Oh, my goodnes - what an ordeal! I'm so glad you were able to get your card working again, but what a hassle! I always call the bank to alert them when I'll be traveling out of the country, but it never dawned on me to let them know when I'm simply traveling out of state. Very good reminder to us all.

We always call before we go out of town to tell them so they won't cut our card while traveling - which happened once to my dad. Our credit card company actually calls us first if there is anything that looks funny to them - don't ever buy tires, tennis shoes and ammo on the same day. ;D

DH is traveling overseas and yesterday I got a text message on my cell phone from "someone" saying one of our credit cards was frozen. Gave a number to call. I always ONLY call the number listed on the back of the cards, which was not the same as that on the text. Spoke to credit card company and they said there was no issues with the card. They told me to forward the text to their fraud department. This is obviously a scam trying to get you to call their number and input your cc number and other details.

Red -- ditto to what AuntJen wrote. When I traveled out of the country about 10 years ago, I did call the credit-card issuer and ask for something to be noted on my account.

If I'm on a road trip in the U.S. -- like across 2 or so states -- I have never notified the card issuer.

But I really can't believe the *alls of a card issuer to block charges for an entire range of the U.S. with the reason that there's "a lot of fraud right now in Florida and Texas"? Yeah, I want them to find the baddies, but creating more issues for travelers? I don't get how they can let a $500 credit-card charge for lottery tickets or a $1000 charge for cigarettes go through on a credit-card account within days and not question that, but that I could get slammed trying to check out of a hotel two states over.

Those lottery and cigarettes charges actually did appear on my credit-card statement, and I had to file a paper challenging them. They were cleared off, but really: Aren't there employees whose job is to look for patterns of fraud on accounts? And that was just the first card that had to be canceled, the account closed and a new one opened. Had another account canceled and reopened with a new account number within the past year when the Marshalls/TJMaxx/HomeGoods accounting and computer system was compromised.)

I've never thought to call and let the bank know when you're out of town. We do, however, travel with a debit/check card and two credit cards (one in my name only and one in both names), all three issued by different institutions. I never thought about that either but apparently it is a good idea.

Sorry you had so much trouble! Thanks for the warning!!

tina

Local Philly weatherman was drugged (multiple times) and had his card stolen. For a shocking read, check out the article below.

He ended up working with the FBI for over a year to help break up this ring.

Here is a link that might be useful: John Bolaris' story

I, too, always talk to my bank ahead of time if I'm going to be traveling. Saves a lot of hassles.

Like others here, I've never thought to notify the bank if I'm just going out of state. I always do when I go out of the country though.

And also be extra careful when using a debit card. My son had his card "skimmed", and the theives emptied his entire account. What complicated it further for him is that he is living overseas in Ukraine, and he had no idea it happened until I got the overdraft notice in the mail at my house. I am not a signer on the account, but have POA. Fortunately his bank (here in the US) quickly reversed the charges are deposited the funds back into his account after he and I filled forms for their fraud department. For this and other reasons, my DH and I have stopped using our debit cards to make purchases, and are only using our credit cards, which offer much more protection. I feel that my son was lucky that his bank refunded him ALL the money that was stolen.

This is slightly OT but terriks post reminded me of this point. Many teens and young adults use debit cards for making purchases and seldom use credit cards. This is the responsible way of spending money - right - only spend what you have in the bank. But, apparently this doesn't allow them to build up a credit rating for when they want to borrow money to buy their first car or etc. In order to do that they need to use their credit cards and then pay them off every month.
We got credit cards for our kids specifically for this reason. We have taught them to spend only what they have in the bank and thought the prudent thing was to have them only use their debit cards. We didn;t realize it might be hurting their credit rating by not allowing them to achieve one.

Beekeeperswife.
Interesting story. Thanks for that link.
So much going on today that we have to be aware of.

Redbazel, I would have been furious too. They should have corrected that immediately after you contacted them. My credit card company contacts me if there's a question about a purchase, and in one case it was a fraudulent purchase so I had to close my account. This summer I went to a bead show where there were vendors from all over the country. Within minutes I could be buying from a vendor from New York and the next from a vendor in Florida, etc. When I got home there was a message on my phone from the credit card company questioning these purchases which were all legit. If you plan to attend anything like this, it might be a good idea to let your credit union know in advance so they don't freeze your card.

Wow, what an aggravating experience. I had a problem with identity theft a few years back which was a complete nightmare. I am glad that wasn't the problem, but you certainly were inconvenienced by the unknown out-of-state card restriction, particularly in Florida.

I usually contact my card company when I will be traveling out of the country. Most recently, for DD's card (authorized user on my CC) when she was studying abroad. We did check out the scenario of DD using debit only, but it was more costly than using a credit card. The issuing bank required a call be made by me to them (cardholder) every 30 days in order to keep the card active for DD's use while abroad. Never thought I would/should contact them when traveling within the US. I guess it makes sense given the epidemic of identity theft.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Definitely will now make it a practice to contact my card issuer whenever I plan to travel in the future, regardless of the destination. I surely don't want to have a problem with using my credit card while traveling.

Like everyone else, I contact the bank about foreign travel but it wouldn't occur to me to report domestic travel.

That story about John Bolaris is really something. I thought I should warn my DH but he doesn't wear an expensive watch or good shoes, they'll never target him...hahahaha

The same thing happened to us this fall while visiting our daughter at college in Tennessee for parents' weekend. We were purchasing lots of things for her that weekend when suddenly our card was declined (we were only using our debit card). We knew there was plenty of money in the account. Long story short, we were able to call the bank and they lifted the hold. However, it was frustrating and embarrassing.

I had also always thought this only happened when travelling overseas, but apparently now we must call our banks when we travel domestically as well. What a PITA.

I would have been livid. In fact, it's happened to me but at a baby store in the next city!

I was buying the crib and dresser as a gift for my son and his wife for their firstborn, and my card was denied. Good gosh I was embarrassed. The cashier told me it's because on that particular card I was only allowed to charge $500 at a time. What?

So I used a different card and had no problem. But you can be sure when I got home I called the cc company and did my own yelling. Just who are they to tell ME how much I can charge at a time, and I had a ZERO balance to boot!!

Oakley: Was it a debit card? I wonder if debit cards have tighter rules.
But then again, my ATM won't dispense more than a few hundred at a time. I'm sure the bank would say they don't want big spenders emptying them out and keeping other patrons from getting money.

BLFenton: I get your point about building a credit record.
But people can -- and do -- overdraft their accounts. Some people are responsible using them; others try to game the system. Banks have built-in mechanisms that allow them to permit the overdraft and then charge the user high fees to cover it. Some users don't even notice the charge part in their card agreement. (How can they not know they don't have enough funds to cover a purchase? One situation: similar to writing a check and thinking the bank has deposited your paycheck already when really it's on hold and hasn't 100% cleared.)

Bank of America, not too long ago, settled a case about debit-card overdraft fees for $400million.

Card issuers need to make money somehow on these debit cards, which are typically given to you for free with your bank account. Credit-card issuers, at least, can charge an annual fee. That's why Bank of America tried to start that $5 debit card fee.

Using a card for many purchases in a short timeframe will sometimes raise a red flag for the cc companies; I've received many calls over the years for similar reasons. I once made 3 withdrawals in a row with my debit card and it got frozen ; using a card at an airport for a phone call will red flag it also, apparently that's the first thing frauders do to verify if a stolen card works.

Once in about 30 minutes, I bought a mattress ($$$), drove across the street to another store and bought a clothes dryer ($$), and then at another store I bought something else big for the house (but I can't remember what). I called my DH to tell him if the bank calls asking about major purchases in a state where we do NOT live, tell them that yes it was me and all those purchases are authorized. They never called. Luckily, I didn't have the hassle of them cutting off my card but on the other hand, don't they care about me?

I would think the usual profile of scam artists' charges probably doesn't include a clothes dryer -- even out-of-state! LOL! Now, a $$ bracelet at a jewelry store ...

Impressed that you thought about whether the bank would call, tho!

Years ago, when I bought 3 lamps at a furniture store in Florida while on vacation, it never occurred to me that that might raise a red flag.

But even criminals need to wash & dry their clothes, don't they?

It wasn't so much the items I was buying as the amount I was spending in such a short time. I had researched & knew what I needed at each place so it was bing-bang-boom charge it and move on to the next major purchase.