Travel Notifications No Longer Needed on Some Cards
Banks are eliminating the requirement to place travel notifications for international travel on some of their card products that use chip technology. American Express, Chase, Capital One to name a few. Some are also removing the ability to place notifications. Capital One states:
Travel Notifications are no longer needed!
With the added security of your Capital One chip card, you don’t
have to tell us when and where you’re traveling, inside or outside
the United States.Your chip card is 100% covered for fraud while you’re traveling,
and we will alert you if we see anything suspicious. Make sure your
security alerts are up to date with your current email and mobile
phone information before you go.If you need a PIN for cash advances or while traveling, you can
request one here. Please note it will take 7-10 business days for
your PIN to arrive in the mail.Capital One doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees!
I called Capital One because I was perplexed by this – yes, these cards have a chip, but many transactions by tourists are still swiped transactions wherein the chip does nothing. Capital One ensured me that swiped transactions will still work and that they no longer take travel notifications for my card as it is not needed. I asked for more information, they claimed that they have a better way (which they wouldn’t discuss) to know when people are traveling, which may be the real reason. Indeed, I trusted them and had no trouble using my card in Europe.
The rule of thumb is to place a travel notification if your bank has the option (call them if it isn’t online), otherwise, don’t worry about it.
Thanks for calling and following up on questions I had too.
Oddly enough the only time my card declined on a false fraud alert is when I was buying plane tickets with my AmEx for a domestic flight. Once I switched cards and re-checked out, because of the “high demand”, the ticket prices had gone up! UGH