I know this isn’t strictly travel related, but you guys seem to be the credit card gurus, so I thought you might be able to help me. An elderly relative has had a Chase MC account for over 20 years. He gives additional cards to children and grandchildren, so there are 9-10 authorized cards on the account, and monthly spend can be in the $10,000 up to $50,000 range. Any of the various cardholders might be anywhere in the world at any given time.

The problem is that Chase, like many banks, has put all sorts of anti-fraud and anti-identity theft measures in place. These systems just choke on the volume and number of transactions this account generates, and the fact that transactions come in simultaneously from different countries. Recently, just about every other transaction has been declined and placed the account into a hold, requiring the primary cardholder to call in and authorize the charges. Since the primary cardholder himself might be unavailable for a few days at a time, the whole account is locked up until he returns. Chase has repeatedly promised to exempt this account from these automated systems, but seems unable to do so.

So, we’re looking for a credit card issuer (Visa or MC) that hasn’t implemented all these security measures (yet). They would also need to approve him upfront for a pretty large credit limit. He is happy to provide a history of the Chase statements to show the monthly balances and that they were always paid on time.

I know that Amex is better about this sort of thing, he has Amex as well, but he would like a Visa or MC for this purpose. I also know that many banks have a “private banking” division for high net worth individuals that could probably accommodate this need, the cardholder actually has such a relationship with a bank (not Chase) but he prefers to keep his personal banking and credit card spending separate (he’s very old school).

Any suggestions as to a better card issuer/specific card? Thanks.

Diners Club MasterCard

Perhaps it might be as simple are converting the cards into a corporate card system. The main account holder can act as a Sole Proprietor doing business as himself and have the additional accounts.

If he has a long credit history with Chase, along with a fairly large limit he may be able to easily shift his cards over to the business divsion. Business card accounts understand that people travel all over, so the anti-fraud checks take that into account.

I second changing it to a business card account. Now I would like to know why beckles suggested diners club. I did not realize that diners club was that much more or shall I say that much less security concious.

I think that the previous suggestions are good ones. It has also been my experience that Citibank is pretty good about adding "notes" to your on-line file and if the problem is explained to them, they might handle it well. But the business acct sounds like the way to go. Lots of nice FF miles each month!!!

I've had problems with a number of banks and ATM cards when going out of the country. Sometimes I've had to call repeatedly telling them that I'm always out of the country, so shouldn't block foreign destinations, just since I'm in Timbuktu.

I've found community banks and credit unions are the best bet for ATM ussage. The community bank I use changes a flat $1.50 for international ATM. They just set a flag on the account and it's done. It's the duty of a large bank to squeeze as much money out of the customer as possible. Large banks are actually extremely concerned about the trend of community banking and credit unions.

serlon
The suggestions, especially to look for a business card, make sense. I just wish I had a grandparent like that!
tom

Quite frankly because Diners Club operates on the margins of the charge card biz to begin with, and in my experience they operate quite liberally. Besides that, they have the best customer service going for if and when a problem is encountered.

Note that while the Diners Club card is technically a Citibank product, in my experience they are operated basically independently, I am not basing my suggestion on Citibank policies in general, but rather Diners Club policies specifically.

Try First Republic Bank www.firstrepublicbank.com as they have an excellent ATM/debit card that I have had excellent card that I have had no problem with at all.

Thanks for all the replies. We don't want to go with a business card structure because that's a hassle with EIN numbers, etc. Diners Club sounds like a good option, I'll check them out.

Thanks again.

In the US a Sole Propietor doesn't need a seperate EIN. Their SSN is the EIN, thus quite simple to deal with. Half the small business credit card applications I get don't even ask for EIN as the main account holder is guaranteeing the credit line.

Has he considered prepaid credit cards? I'd imagine with that kind of transaction volume he could get a very good rate/break on the fees to load the cards up front. They'd be managed as separate "accounts" so if Susie is in Argentina and spends $10k it won't raise any red flags for Joey in Amsterdam's account. If they're generating that kind of activity regularly, I would imagine he is paying most or all of the balance each month to avoid huge interest charges. I bet he could even find a bank willing to automatically draft the transfer of money from checking to the prepaid Visas on a monthly basis, with that kind of volume.

Pen fed might work for you.