Credit cards

[GRETCHEN SOLDAT]

My husband is in Ecuador now on a “Chill Tour” and reports that he could not use his credit cards in the stores at the mall there, since they are not issued by a local bank. This seems odd to me, or is this typical? Are there certain cards that are more readily accepted? These are Wells Fargo and Bank of America cards.

[DAVID STONE]

We never had a problem in any of the stores or hotels in Ecuador with our Wells Fargo debit card. For safety we have a “travel” account with Wells Fargo that we only keep a small amount in and add to it using “on line banking” so we don’t have too much in it just in case of a fraud attempt.

[EI EXPERT – EDD STATON]

No, Gretchen, I’ve never heard of this being a problem.

[JOHN SPRAGUE]

Gretchen,

I know from traveling internationally, that you will often run into these types of issues with your credit cards if you do not notify the issuing bank of your intended travel, dates of travel, and use out of the U.S. This may be related to your husband’s recent problem or it may be something more locally related.

[COUNTRY EXPERT- SUZAN HASKINS]

Right, you should alert your credit card company that you will be traveling internationally.

[GRETCHEN SOLDAT]

He did notify his credit card companies of when and where he would be travelling. Good idea about a special account with low limit to avoid fraud, though.

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