A True Tale of ATM Card Traveling Woes

I learned an important lesson while in Paris last week. Unfortunately, my friend was the one to learn it the hard way. Like a good credit consumer, she called her credit card issuers before leaving the country. The idea was to prevent the banks from blocking her card when they saw the international purchases.

All was fine for a few days, until her ATM card suddenly stopped working. A nuisance for anyone, but worse in this case because she only had a Discover Card as an alternative and virtual no one accepted it in Paris. Frustrating emailing and calling back and forth reveled the reason her ATM card was blocked:

She had tried to withdraw more (300 Euros) than the cash limit (200 Euros) from an ATM twice the day before. You're charged each time for the withdrawal and she was trying to make the most of it. The transactions were rejected and it triggered her bank to put the card into fraud-alert deep freeze.

If you're traveling abroad this holiday season, keep this story in mind. Don't try to withdraw more than the ATM limit or you could be stuck without cash for a few days. The process of calling internationally to re-activate your card is a huge hassle and can be expensive as well. This is also a good reminder to carry a "back-up" credit card in your suitcase in the event of a financial emergency.

Emily Davidson – Credit.com's Communication Director and former TransUnion credit expert. Emily writes about credit reports, credit cards, loans and personal finance as the CreditBloggers.com moderator.