# Before you go to Europe....



## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

No apologies for posting this again this year as there are lots of new people on the forum.

Before you go abroad:

1. Ring your bank and credit card company to tell them. They will ask for dates and roughly where you are going. 

If you do not do this you run the risk of your card being refused or eaten by a ATM machine as your bank detect an unusual pattern in its use. This is in place for your protection in case your card is stolen.

2.If you have changed your mobile phone provider since your last trip away then ask the company to set up roaming for you. It's not cheap to phone them from Europe to ask them to do so.

3.You can also set a credit limit on your mobile account so that if your phone is stolen you are only liable for a smallish amount of money. My company changed mine down to £50 after a bit of arm twisting.

G


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## LPDrifter (Aug 17, 2005)

Sound advice Grizzly

Didn't know I could reduce the credit limit on my mobile. Roaming can clock up an enormous bill very quickly.


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## zaskar (Jun 6, 2005)

Grizzly said:


> 1. Ring your bank and credit card company to tell them. They will ask for dates and roughly where you are going.
> 
> G


Is this something new cos we've been to France every year for the past 10 and never done this or heard of it? Never had a problem with ATM's before.

Ta


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*advice*



LPDrifter said:


> Sound advice Grizzly
> 
> Didn't know I could reduce the credit limit on my mobile. Roaming can clock up an enormous bill very quickly.


I normaly use a calling card sim for European use. I cannot think of the name it is similar to OneRoam. However, at 25p a min it soon zaps your credit. UK callers can call you for the same rate and you do not get charged for the call.

I am about to move back to 02 business for my UK phone and they offer good rates for a small monthly charge. On top of this you don't get charged for roaming.

It costs £4.25 a month extra and calls anywhere in Europe cost 21.5p (Normally 35p). Only any use if you spend a lot of time on the continent.

Trev


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

zaskar said:


> Is this something new cos we've been to France every year for the past 10 and never done this or heard of it? Never had a problem with ATM's before.
> 
> Ta


No, not new. They've always asked you to do it though seldom refused credit cards etc but, they do seem to be hotting up on this. When I last put this thread up several people responded to say that they had been affected. Embarrassing in a supermarket or garage as well as difficult if it is the only one you have. You usually have to ring the credit card company to reassure them but you can't get a card back from an ATM.

As to credit limits on mobile phones. I had to twist the arm of my company to get them to reduce my credit limit but they did. It means I can't use it for big bills- beyond £50 anyway- but that's no hardship, unless I have to call Fiat Camper Assistance again of course...! :wink:

G


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## babyrhino (Oct 19, 2006)

On the subject of roaming charges, I was on an Orange "frequent traveller" rate which gave substantial reductions - I think 30% - against the standard. The charge was about £5 per month but I still managed to clock up some serious charges as I was using the phone for part time business as well.

We are shortly returning to Europe for another few months and I have now changed to Vodafone. They have a system called Passport that charges you 75 pence for each call as a fixed charge but then uses your normal minutes from your home contract at no additional charge. If you make long calls (and we do!) this has to be a good deal.

Brian


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## 103945 (Apr 17, 2007)

It takes seconds to make the calls before you leave Blighty, and will give you extra peace of mind. I used a Tesco credit card when we lived in the UK, and if my spend-pattern changed even slightly, they would ring me up at home! Always a good thing to do ... and if you know roughly where you're going, any spend that's well away from your planned route can be used to flag a potentially stolen card.


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## Moonlight (Aug 12, 2006)

*Automated Security Check*

Whilst away last month we had two phones calls from our bank verifying the cards activity.

On arriving home there were a few emails also waiting. 
Stating - 'We are contacting you to remind you that our Account Review Team identified some unusual activity in your account.

The contact was to ensure that our 'account has not been accessed from fraudulent locations'

And until we'd verified it access to our account was limited.


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## Waleem (Nov 1, 2006)

If you are with Lloyds TSB, dont bother trying to inform them. I tried when we went to the States at Easter-basically, they didnt want to know, were unable to put a note on our account and merely gave me their "Card Services" phone number, and said "If your card is refused, then ring us".
The phrase "chocolate teapot" springs to mind,.........


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## zaskar (Jun 6, 2005)

[quote="Grizzly
No, not new. ......................
G[/quote]

Thanks Grizzly. Just told the "banker" (ffiona  ) and she was well surprised!
Looks like we've got some quick calls to make cos we're off in 2 weeks!
Makes me wonder just how lucky we've been in the past! 8O


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## Suenliam (Mar 22, 2006)

We opened both joint and individual Nationwide current accounts for use mainly on holdiay in France. Before we went in the Spring I spoke to the Branch and they said no need to contact them as use of the cards abroad was the reason most people opened the accounts in the first place. We had no problems in or May/June holiday and do not anticipate any problems for August/Sept. 

Sue


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

Suenliam said:


> We opened both joint and individual Nationwide current accounts for use mainly on holdiay in France.
> Sue


That's interesting ! I've just opened a Nationwide one last week for the same reason and, when I phoned them to say I'd be going to Europe, the lady who took the call logged everything, thanked me for calling and said it would enable them to detect unusual use of my card in that I was registering it from a UK address.

My usual bank were quite witty about it. When I gave them dates and she finished sighing over the length of the holiday I explained it was in a motorhome. Ah ! she said , in that case we'll expect to see you use it at lots of petrol stations !

I have this lovely picture of the staff of my bank watching our progress round Europe and discussing our latest buy over the coffee machine ! 

G


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## whistlinggypsy (May 1, 2005)

G, we called into nationwide this morning ( as per your advice ) too inform them of our impending 6 week trip to Germany and the nice lady told us it was not required anymore to inform them of such trips as their cards are set up for such use.  

Then the nice lady said it would not hurt to ring them a couple of days before leaving and inform them we would be going away and (MOVING AROUND) so there would be an unusual pattern in any transactions :? 

We have never informed them before and we have had no problems so far but maybe better safe than sorry :wink: 

Bob


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