Summer is synonymous with travelling abroad. The perfect opportunity to get to know new cultures and countries while disconnecting from our daily routine. But, in addition to your plane tickets and hotel reservations, did you know that it is also important to prepare your debit and credit cards for the trip?
With the arrival of summer, we find ourselves facing one of the moments of the year that many of us take advantage of to visit a foreign country and disconnect from our daily lives. When we want to go anywhere outside our bordersthe preparations include booking transportation tickets and accommodation, and together with our suitcase, we think we already have everything we need to embark on any adventure.
But what about our credit and debit cards? They are becoming more and more common in all kinds of countries and there are hardly any problems paying with them anywhere. But have you checked the settings of your bank to avoid problems during your trip that could ruin your experience?
Report your trips
Bank cards are increasingly safer and entities have strict protocols that, at the slightest doubt, proceed to block all operations. This can be good news if our card is stolen, since any suspicious transactions are immediately restricted. However, it can also happen that we travel to another country and, because we have not informed our bank, it suspects the origin of the charge and decides to reject the transaction and cancel the card.
Banks such as BBVA, for example, inform that we can travel within the European Union without restrictions. But if we plan to go to other countries, they recommend that we take out one of the different Travel Packs from the app itself. With them, in addition to enjoying a series of advantages such as free cash withdrawal, We can also prevent our card from being blocked while we are abroad for security reasons.
To avoid problems, the first thing we should look at is whether our banking application has any setting that allows us to report the trip. In the case of Revolut, we do not have this option, but there is the possibility of disabling the option “Location-based security.” This way, Revolut will not block our card when it detects the first transaction abroad.
If the app does not offer any option, we should contact our manager to inform them of our situation and ensure that we will not be exposed to a block from the entity.
Restricts online and non-face-to-face payments
Have all payments enabled in our credit card It is very convenient for everyday use. We can make purchases online without having to worry about activating the card beforehand, especially in trusted stores where we have already made purchases previously.
However, when we travel it is common that we are less careful when choosing the places when we pay and, in some of them, they can get hold of our card details to make purchases online with our number or any other similar situation.
To avoid this, it is always advisable to access the application of our bank and check the options we have in this regard. In the case of Revolut, for example, we can find all the options by clicking on our card and accessing the “Settings” menu. There, it is recommended that you disable the “Online payments” setting, to avoid unnecessary surprises.
Yes, we are N26 users, We find all the options within the “Cards” menu. And there we can disable online payments, ATM withdrawals or contactless payments. Different options that will surely help us make our trip a much safer experience.
