I do this even if I am just traveling out of state. With increasing identity theft rates it seems card companies (especially BoA) are shutting down cards quickly. It's a 5 minute process to call the bank and get a travel notice added and it sure does save you one hell of a time once you are overseas. A few months ago I went to Ireland with my girlfriend and her father. Both my girlfriend and I alerted our banks about the travel her dad didn't. So we ended up paying for everything on the trip.

Note that with some of the more muddle-headed banks (Capital One in particular) they may still block your account even if you tell them ahead of time that you're traveling. So always carry a backup card.

And for information on foreign exchange rates see the "Credit/Debit/ATM Cards and Foreign Exchange" wiki over at flyerguide (and offshoot of flyertalk.com). There's a big difference between some banks in terms of what they charge to use your card overseas.

My business partner has tried this before and it never does any good. One or more of his cards gets blocked every time whether he calls before he travels or not.

The process of putting the block on is automated. No one looks at the note on the account until the cardholder calls again and tells them to read the note and unblock it.

HSBC locked me out when I was in Hong Kong. They required an overseas call and verification. Ironic since they're the Hong Kong bank and all...

My advise based on hard lessons assume nothing.

We called well before traveling and spoke to call-centre reps about our credit cards. Unfortunately we assumed that speaking to our banks about our credit card would ALSO cover our ATM cards with the same bank. WRONG.

There were were two-three days into a two week vacation with just change in our pockets. Local ATMs were refusing the transactions. We spent the better part of a day just FINDING the number to call. (This must happen a lot - my bank has a "local" 0-800 number in the UK just for this sort of thing.) After a few key questions my accounts were freed.

Next time I'm going to call the call-centre twice: once for Visa and once for the ATM card.

I went to China last year and paid for everything is cash... I still have 7000 RMB sitting in an envelope in my file cabinet...

I used to get hit with this all the time travelling outside the country. Worst was arriving in Heathrow pulling out 100 pounds for cabfare into the city with a debit card then finding my debit card had been frozen when I tried to check in at the hotel. I used my credit card for the hotel. It was duly frozen. Accordingly I couldn't purchase internet access to call back with Skype or anything like that to get the freezes lifted so I was stuck paying through the nose to call Bank of America through the hotel phone system. Spent most of the time on hold of course.

I've since become paranoid about it and call repeatedly to make sure they really have put a travel notice on my account and aren't going to freeze my card before I even leave the country e.g. because I purchased T-Mobile WiFi access in the airport and it showed up as billed in a different state (this was probably the second most aggravating freeze).

On the other hand my younger sister who had never used her card outside the US before used it all last summer in Thailand and Bank of America apparently found nothing suspicious about that at all.

@themicah:
All too true...I travel a lot and this happens almost everytime; even when I notify them. The best was about a year ago when my folks were in Iceland. CapitalOne called my office (I work with my parents) inquiring about possible fraudulent activity. They said there had been a charge in Iceland.
I asked them "Yes they're in Iceland. We called and notified you about this a week before they departed; don't you have any record of this?"
The reply "Well yes sir it does state here that they would be traveling to Iceland during these dates. But the flags still go up so we must freeze the account until we can verify it."

So...NO it does no good to tell them ahead of time...

Wasn't there a story on the consumerist in the past about how the banks will still freeze your card even if you notified them in advance?

I have never had a problem with this. I've always called in advance and many credit card systems can put a block on the blocker so it knows not to block you when you make charges in Scotland during the first week of March or whatever.

But always always always make sure you travel with customer service contact numbers and know how to contact them from overseas. (Many times when I've called to tell them I'm going overseas they've given me a country-specific toll-free number for that country so I don't even have to call internationally if there's a problem.)

It's a good idea to Xerox the front and back of your cards and store them safely and separately from your wallet in case your wallet gets stolen. Then you have the numbers handy. At home at least you can dig through your bills to frantically find the fraud department number. Overseas you're screwed if you don't have the numbers handy.

(It's actually a good idea to do this now and then anyway and keep a copy in your fireproof safebox or whatever ... in case your wallet gets stolen so you don't have to dig through stuff. My copy was NOT up to date when I had my wallet stolen in October and it took hours longer to get everything cancelled than it would have if I'd had the card numbers and phone numbers all right there.)

@Canino: This has been my experience as well. I call them in advance and I get blocked anyway. Even after I spend the long distance charges to call them and tell them (again) that I approved the charges and to please allow future charges from the location through they block me again. You'd think that they could work this into their fraud detection software somehow.

@Tedicles: That right there is the one of best arguements for recording phone calls ever. Could you imagine the b*tchslap CaptialOne would have had if a recording of that last portion of your paragraph had been released to the internet???

My experience with Capital One was excellent. I called a week before my trip and informed them of my vacation. I also got my interest rate reduced as well! I spent two weeks in Eastern Europe and no issues at all.

However I had a Citigroup Card that allowed charges from a pet shop in Japan and some tolls as well in Japan be charged to my card without raising any flags. This would not be bad if I actually lived somewhere near Japan

@Balfegor: I guess the trick is to get a "virgin" card without any use patterns set already...

@econobiker: It could also be that poorly trained CSRs just plain forget to note in your account that you'll be traveling.

Yes I've had my Chase Visa card frozen overseas even when I've called in advance... hell I've had my card frozen without warning when I called the CC company to ask a question from work instead of my "official" home number! I appreciate their dedication to security but that last incident really chapped my ass!

@Tedicles: Had this happen two times. Thankfully I had other cards to tie me over.

It's a horrible feeling at the start of a trip when trying to pay for a hotel room and hear "Sorry sir your card came back declined." Tried an ATM and it told me to contact my bank. So I go online and get the "International Toll Free" number for my bank for where I was. Number was out of service. Had to pay $10 just to hear that too (wasn't toll free after all).

Anyway always carry multiple cards and some currency.

I travel internationally and never have a problem either. I always call a week before and give them the country or region I'll be in.

Of course it's a big plus to carry TWO cards in case one does get shut down lost or stolen.

This happens to me *occasionally* mostly with Bank of America and it's always been when I make a big purchase (PS3 Computer plane ticket that sort of thing). I've never had it happen while checking into a hotel using an ATM or anything else like that.

Also CapitalOne is often a good card to have overseas since they don't charge the exchange fees like most others (those 3% fees add up quickly).

Some of my cards have an American address and others have a Norwegian address (need the American address when purchasing some things online - iTunes for example) but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference as to what address I'm using.

As a side note almost all credit cards have a regular (non toll-free) number set up that will accept international collect calls. If it isn't printed on the card you can call the bank and ask for it.

Very strange I've traveled a lot (including internationally) and never had this problem.

@Philip Sanderson: It is a lifesaver when it works. But I have had problems despite calling. I suggest travelling with at least three cards in additon to local currency. And keep the card numbers and the phone numbers in a separate place in your luggage in case they get stolen. I usually write them formatted as a contact list with multiple phone numbers. I.E. Charlie McCarville (Chase Mastercard) Work (xxx) xxx-xxxx Fax (xxx) xxx-xxxx cell (xxx) xxx-xxxx. The work number is the phone number (not the 800#) the other two are the card number with a few extra digits in there.

Easier said than done.

We did this before our last cross country trip. Our account got frozen anyway repeatedly. This on a 4-day trip.

I had this problem with ANZ Bank - But the went utterly above and beyond the call.

I called them from my Australia mobile(on international Roaming), and the Help desk person asked me to terminate the call so she could call me back, thus costing me less money, and after I handed my phone to a US Marine who was stationed behind a desk there to confirm I was actually in Frankfurt, it was sorted out in 15 minutes, and she even called me back to notify me that my account was now Authorized for Germany for a short amount of time (About three days) and was Authorized to work in england, my final destination.

Needless to say, I was extremely impressed.

@Philip Sanderson: Heh are you sure that was an actual oversight on his part? Just saying :-)

@themicah:

All too true. I have a Chase card and this happened on several occasions despite calling AND WRITING Chase. I finally had a very heated conversation with a security manager (a real manager not a 'supervisor') and asked him if Chase had cardholders who routinely traveled around the world -- Hong Kong one day Los Angeles the next etc. as well as purchased stuff on the Internet. After confirming that such customers existed I asked him to review my spending (and countries visited) along with my fraud and payment records.

He realized that I was one of "those people" and made some kind of computer change in his system. That was two years ago and I haven't had a single problem since. The key is not to deal with Customer Service but with "Security" "Loss Prevention" or "Fraud Services" at your issuer.

I travel ALL the damn time I just had the feature turned off on my account with BA so far no problems. My Dad on the other hand had his shut down in Canmore Banff and Lake Louise AB. But would still work Calgary even though he told the bank "Vacation in Canada" they assumed he would stay where the first charge hit (picking up the rental car in Calgary).

i've never had my account frozen from washington mutual or wells fargo while traveling overseas but thanks for the tip on ing direct. i just filled out my travel dates on my account there.

Our account got blocked because I ordered a 1.70 item from dealextreme (now keep in mind I have ordered items from ebay for 1.00 in the past and not had a problem) and they told us that since it was from china they thought someone was trying to scam our card. Mind you they did not call or email to notify of the block after it was done they just did it. It was not discovered until trying to use the card again which was VERY VERY inconvienent and caused a lot of embarrassment when trying to pay for something with a blocked credit card.

Not to mention that it takes an hour or more to reach these people on the phone due to excessive hold times to figure out what the heck is going on and not to mention the aggravation of the whole situation.

I can only feel for those who have had their credit cards declined while overseas or even traveling in another state. I can't imagine calling first would do any good as other posters have said the blocks are automatic.

@Eyebrows McGee: It's actually a good idea to do this now and then anyway and keep a copy in your fireproof safebox or whatever ... in case your wallet gets stolen so you don't have to dig through stuff.

It's a good idea for more than one reason. We're all going to die someday and having a concise list of all your account numbers will be mighty handy to whoever has to manage your estate.

I put both a hard copy and a digital copy in my firebox -- the hard copy for durability and ease of access the digital copy so it's easy to update the hard copy when necessary.

@Outrun1986: It happened to me once while traveling in another state. I was rescuing a car I'd left on the shoulder of the Pennsylvania Turnpike after it blew a head gasket. I drove with a buddy to Pennsylvania and then used my Bank of America card to rent a U-Haul truck and trailer. I couldn't really blame them for locking it out since it was a sudden flurry of out-of-state activity on a card I hadn't used in months. A call to their 800 number cleared it up.

Ah I spent a year studying in Finland. Despite notifying my bank on the phone and in writing every time I went to Finland from the US or from Finland to another country my debit card would get shut off within a day or two. It was annoying but nothing too awful happened to me particularly as I had a local bank with a direct number.

My sister-in-law on the other hand had her debit card shut off when she arrived in Japan at the beginning of a three-day weekend for the USA. She had a small amount of cash on her and was planning to get cash from the ATM when she got to the airport. Instead she was stuck for three days with no food.

@sirwired: Of course if you are already overseas it may be too late. I hate the 800 #'s only on credit cards. I tried calling Fleet Bank from overseas and the 411 operator only gave the 800# (and I couldn't get past the automated operator).

@Tedicles: :In 2007 I was leaving the study abroad and allerted each one of my credit card companies (Providian at the time Chase Amex) and my Bank (B of A) and didn't have any problems using my cards in my base country Italy but did run into trouble in Germany with my ATM card at some locations and in London using my credit card. Everywhere else I traveled my cards worked just fine. I guess it depends on your past travel spending habits. I had used my cards overseas years before for months at a time and didn't alert my Bank prior and had no problems. Considering fraud is at an all time high now I'm sure card companies are paying much closer attention to account activity now and also taking into consideration who the cardholder is. But another thing that struck me as weird when using my cards in Europe were the number of official looking phishing emails I got threatening me that my card access would be cut off on x date unless I verfied my account information via a weblink because my card was being used in several different locations. I wish I knew the consumerist was around at that time because I came very close to panicing and falling for one.

It's always good to have multiple ways to access your money. Also useful- unlocked GSM cell phone just pick up a prepaid SIM card in whatever country you are in. To get calls to your normal US number you can two things set up you account to forward to a skypein number then set up skype to forward to your overseas prepaid number. You could forward directly from you US cell number to the prepaid phone but then you have to pay US to overseas rates and skype is way way cheaper.

This happened to us when we were in Italy. We traveled all over northern Italy without any trouble, but when we got back to Milan our card stopped working. Called up Citi and they had put a stop on the card. Few minutes later they unblocked it and told us to tell them when we traveled overseas.

(oh btw Citi tells you to call them collect when overseas, no charge for us!)

Don't forget that you can't call 1-800 numbers from Europe. You'd better get a number with an area code in the USA or you're super-screwed.

Sometimes calling the bank doesn't even matter. I've bought 3 vehicles over the Internet, out of state, and drove them home. I paid for all expenses with my American Express card - one way airfare, hotels, gas, food, etc.

The first car, I got an hour up the freeway after taking delivery and my card gets turned off for fraud. Embarrassing after I've already put $30 worth of gas in the tank and my card is denied!! I paid via alternate means, made a phone call and they turned it back on.

A couple of years later, I bought another car. Called AmEx this time, "We'll make a note on your account." Same deal, after the second gas purchase the card is locked out.

Third car, SAME STORY. I called. I begged. I pleaded. I was assured the card would not be deactivated halfway through my trip. I asked the rep to triple check. "I'm positive, sir. Your account says you're on travel and we will not issue a fraud alert against it." Again, the damn card was locked out.

Between the notes on the account, the purchase of airplane tickets to a specific location, and the purchase of fuel and food heading up the freeway from said location, you would think they could get this straight.

My son's girlfriend had her account blocked even though she went in personally and told the bank manager that she would be going to Europe. Someone at the bank just decided that since someone was trying to access the account from Europe, they must be scamming her account.

I had the same problem. I contacted my bank before I went on holiday, asked the bank manager to ensure and verify that I would be able to use my bank card while there.

"No problem," he said. Or should I say, he lied.

I arrived and had no access to cash though thankfully I take travellers' cheques on every trip. Luckily for me there was an affiliated bank in the city and I was able to get my cards activated, but that was a half day I should have been enjoying myself on the beach halfway around the world, not stuck in a cab heading to the financial center downtown.

Needless to say, I gave the prick a good dressing down when I got home - sans profanity.

I have homes in Brasil and Argentina so we travel in those countries quite frequently. I gave up notifying BofA because it did no good. Over the last seven (7) years they have cut off our M/C and Visa cards every year in spite of calling and in spite of a record of charges in those countries. It does you no good when you are at a gas station in Northwest Brasil and your card is on hold and no one knows how to place a collect call or where you can get a prepaid card.
The only, I repeat, only, card that has not left us in this situation is the American Express card. In over 40 years of traveling internationally, I have never had a problem.

very interesting idea to use skype to forward calls. if that really works it will be a tremendous savings for using an international cell phone overseas!

my american express card is frozen routinely even though I travel to the same destination all the time. the worst part about it is they call my cell phone or home number to ask me if I am away, but since I am away I never get these calls. same with Visa...

Best solution - a combination of cash, traveler's checks (free from my credit union) and credit cards. I did this on a trip to China with my father, and he was relying on credit cards only! Even though he had called beforehand, his card was frozen in Beijing, and we had to call home to get it unstuck. I know the criticisms of travelers' checks, but it's better to have options when you're that far from home.

@Corporate_guy: Not sure about the story, but that happened to me more than once.

Emailed Chase through their secure website messenging system to tell them I would be traveling, dates, cities, etc.

Got back an email acknowledgement later that day that basically said, "OK, but we reserve the right to block your card anyway if we feel like it."

I dunno about your American banks, but Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) encourages you to call them collect if you need to contact them while traveling.

@Eyebrows McGee: @David Brodbeck:

Thanks, guys, for these suggestions. I'm going to make a note of these.

I've used travelers' checks many times and had no problems. The only part that sucks is exchange.

@Amy Alkon: Of course you can. If your mobile phone does not work with a +1-8xx number (although you will get a message that your call is not toll free most times), you can use an outward country specific number from and IXC such as AT&T to dial US numbers, or failing a local operator can connect you with a US inward operator who can connect you for a fee.

That said one's credit card should be able to provide them with a 10 digit direct non-toll free number. Many good banks provide local numbers in foreign countries. USAA FSB is a good example, they have hundreds of overseas numbers [www.usaa.com]

The same thing happens when you normally live overseas and return to the US. Every time I go back, my US-issued card gets declined after a few purchases. Apparently they don't want me to come home, ever.