AnalogMan

I find Chase's overseas fraud protection to be a bit of a pain in the behind. My wife and I both started going on international trips for work and it's been the same destination countries (and regions within the country). So, I called before going to each country for the first time and everything is OK. When I return to the same country sometime later, my Chase CC gets declined but my AMEX works. I am unhappy enough with this situation to be considering getting a non-Chase (both of my non-AMEX cards are from Chase) card.

Since we are on the topic, I thought I'd toss this out as a general question about AMEX. I have several AMEX cards. If one of them happens to be denied overseas, does this mean all my personal AMEX cards would decline the transaction? That could be problematic since I know Chase would likely decline the transaction.

badjuju

Well, you can wait a year, re-apply for the card, and get bonus points. You should have asked the hotel clerk to call the card issuer to save money on a long distance call.

annerj

I can't imgaine many people would rather have them deny the charge and have to go through the hastle of fixing it vs them calling.....but I could be wrong.

singletraveler

For those who travel frequently overseas...do you really take the time to call your credit card companies to advise them you are going overseas???? I find calling them, and the maze of prompts you have to weed through to get to a human, to be on par with standing in line at the drivers license office.

I've never had an issue with AMEX and would definitely be irate if I was declined just because I didn't call them in advance. Especially if it was a hotel check-in, where they could ask hotel staff to verify identity.

I'm not quite as understanding either as some here that it's Chase and not Marriott. Marriott (or any company that sells their brand logo to a partner vendor) has an obligation to make sure that anything with their name on it lives up to their service expectations. I'm not saying they should be held accountable for every day to day business transaction - but one would think that Marriott might have a problem if their own logo card is being denied to someone checking into one of their own hotels anywhere in the world, just because the customer didn't ask permission of the cc company to travel. Not saying the situation noted above was a Marriott hotel - but it could have been.

aaupgrade

Actually it was a JW Marriott, as noted in the first sentence of the OP. It disturbed me too that a Marriott would be declined and now after rereading the original post it occurs to me that something else was probably happening here. The OP actually said that it was declined because of credit, so it was not suspected fraud or unknown (excuse at POS when it is because of fraud). With a $900 credit limit, and possibly other charges or holds already on the card, it is very conceivable that the hold the hotel automatically puts through for the stay exceeded the OP's available credit on the Visa card. The hotel may put through a standard $1000 inquiry to the CC which of course would be declined in the case of the OP.

FWIW, my card has never been declined unless fraudulent charges had already occurred on the card. Chase has been 100% right in every case my card was declined. If my card was used fraudulently, I wouldn't want them to do anything less. For those of you who don't like this proactive approach, then I would advise you get another CC provider. No Marriott or UA points for you. FWIW, all of the fraud occurred on my UA Chase Visa since my Marriott Visa is only used for Marriotts, air fare, car rental, and dining. All my other purchases including those on the internet are done on my UA Visa. Rampant fraud is the SOP because of the internet IMO; as this happened to me once last year and twice so far this year. I know with some CC company you can set up pseudo card numbers for purchases on the internet; a great idea IMO. I spoke with Chase about his, but it is not something they offer at the current time. It is so commonplace now that when my UA Visa is declined, I already know what happened and the call to them is just to confirm and arrange for overnight delivery of a new card.

Regarding those of us who tarvel frequently overseas. No I do not call them for overseas destinations I frequent often EU, NA, CA. However, I will be traveling to SWP and Asia in Nov and Dec for the first time, and I will call UA Visa for that. There is no need to call Marriott Visa for preciously mentioned reasons.

annerj

Seriously? How are these people getting your number so often?

That is truly nuts. I've only ever had 1 fraud charge and it was due to the card being physicaly stolen from my hotel room. I buy on the internet all the time and just don't have these problems.

aaupgrade

Yes.
I don't know, and don't really care since in the end I am not responsible for the charges. Even my guesses as to how my numbers are being pilfered may well be wrong. It could be a regular vendor that I do automatic recurring charges with that has a bad employee who is pilfering CC numbers, a taxi cab driver, an internet vendor, a bad employee at Chase itself, or someone looking over my shoulder and stealing my number when I am using the card. Either way, when they get the card info, I am sure it is sold to someone else (we all saw the 20/20 episode). Wherever it is happening, I sure I am not the only one it is happening to. Chase's Fraud dept will find them eventually.

To get a more accurate answer, your question would be better asked to Chase or other Credit Cards' fraud departments, but then again they probably would not share that information. At least I wouldn't if I were them.

I originally guessed the internet because that is where I do the vast majority of my shopping and the main difference between my use of the Marriot and UA Visa cards. I do anywhere from 10-20 internet charges a month including recurring automatic payments, charitable donations, household purchases, and recreation purchases (ski passes, tee times, scuba trips, tours, train tickets, etc.). POS charges include groceries, taxis, drug store, and gas for the most part. The likelihood that it is a POS is low since the card is always swiped, except for the taxis where they still use a paper imprint.

deant

We should all care about stolen credit card numbers. It costs everyone in increased prices. Do you think that a company just accepts these false charges and do not pass them back to the consumer?

Also, if you have your credit information stolen so easily, then you may be the next person to have your identity stolen. Unlike a false credit card charge, getting your finances fixed after your identity is stolen is a far bigger task.

aaupgrade

I do, and I am glad you do too. This was the point of me being happy with the CC company declining charges when fraud was detected. It doesn't help reduce prices if they allow fraudulent charges to go through and then find out later after calling the card holder that they were fraudulent. Chase is tops at detecting fraudulent charges IMO. I am more than happy when they reject my CC as I know it is because their fantastic fraud department has detected fraudulent activity. My card has never been declined when there has not been fraudulent activity detected (except when ordering Coffee from Costa Rica years ago). Perhaps if I used my card less, then the chances would be much lower of my CC number being pilfered. But I get this feeling that the CC company and the merchants want me to use my card. Hmmm, that is kind of how it works.

It sounds a lot like you are blaming me for my credit card number being used fraudulently. Kind of like blaming rape victims for being raped.

That is why I pay an annual fee to have all 3 credit agencies monitored for credit activity. If anyone attempted to open an account using my SSN and other identifying info I would know about it immediately.

The main difference here is that CC company is responsible for fraudulent charges to the cards they issue persuant to their T&Cs; whereas I am responsible for use/misuse of my credit; fraudulent or otherwise.

arubalad

I do not have a $900 line on the card. I had a $900 credit balance.
If they would of called me and said there was a problem regarding security vis a vis my card, I would of understood. However, the hotel was told it was a credit problem. When I called Visa, after giving the hotel my AX(I have never had a problem with them, if there was a security check they asked to speak to me) They told me that "they always say its a credit problem" and If I called before I travelled it would of been OK. An apology would of cooled me off but not that it was my fault for not calling them. Also it was a Marriott card used to check into a Marriott hotel overseas common sense would indicate that the hotel saw my passport. I was also disappointed by Marriott., Anyway I canceled the card, received a check for my credit balance.

annerj

I'd hope chase would look further into this for you as I just don't think its that common and probably really rare to have it happen a bunch.

I charge anywhere from 4-10k/month on my cards in what sounds like the same places you charge and again I've never had a lost number.

Hopefully you get less of it in the future!

annerj

aaupgrade

Duplicate

aaupgrade

Yes, I was very surprised when it happened a second time this year. Chase, and other CC companies, have complex programs that analyze fraud, and I am confident they are doing everything they can to avoid losses and get to the bottom of all of their fraud cases. If it is somebody at a specific merchant it should be very easy for them to identify that sort of situation with the millions of transacitons they process daily. They have the information and the resources to do just that. Even then it still may be difficult to identify the actual culprit.

My volume is about the same, with a bit higher upper limit 1 or 2 months a year.

Thanks, I hope so too. All of my automatic payments are on this card, so it is a minor inconvenience changing all of the cards on those accounts. If it happens again soon, then I will start suspecting it is someone who works for one of those merchants.

This has been a very interesting acedmic discussion. Sorry to the OP for going a bit OT.