What to Do If You Get Locked Out of Your Bank Account While Traveling

Rick Martin
Nov 7 · 4 min read

No one wants to get hurt, sick, lost, or cut off from their money when they’re traveling. Unfortunately, life isn’t always accommodating, as I discovered somewhat dramatically on recently during a trip to Shanghai.

My sister and I were leaving dinner when a frantic mother of two walked up to us with her adolescent kids in tow. She had just arrived in Shanghai and was confident that she could withdraw cash from an ATM, so she had decided not to exchange money in advance. Unfortunately, the woman’s bank thought she was an imposter and froze her account — and then did the same thing after she tried to use her credit card. To make matters worse, she had arrived at the start of a three-day bank holiday (and had no access to an in-person teller), and had limited phone service in China.

Although this stranger’s situation sounds like the Simone Biles triple-double of travel woes, financial snags away from home are incredibly common. Whether you’re partially or completely frozen out of your funds, here are a few ways to get cash abroad, even during the worst mixups.

If you forget to call your bank before you leave

Set an alert online. In the past, failing to notify your bank that you were going out of town before you departed led to a series of unfortunate events. Today, customers can set travel alerts online or in their bank’s mobile app even after leaving home — and some companies have taken things a step further.

If your transaction is declined

Check your phone. Your card issuer may have sent you a message that you don’t want to leave unread. “If we’re declining a transaction because we don’t think it is being done by you, we’ll send a text to your phone and you can confirm or deny the transaction,” says Betty Reiss, a spokesperson at Bank of America.

If you don’t have access to text alerts, she says your best solution is to contact your card issuer and let them know you were making a legitimate transaction so they can release the hold.

If your card gets lost or stolen…

Request a replacement. Bank of America clients can report a lost or stolen card and order a new one via the mobile app, by calling customer support, or through online banking. “We can send a replacement card overnight,” Reiss says.

She adds that there “is generally no rush/replacement fee” in cases of a stolen card, account closure to to fraud, or “based on relationship.”

Some smart moves before your trip

Download your bank’s app. One of the main reasons travel snags are so frustrating is because they strike when you are out of your comfort zone. Many experts advise that you take advantage of innovations in payment transactions ahead of time. Reiss tells customers to download their bank’s mobile app if they haven’t already and turn on the geolocator setting.

“This helps us incorporate the location of your mobile phone with where card purchases are made to verify that it is really you [who] make the transaction,” she says.

Learn how locals pay. Do your research online and ask any recent travelers to your destination that you know about the most common ways money changes hands. If cards aren’t popular, you may need a lot of cash.

“Asia can be a tricky place,” says Siddharth Singh, the manager of global communications at CWT. “China, for example, is a place that skipped cards completely and went straight from cash to mobile payments. [But] as a foreigner, it’s hard to use the apps because you need to have a local bank account in many cases.”

Use a VPN for travel. You can buy a good VPN for travel with a dedicated IP of your own country so whenever you login to your online banking account, it does not require extra verification steps to verify that its you. You can simply login by using a VPN with your dedicated IP.

Double-check your reservation. It wasn’t until she and a friend arrived at their Booking.com rental in Japan that Kerstin Sautter, a global program director at CWT, realized only half of their stay had been paid for. Her friend, who made the reservation, had fallen ill and stayed home — and Sautter and her remaining travel companion assumed everything was in order. In the end, they had to shell out nearly all of their cash on the spot.

“Always make sure you know the payment arrangement for your accommodation,” she urges. “Is it prepaid? Is it not? Double check what’s expected.”

Check your card provider’s regional policies. On the same trip, Sautter also found that her Singapore-issued Visa card and her friend’s Spanish Visa were rejected at several ATMs. Only Japanese debit cards were accepted in several spots. To avoid ATM hopping, call your bank before you leave, ask about any regional differences, and convert money pre-trip if necessary

Rick Martin

Written by

“I am a traveller, an educator and an adventure-seeker.”

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