with fraud. Who say they’ve put a hold on the deposit.
Then they say, “Oh, well you have $100 available in your account.”
“Yes, but I’m in Europe another three days, and that’s about €70.”
Ends up that he didn’t get it taken care of until about 6 pm local time, and had to call an entirely different number to talk with fraud who said the hold was placed because the deposit was made earlier than it should have been. (Some stupid thing like that.)
Moral of the story: a laptop with Skype is a Godsend.
Protip: When you’re traveling internationally, do some research on your destination country before you go there. If they had done this, they would have known that Japan is a cash-based society. Not to mention the fact that they -only- brought debit cards. Poor planning on their part in my opinion.
@speedwell: I had money converted over here before I went to London last December. There were ATMS as the Minneapolis airport that would spit out Pounds, Euros, Canadian Dollars or yen.
PS
I took about 200 pounds and that worked out pretty well.
Get travellers checks when abroad. I wouldn’t trust my american bank to be there fro me when I wasn’t near a branch. It’s pretty normal with credit cards to be frozen when charges show up from thousands of miles abroad. Still, if he did call customer service to ask, they should have let him know what may happen. Boo to bank of america and their CSR team.
“We ended up having to spend an entire day sitting in our hotel room doing absolutely nothing waiting for their customer service department to open. “
Nothing? Hey dude weren’t you on your honeymoon?
@jenny79: You can also usually get cash in a foreign currency from your local bank if you ask for it in advance. I asked them to get me some yen, and they called me about 2 days later once they had it at the local branch. I went in, wrote a check for the equivalent amount in U.S. dollars, and they gave me the foreign currency. Very simple, and no fees. Exchange rate good enough that it doesn’t matter much.
@johnva: Gosh, I was waiting for a Blame The Poster comment and you obliged.
Thanks so much.
@FinanceGuru: You’re welcome.
There is a difference between a legitimate and illegitimate gripe. A lot of this guy’s problems were created by himself and not his bank. It seems to me that they really went above and beyond already by giving him a hefty statement credit for something that wasn’t really their fault (his being stranded without money, and not being able to figure out how to call their 24 customer service). So I don’t feel they gave him bad service, either.
At the risk of siding with the Consumerist Victim-Blaming Choir, I think the couple could’ve planned a little better.
If this were a regular domestic trip in the U.S. or a U.S. territory, one could have easily gotten away with what they did. Going to a foreign country with a foreign language and a foreign currency totally changed the game up. Between the two of them, I’d have brought a mix of U.S. cash and traveler’s checks along with my MasterVisaCard check card.
And it probably would have been worth it to take any burn on currency exchange. I mean, it IS your honeymoon and not some everyday buisness trip.
USAA. I’ve used my debit all over the world without a single problem.
@speedwell: Seriously, you should have at least one credit card for emergencies. Especially in a foreign country.
Check with your bank before you go to see if they have agreements with any of the banks in the UK. –I bank with BofA, and I can use Barclay’s ATMs without being charged $5, and Barclay’s doesn’t charge any fees either. You still pay the exchange fee, but that happens with most credit and debit cards.
I’ve been living in the UK for 15 months now, and travel in Europe for work. I’ve never had BofA freeze my card.
One thing to be careful about. If you are outside of the tourist areas, some of the shops and restaurants won’t swipe cards anymore since Europe has switched to the chip & pin concept, which really isn’t more secure, but the banks like to pretend that it does, even after researchers demonstrated how to hack the readers.
@Rachacha: heh I was thinking the same thing…
@wring:
the bank will KILL you with atm fees!
Actually, you just have to find out which bank is a satellite of your bank back home. In France, Banque Paribas charges no fee for Bank America customers at the ATM.
Beyond bringing a debit card, I never travel without a credit card and a couple hundred in the cash of the region. Actually, I bring three credit cards, just in case. I always call to tell my bank and credit card companies I’m traveling (exceptionally annoying), but realize that they are in the business of making a profit, not customer service, and expect screwups. Hence the backups.
Also, because I go to the same place frequently (in my case, Paris), I buy enough Métro tickets that I’ll have a few for my first day back there, when I’m jetlagged, and need to take a bus or train to get to my friends’ for dinner. I also bring home enough in euros for a taxi, plus a little extra. You don’t want to be changing money at the airport, jetlagged, either. So, maybe you lose $10 doing it at Thomas Cook. Small price to pay for lack of aggravation after you’ve just stumbled off an international flight.
Another tip, in case your pocket gets picked, do NOT leave your essential stuff from home (Driver’s license, library card, insurance cards, etc.) in your wallet as you run around a foreign city. And do find out whether you’re covered on your American health insurance, and to what degree, and decide whether you want to buy a travel supplement.
let me get this right; you are in a hotel room, on your honeymoon, and for ten hours you can’t figure out what to do? you should’ve brought me along, i could’ve made some suggestions, plus i would’ve had some cash
Has anyone here ever tried cashing traveler’s checks in japan? not as easy as it sounds. every time i needed to it involved about 40 minutes at a bank with a language barrier, filling out forms in japanese and a lot of bowing.
And yet, you still bank with them. *shakes head*
“nothing to do in our hotel room for a whole day on our honeymoon”…
Shit… I don’t see this one lasting too long.
@speedwell: If you insist on being a luddite (no credit cards) then go old school and get some travellers checks – if you are a member of AAA then you can get them fee-free – if you don’t use them, you can just deposit them into your account.
The Japan release of the Wii was in December of 2006, not March. Did he forget his wedding day?
They left me stranded in Santiago, Chile. I’m still stranded here actually… It’s been 3 weeks and I still haven’t able to access my money. Luckily, my parents were able to wire me some money. I’m still waiting on BoA to do something though, as I’ve called them several times over the last few weeks.
It literally just took me 1 minutes to find 6 27/7 customer support numbers on their website. I mean, sure, if I was stressed out maybe “contact us” wouldn’t seem logical but there is even an international collect number.
Plus if you are relying on this one form of payment wouldn’t you write down the numbers to call for situations such as this?
Also depending on the kind of hotel you’re staying at the concierge can often help locate telephone numbers.
Almost the SAME exact thing happened to me. I called BoA a month in advance to tell them I was going to Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and then Paris for a total of 3 1/2 weeks. Everything was fine from Berlin to Cologne……but then when I got to Paris the atms started declining my card.
I went to their website at a pay by the hour internet cafe and found some phone numbers to use………and I couldn’t get any of the international toll free numbers to work (and they weren’t that easy to find either.) Fortunately my friend that I was with had a different bank and had some extra money to loan me so I can eat and have a few drinks.
Basically they ruined the Paris part of my trip.
Shawn
@BlazerUnit: Well, yes, on the one hand, they could have handled this better — with better planning, and a better decisions once the problem cropped up.
On the other hand, once their bank told them that they wouldn’t have a problem accessing their funds on the trip, then the bank takes on quite a bit of the blame.
And telling them, afterwards, that they should have brought a card from another bank as a backup? That’s asinine.
Very peculiar because I did the exact same thing in Japan and I had no problems taking out even $1000 at a time. I withdrew the money at the Citibank at the airport. Then I did it again in the Ginza Citibank. Can’t imagine why they had such big problems.
I can only think that maybe they were using their BoA debit card as a credit card as well in Japan? I suspect this only because they seemed to not have any other backup cards from the way the story seems to pan out. Having a backup card is a pretty good idea in any case. I usually take 3 cards with me on trips. My BoA debit card to take out money. An Amex and a Capital One Visa to minimize my foreign exchange fees for credit transactions.
My only gripe is that Capital One is very anal about using my card overseas. I usually call ahead just to let them know. I’ve never have to call ahead with my Citibank or Amex cards oddly enough.
@algodard: Were these traveller’s checks denominated in dollars or in yen?
@k8supergrover: Well asking the concierge might seem like a good idea. But let me tell you that English communication in Japan, even at fancy hotels, can be an exercise in futility.
I have used this to my advantage on occasion. Once I wanted a King of Fighters promo poster. But asking in Japanese never got me anywhere (I’m 100% fluent in Japanese and English). So one day in Osaka I decided to just ‘play dumb’ and ask for the poster in English. The clerks were pretty much trying to figure out what I wanted, took em like 15 minutes between 2 of them. Finally I got it, and I even offered to pay them something, but they just gave it to me for free. So sometimes it’ll work
I really don’t see how you can blame the OP. What is he supposed to think? “Well the bank said we would be fine but banks are just lying SOB’s”?
This does give me a chance to say something nice about First Union/Wachovia who have never given me any trouble using my card internationally. I always call before I go and they are great about noting my account and telling me if there are any free ATMs where I am going. I lived out of NatWest ATMs in England for 6 months because of this.
If international travel is a regular thing with you I would run away from BoA. If it happened once you know it will happen again.
@Buran: Indeed. Far too rare. I was lucky.
Also used my USAA cards in 4 continents without any problems. Asia, South America, Europe, and North America. Never a problem, exchange rates were generally reasonable. The ATMs in Brazil rock, they tell you what the exchange rate is before you make the transaction — if you take out more cash at once the rate you get is much better.
Traveler’s checks are no longer an efficient choice for in many places you get a worse rate than when changing cash. Changing dollars may cost you as much as 10% of their value depending on exchange service used. Similarly using a charge card in some places overseas incurrs as service charge which may be as high as 10% (Tanzania).
By far the best choice is the debit card and in this case the couple appear to have a valid gripe since they informed the bank of their plans.
I use USAA and have had the experience of having charges denied when they think it is not typical behavior of the account. But I’ve never had a problem if I notify them of my plans.
Ok, this article kind of annoys me. Nearly ALL travel books (and travel agents) say that Japan is mostly a cash only society. In fact, many cards are incompatable with Japans systems. Its only in the center of big cities you can use them. Yes, it sucks that the Bank of America blocked them, but they should have taken responsibility for this as well. I travel overseas just about every year and I have been to Japan many times. I always carry at least 3 grand cash (hidden of course) just incase anything happens. These people get no sympathy from me.
I don’t know that you can’t rely on one card (I had no problem with my bank-issued card in Japan). It’s pretty clear, however, that you can’t rely on BoA…
I have BoA and have never had a problem with traveling. On one trip I went from Europe to Africa and back again, all within the space of 3 weeks, and no problems. Later that year I lived in Germany for 6 months…still no problem.
My secret? I go INTO the bank. The tellers are usually very helpful and friendly, sometimes if I ask they will even show me the notation made on my account.
It costs me nothing but a little time, and I have a particular person to speak with upon my return if anything went wrong.
All the “don’t blame the ‘victim’” people. please. Are you serious? BoA did more than they had to by crediting this moron.
I don’t care what the nice lady at the bank says, when you’re thousands of miles away from home in a foreign country – even if the president of BoA is your uncle – you always have to have a plan B.
Shit happens. This young “world traveler” was just as ill prepared for a rip in his pants that made his wallet fall out as for the eeeevils of BoA.
I know there’s a huge naive contingent here who thinks than anyone with a problem against a corporation HAS to be right and is being “screwed by the Man”, but this couple was plain stupid. NO cash reserve? NO credit cards? NO travelers check? Not even a debit card from another bank?
ONE, SINGLE PIECE OF PLASTIC TO GET THEM TO, THROUGH, AND BACK HOME FROM JAPAN?
Even before credit cards, when traveling abroad, you’d keep some extra cash hidden in your shoe or a belt or what not in case your wallet got lost or stolen.
Who’d this guy blame if he dropped his wallet somewhere? I can see the consumerist headlines now:
“Gravity Stranded Me In Japan!”
Hell, when I go to another CITY where I don’t have family I keep some backup cash somewhere else hidden on my person, just in case.
It’s really strange how so many folks here instantly say a company like BoA is EEEVIL! for doing things like fraud shutdowns, but you don’t have even a bit of scepticism when a $12/hr CSR tells you “Oh, no problem, there’s absolutely zero chance you’ll have any problem using your DEBIT CARD as a sole source of funds in Japan.”
If you guys think big corporations are so evil, maybe you should learn that not everything they say is going to be 100% true, and can’t be 100% true, since even if the CSR is telling you what she knows to be the truth, shit happens.
Is nobody a boy scout anymore? BE PREPARED!
Banks will strand you any chance, for any reason.
Always budget yourself, rely on credit card as well, take cash as backup.
@speedwell: I’d like to ask a few things…
1) Where in the UK will you be based? If you’re out in the sticks, I would suggest taking lots of cash as you’ll be hard pressed to find places to exchange any travellers cheques or US dollars. If however you find yourself in London, then my next query might help you out a bit.
2) Who do you bank with? For example, Citibank and HSBC are both incredibly well represented in the UK. The only thing you’ll be hit with is a less than desirable exchange rate. Then again, it won’t be any worse than the likes of Thomas cook of Foreign exchange when you get there.
3)I think someone might have suggested getting a debit form of an American Express card. DON’T DO IT. Amex is not accepted universally in England, in fact, most places will tell you they accept, Visa, Mastercard or even Diner’s but they will not accept American Express.
Hope that helps and have a great trip!
sounds kinda off to me. I’ve spent lots of time in Japan with my BoA atm working without a hitch. As long as the bank atm you’re using is part of the visa network you’re ok. Remember back in the day when not all ATMs were part of the same network here? Same thing.
so you’re saying you sat in a hotel room for an entire day, on your HONEYMOON, with nothing to do? Hmmm, sounds like you need to be a bit more creative!
No offense, but when traveling you have to have at least a few methods of payment at your disposal. Even though it was definitely BoA’s fault, you need to take extra care when traveling abroad, in the possible even thtat something like this happens.
They had a whole DAY to do nothing. You should have used that “wasted” day to check out the local scenery. You don’t need money to have fun. Typical American.
I had all my money sent to a construction company in Mexico once. Not on purpose mind you, it was my bank’s fault,(Wells Fargo). I ask them why the transaction didn’t send up any flags, see as every last cent of my money was transferred to another country, a place I have never been or had business with. They informed me that I could have been on vacation and that they have no way of differentiating my activity in another country, from a fraudulent transaction. It took a month to get the money back into my account and in the interim I was hit with $400 worth of overdraft fees, something I was never reimbursed for.
I now bank with a local credit union and am quite happy with it.
In other words: single point of failure.
(PS Credit card > debit card in this situation)