Travel Tip 87
How to protect your credit cards when traveling.
I’m always nervous an ATM will swallow my card, so I try to only use ATMs at banks where I can go inside in case of emergency.
My top three tips for ensuring you always have access to your money.
Welcome to my newsletter! Every week I send you a travel tip, plus links to what I’ve been writing. This week I also have an exciting announcement, so read to the end.
Fraudsters got my debit card number.
I was in Istanbul when I got a notification from my bank about a suspicious charge on my debit card. It was a membership at wealthymatch.com for $39.99 but that wasn’t the only charge. I reported it as fraud, and they cancelled my card immediately.
Some people carry a decoy wallet in a pocket that’s easy to steal from, with a little cash and expired or cancelled credit cards. Just be sure the expired cards don’t have the same number as the current ones.
Then I went to the website to see what this fraudster had signed up for. The website promised to “match you with somebody in your own class.” I was as shocked such a service existed as I was that the membership was only $39.99.
The next charges were for tuition at South London College and at some ATMs in London. My entire checking account and savings, since it was set up as overdraft protection, were drained. My accounts were FDIC insured, so my bank promised I would get my money back, in a week or so.
Lessons learned: Always have several ways to access money. Don’t use a savings account as overdraft protection. Don’t pay for anything with a debit card in London.
In the meantime, I was in Istanbul without any way to withdraw cash from an ATM. I could only use credit cards, which wasn’t a big problem. It’s a modern city and almost everywhere accepts credit cards. Losing my ATM card in Peru would be a much bigger problem since so much of the economy is cash based.
I have two with me and leave two at home or in a hotel safe.
Here’s how I protect myself from getting cut off in case of fraud.
1. Keep extra credit cards locked up.
I have two credit cards that I don’t carry around with me. One is for my bank, and one is a basic travel points card that doesn’t have a yearly fee. If my primary credit card (which gets me points on the airline I used most) gets stolen or scammed, I still have a card that gets me travel miles on another airline I use relatively often. Leave at least one credit card locked in the hotel safe with your passport.
2. Get a cardless number.
My primary credit card comes with an extra number to use for online transactions. Since numbers are more likely to be scammed online than anywhere else, my physical credit card has an extra number that I use online. If that number gets scammed, the company simply cancels it and issues me a new one. Because that number did not have a physical card, I don’t have to try to get a new card mailed to me wherever I am, and I still have the card that wasn’t scammed.
Always check which banks at your destination have lower fees. In Peru, Multired ATMs don’t charge fees.
3. Get a second ATM card and use apps.
While it’s easy to have more than one credit card, having more than one ATM card is more complicated. You can have two checking accounts, or two banks, but what if you only have one checking account at one bank, like me? This is when you should consider apps like PayPal and Venmo, or services like Apple Pay. PayPal and Venmo issue debit cards. I have an account with Wise, and a debit card for that account. If my debit card was stolen, I could transfer money from my bank to my Wise account and use my Wise debit card to withdraw the cash from an ATM in Peru. You can also get cash advances on a credit card, but those advances usually have high fees.
Important note: Don’t rely entirely on apps that live only on your phone. Phones get stolen even more often than wallets these days.
Tacna’s Plaza de Armas has a historic arch, gardens and a beautiful cathedral.
Blog
My trip last week to Tacna and Ilo was a definite break from the tourist trail. My first trip this year was to Ica and Huacachina, which I loved but were very touristy. Click on the blog title above to find out why Tacna is full of Chileans and what I loved about the beach in Ilo.
Announcement
I am so grateful to Ori Magazine for supporting creatives and to Ori subscribers to voting for me. I’m going to use this grant to research a project I started at Chincha this year, reporting on Afro-Peruvian culture in several places around Peru. Want to see where to find my writing in print? Check out my print page!
