Yes.

It is too easy to do considering the badness that can happen if I don't do so.

I've never understood this concept at least with a US based card where you're 100% protected against fraud. For me if a card cuts me off when I try to make a transaction anywhere in the world, I don't use that card again. I've only had it happen twice but those cards are now cancelled. I once had fraudulent charges on my card which I didn't have to do anything more than notify the issuer and sign a form to get them removed from my bill. Blocking a card isn't for "my security" it's for Chase's, BofA, Citi, ect security. They make enough money that I don't really care about their small fraud losses.

I call. I don't know if I really need to but I'd rather not have to deal with it mid trip. Mind you my card frequently objects to attempts to buy plane tickets.

A Citi representative once told me that he would notate the account, but it would not stop the card from being disabled if I used it abroad. For that trip I used a Bank of America card instead. (I did call Bank of America.)

I've had the most trouble with Barclays USA, which has declined every transaction from Europe. While it was amusing to hear the automated system try to pronounce "Österreichische Bundesbahn" when I tried to purchase a train ticket (I was in the United States at the time, ordering over the Intertubes), it was also irritating. Barclays won't even permit me to top up my Skype account--Skype bills from Luxembourg.

Ironically, the Barclays card has no foreign transaction fees.

I never called and never had any problems.

I almost never call my banks for such situations; and when I did, it didn't always work out in the way I would have wanted.

I never call and the only time I've had a problem (more than once) is if I try to buy gas at a particular gas station in Montreal to fill up the rental car before I drive it back to the airport. I can buy any amount of stuff at department stores and restaurants there, but if if I fill up the car at that station before heading home, my card is turned off by the time I get back to LA and I have to use a different card to get out of long term parking.

I've gotten a number of fraud alerts from the same CC company- once or twice a year I get a false positive, and they've caught I think three real positives over the years. When they catch a real positive they get me a new card within 24 hours. I generally check my bill regularly and I don't think I've ever had a false negative (a fraudulent charge that they've missed). They're better now with the false positives because I usually get the alert in minutes, so I can do something about it right then.

If a card is cut off, it leaves me without the resource.....I'm not concerned that I'm going to be out the money, just that I won't have the card to use. That may be significant when I'm traveling.

More importantly, I want them to be overcautious because I care about theft and I want thieves identified and caught, if possible, and at least not to get the benefit of their thefts. The fact that I'm not out the money personally doesn't make it less of a crime, nor does it make it "okay" simply because the bank is a big company that they can handle the small losses. You may not care about fraud unless it personally affects you, but I do because ultimately it will affect us all.

I only travel domestically and have had my credit card suspended. I only had to call to let them know where I was traveling, but it was a pain.

Now, I always call my debit and credit card companies and let them know my travel plans.

Because I deal with a local bank, it does give me some hesitation to let them know my plans. I know it would probably be quite a stretch that someone would find out my plans and decide to rob my house while I am away, but I am one of those people that doesn't make it well-known that I will be out of town because of this. I cannot get over those that plaster it all over social media that they will be out of town....:rolleyes:

Do you notify banks before going abroad?
 

We always notified our banks, then one time I forgot and everything was fine. Since then I don't bother and haven't had more than occasional problems. No more than I have had domestically. Barclay's USA seems to be the worst and I frequently need to verify charges via phone or online.

I've never called.

Anytime I've had an intermittent decline abroad, I've just used another card...and then usually found that the declined card worked again at some other merchant in the same city or country.

Only time I had more than the rare one-off decline was Nepal, where several of my cards were declining fairly regularly. One of my cards...I think Citi but not 100% sure...was more reliable than others. When I called Chase, they said "We haven't declined anything", so I think it was an in-country issue.

Still, because of that, wherever I travel farther afield than a simple Canada/Europe type trip, I make sure I have four or five cards in my wallet from different issuing banks. A Citi MC, a Chase Visa, a Barclays MC, an Amex, and my credit union ATM card that also functions as a Visa. I also push a few bucks into the credit union checking account before I travel, as some ATM's around the world give no other options but to pull from checking. Learned that the hard way one time... :eek:

In a word, 'yes'.

I have had several credit cards replaced this year due to fraud that occurred overseas. IMHO, the banks are tightening up their security in this area. Why take a chance?

My bank advised me they don't care at all about a debit card. It's my bank account and my money and they don't care where I withdraw it.

For credit cards:
1. Amex-never call, never an issue.
2. Other major credit card I use-I fill in an online form. Probably don't need to, but I still do. Only takes a minute or so.

But there are different kinds of overseas activity. I too have had a card replaced due to fraud in the past year...it was a case where the bank caught it with their algorithms, called me, and I verified that it wasn't me in Latvia making those charges. (Probably the charge in Latvia happening at the same time I was charging a tank of gas in Missouri...who knows...)

However, if their systems choke on a normal sequence of travel charges, then they're going to lose customers. If they freak out because I buy a latte at CDG ten hours after I buy a beer at ORD, their system failed. Phoning a bank is a 100% nonstarter for me - it's never going to happen, and if my cards start getting declined because of that, I'm going to a different bank.

I might be more inclined if the bank's mobile app has an easy "I'm traveling" function, but even then it had better be insanely easy for me to use...and *not* using it shouldn't prevent me from using the card for normal travel expenses.

I had something like that happen once, but it was not the travel alone that triggered it; the bank admitted to knowing that its customers travel.

What triggered the alert was that I seemed to be traveling simultaneously in two different directions. I had picked up a prescription at the neighborhood pharmacy on the way to the airport for a flight to Los Angeles. While waiting at the airport I added minutes to my prepaid phone, which was billed from Chicago. The algorithm was copacetic so far, but not with a charge two hours later from Los Angeles.