Credit cards are an important part of cruising, we use them for everything we can. It’s easier and more convenient than keeping cash around. I am fortunate to have inherited USAA benefits and have never had a problem with banking from abroad with them. I have on a few occasions had them cancel my credit card and reissue a new one when a credit card server has been compromised. This can be a hassle but is also a good safety from having my card number stolen and used. They will FedEx a new card to any location in the world, as I’ve known cruisers who have encountered this with them while in the Bahamas. That can alter plans as even FedEx can take a while to arrive in some destinations. I solved the problem simply by having a spare card I can activate if needed. The only drawback is that there is a 1% foreign transaction charge. This is really not a large amount of money, but eventually over the year it does add up, especially if any large purchases are made. When I heard that Capital One has no foreign transaction fees it sounded like a good reason to get a Capital One card. I had no idea what I was signing up for.
I signed up for a card in my name and added my husband to the account. This however means they will not talk to him about the account at all, even though he’s authorized to make purchases. Since I’m usually the one dealing with the banking this is not really a problem. When I called in to activate the card, I had the most annoyingly thorough verification process I have ever experienced. I lost 40 minutes of my life that day.
We happily used the card a few times and then poof it was declined. Half an hour later after a phone tree and being on hold, I could talk to someone who turned my card back on. It was used in a foreign country so that automatically triggers a possible fraud alert. I informed them that I would be traveling in foreign countries for the foreseeable future and please note that on the account. I should have realized I’d be in for trouble when they wanted to know how many days that would be.
I never considered my credit limit on my card since I always pay it off right away, but when were struck by lightning in Grenada and looking at paying out nearly $20000 until we got the insurance settlement suddenly the credit limit was important. I called to ask for a raise and they simply said it was declined. No reason would be given. Google helped me find out that they simply have a policy of never increasing a credit limit when asked; it would have been nice if they could have told me that. So we just signed up for a second card, I put it in IB’s name and poof we got a higher credit limit. This is when the real fun began.
They allowed us to use the new card to charge over $4000, and then chose to put a hold on the account for possible fraud. So now we can’t use the card, we can’t access the account online to pay the bill and if we don’t sort it out it will go to collections and reflect on our credit score. Eventually they did send a paper bill and I had my ‘secretary’ back in the states mail a check to pay it. When we called to sort it out, they won’t speak to me, because it’s IB’s card. They run him through the various security questions and then tell him they don’t believe he’s IB and he needs to identify his identity. What? I don’t know if they already had something flagged on his account or if he answered a question wrong, which can happen a lot with us. Since we have a skype phone number, a local (whatever country) cell phone, and sometimes I’ve used my mom’s number. Usually we always use our PO Box address from WV, expect some things still have our land home address, but Capital One insists on a physical address, as if we all are supposed to fit into this “American” mold. So I used my mom’s address. It’s really easy to be confused over security questions with our lifestyle; sometimes it can take me three tries. Either way they now want a utility bill, his social security card and his drivers license or passport faxed to them before they will even speak to him! Of course no one understands why we can’t produce a utility bill, that’s unfathomable. And no bank account with a physical address?? Unheard of! And really does everyone carry a social security card around these days? Well he actually did that for many years, which is why you can’t actually read it anymore. Eventually we did change the address with our bank, wait for a new bank statement and faxed that to them with the illegible social security card over an internet fax site with the credit card number .. and this is more secure than asking a few questions on the phone??? Well they apparently got the documents because they called, but of course wouldn’t speak to me, even though they called, and know my name since it’s listed on his account. They would not even tell me if they have all the required information to turn the account on or not at this point. We are seven months into this and still don’t have a useable card. During this time my card has been turned off three times for suspected fraud, luckily they seem to always believe I am who I say I am when I call in, but it still means always carrying a second card because I never know when it will work. I’ve never experienced such ridiculous frustration; perhaps I’ve just been spoiled by USAA. I’m starting to think 1% is not so bad, at least I know my card will work, and my bank will work with me not against me.
