woop – a great day stuck in houston with effectively no money …..

mastercard is a **** toy town card over here and about as much use as a chocolate fire guard … despite most places having a sign saying they accept it !

bank of scotland then locked me out of my online banking so i cant even get money out of my joint account to top up my a/c – i exhausted my own bank account paying for the hotel and taxi.

lucky my colleagues are good guys

I feel for you man. Something similar happened to me with my MC. Even though I told them I was going to the states, they blocked my card within 3 hours of landing and trying to use it. I couldn't ring the numer on the card as it was an 0870 number and they don't work outside of Uk. Luckily I had my other half, but its not ideal is it! Useless set of stunc!

Just got back from states – had forgotten to tell MC that i was going – rang the number on the back of the card _(there should be a non 0870 number as well ) and all was sorted straight away.

Sorry for countering a rant 😉

Barclaycard rang me in Tiffany's NYC when I went to the US to check if it was me.

is it just a usa thing then ? Traveled all over the southern hemisphere using it without telling mc i was going…..

Things looking up – managed to get the missus to log into the joint ac using her details and transfer money into my nationwide ac – the traveller one !

It's not Mastercard though is it, it's your card issuer.

Barclays kept stopping my debit card when I would travel to the states. They told me to ring up and tell them next time I travelled. So I phoned to say 'I'm going abroad' and they wondered wtf I was telling them.

But yes it's your issuer not mastercard.

as said above card issuer not mastercard – though generally visa is a better bet for world travel(in my experience not wanting to be sued) sometimes when the card looks odd you just have to point to the logos and say "english"
i've had the why did you ring us business…"cos' last time you stopped my card!" some cards you can do it online now – seriously though i'd get a second credit card as back up doesn't matter if a low limit/no perks – you'll have to use it a little bit or they get all tut tut

[controversial bit]never had to use it but when travelled a lot paid for sentinal card assistance – supposed to pay out for hotel bills/get you some emergency cash/travel help if wallet gets stolen – not every hotel owner is nice as the guy who offered me cash for petrol when i realised i'd left my wallet at home and was expecting to do the washing up[/controversial bit]
oh and tear the bit off the back of the statement with the phone numbers on and take it but not in wallet

I was told by my bank (Natwest) that the stopping of cards is automated and cannot be stopped even if you tell them you are going to use it out of the country etc. Just make sure you have a geographical number for the card company to get it unlocked in this case as the 0870 etc numbers don't work abroad!

It will happen at some stage or another and the only way to prevent embarrasment at the POS is to have a back up card or someone with you you know! 😉

having spoken to others in the facility i am not alone – seems mastercards from outwith the states have always given problems. Company have advised i get a visa as its a known issue – why they dont give us this information before hand i dunno.

I have managed to get my visa debit problems sorted and can use that in the meantime