Travelling soon, should i notify my card companies...

[Christina_xyt]

I live in the north east now and I will be travelling to the west coast for about two weeks and my spending pattern will be different.  Should I call my card companies and notify them ahead of time so i won't come across situation where they decline my transaction at the time i use my cards? 

if so, what should i really tell them? i don't know for sure excatly where i am going. It will be some different cities that i will go. 

[MrCredit]

Call them and tell them you are traveling and the states you are going. I would not get into any more specifics than that. I have never had a card transaction decline by not telling them. If you bank with a small town CU or bank, you are more likely to have this problem, because they have less money to throw away at fraud.

[red259]

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@Christina_xyt wrote:

I live in the north east now and I will be travelling to the west coast for about two weeks and my spending pattern will be different.  Should I call my card companies and notify them ahead of time so i won't come across situation where they decline my transaction at the time i use my cards? 

if so, what should i really tell them? i don't know for sure excatly where i am going. It will be some different cities that i will go. 

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I just told them the states I was going to and the dates I'd be gone . They don't need all the details. I think some lenders let you do it online or via automated call in lines. Its like a 60 second call if that. 

[Anonymous]

usually they want a date range and what states you will be in. 

[negg]

Credit card companies don't réquire a travel notice on domestic travel. Both Amex and chase have told me its not an issue 

[red259]

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@negg wrote:

Credit card companies don't réquire a travel notice on domestic travel. Both Amex and chase have told me its not an issue 

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I've had friends from NY trigger fraud alerts when buying things with their amex in jersey. 

[Christina_xyt]

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@negg wrote:

Credit card companies don't réquire a travel notice on domestic travel. Both Amex and chase have told me its not an issue 

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Too bad that I am not using thsoe.. I actually don't have those cards..

The cards I will be using will be fidelity amex and discover (for gas before Octorber) and sallie mae for gas after Octorber posibily boa 1-2-3 (where amex is not accepted)

[Open123]

When travelling abroad, here's what I do.  Bring 3 or 4 forex free cards, usually an Amex, MC and Visa.  Whatever card has a fraud alert will be unused for my trip.  In the rare event all of them trigger, I'll call in to resolve one of them, which I will use for the entire trip.

Personally, I find overly senstive fraud algorithms extremely inconvenient and tiresome.  I prefer to use a another card rather than expending valuable energy to reslove them.

[IrishPM]

Providing a travel notification is a wise thing to do if you're going to change your regular pattern of spending while on vacation...I always call customer service and I believe a couple of my accounts with Citi I can set a travel notification in the account management section of my online account.

[red259]

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@Open123 wrote:

When travelling abroad, here's what I do.  Bring 3 or 4 forex free cards, usually an Amex, MC and Visa.  Whatever card has a fraud alert will be unused for my trip.  In the rare event all of them trigger, I'll call in to resolve one of them, which I will use for the entire trip.

Personally, I find overly senstive fraud algorithms extremely inconvenient and tiresome.  I prefer to use a another card rather than expending valuable energy to reslove them.

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To me it would depend on how much international travel a person does. If you travel abroad a couple of times every year then they shouldn't instantly drop a fraud alert. If you only travel abroad once a year or less I would kind of want a card provider to check with me, especially if its not something like a hotel/air fare etc. Like if I'm buying a tv in Uzbekistan well maybe a fraud alert would be appropriate. If I'm buying museum admission to the louvre in paris, france then it wouldn't.