When you travel abroad, credit card is the most effective method of carrying money which you. However, your present card may not be financially convenient for such use. Check on these important tips to get the things right -
1. Inform your card company about your travel as a precaution – If the card company sees use of your card at a strange place, it may suspend your account and will try to contact you. In the possibility of no contact, the credit card will remain suspended. You will never know why your credit card is refused and with this first jerk in your travel, you will have to run around for arranging money! It takes only a phone call to inform your credit card company about your travel plan.
2. Check the acceptability of the card – You should ensure that your card will be accepted in the region where you are traveling.
3. Read the cardholder agreement carefully – You should understand the fine print in the agreement. You may not have the agreement in the first place and will have to call your card issuer to get a copy. You can clear all the uncertainties about the transactions abroad.
4. Ask all your doubts to their customer service representative – This is very important because it will give you confidence while using the card abroad. There will be certain amount fees which your card issuers may charge. There may be huge fees for withdrawing cash from ATMs abroad. There is no use asking these questions when you come back. You should also know what to do when your card is lost. Also, make sure about the cover your card issuer is offering for fraudulent transactions.
5. Understand the rate of exchange – You should be clear about the basis on which your company will charge you for conversion of currency. This is a common mistake by most of the international travelers because spending becomes very expensive on an adverse rate of exchange.
6. Carry with you the contact numbers of customer service – If anything goes wrong, you should have a number to call to your card company to get help. The normal number which you use regularly may not be useful for international calls.
7. Check the expiry dates – You should check the date of expiry of your card and the limit available to you on the card. You cannot increase the limit while you are traveling.
8. Preserve all the receipts – If you are overcharged in a particular transaction, you should be able to produce a receipt is to your card company so that you can prove the details.
9. Always check carefully any bill before you sign it. If the bill is in US dollars, you may ask for the bill in the local currency of that country.
If you feel that the present card will prove expensive and inconvenient, you can switch to another card temporarily. It is very convenient feeling to swipe your card while traveling overseas, but when you come back and receive a statement from your card company, the shock should not spoil your entire travel pleasure.
Traveling abroad with ‘loaded’ credit cards is everybody’s dream. But with exorbitant fees and conversion charges, the trip may leave a bitter test at the end. How to avoid it? Well you can do it very easily. Chintamani Abhyankar provides useful tips and advice on precautions while using your credit card abroad.