Nationwide cc

I had occasion to phone Nationwide today, I was asking about using a credit
card abroad and if you get the cash reward, which apparently you don't, I
was asked when we were going and how long for,apparently (and I didn't know
this) if they see a lot of transactions on your card, they can freeze your
card in case it has been stolen, so you have to inform them where and when
you are going.

Rabbit...

I got an advisory leaflet from MasterCard a few years ago now, recommending
doing that if travelling abroad. I must admit I've never remembered to do it
though I do think it's a good idea. Some CC companies now will send you a
text to confirm an unusual sale, beware of that though unless you *know* you
have signed up for it.

So if I have a big spend up in USA (an easy thing to do) they might freeze
my card !!

Rabbit...

Yep, they could do that for any unusual transaction.

I am all for security, but is this the norm with credit cards ? surely if
it was lost or stolen the first thing to do is inform the credit card
company, who would stop it anyway.

Jeff Gaines...

They seem to have pretty good computer systems for picking up
expenditure that is outside your normal patterns. I have had 'phone
calls from them a couple of times asking for confirmation of
expenditure which was a bit more than normal. It's quite reassuring -
but could be a pain if you're abroad so it's probably worth telling

~~seadancer~~...

Yes, this happened to me one time. I made an extra large
expenditure on several items of clothing. (Actually, I went
on a shopping binge!) (g) My credit card company called
me to confirm the purchases. I was glad they did.
As Jeff said, it's reassuring.

them.

After running a course at a hotel once the hotel insisted on payment
before we left as we didn't have an account with them. I had to use my
own credit card and it took half an hour to persuade Mastercard to
authorise it, mind you it was Ł12,500 :-)

Rabbit...

But if your card was cloned ( unlikely now with Chip and PIN ) or before you
noticed it was missing it could be used "abroad" from the Internet.

I have never been asked to do this before.

Jeff...

Visa will stop your card if you try a large unusual purchase on line,
(customer not present) trouble is in my case they did not advise me.
So card failed at next purchase, I think it is an 0870 number to
advise them of unusual items.

Martin...

Remember that if you have the Nationwide Reward card the interest free
period is less than with their standard card. I changed to the reward card
last year without realising the catch, when I came back from only a two week
holiday my payment was already overdue. They did however cancel the interest
and late payment fee when I complained.

Ali...

Since the Reward card also has a higher interest rate, which would cancel
out any reward, I ticked the box on the application form to pay the whole
outstanding amount by Direct Debit each month.

To me a credit card is a convenient way of paying, not a means of borrowing
money.

Linedancer...

We have a system, we work out when the next statement is due, if we won't
be back in time to pay it we don't use it until after the statement date, or
if we haven't received a statement before we go, we set it up to pay it
online after we have gone.