How to Avoid This CC Snafu?

[cathy63]

It's not just BofA. I had a similar problem with Wells Fargo the other day. I booked a cruise with Princess followed by a flight to a small town in BC, and those charges went through fine. But then when I tried to book a flight home from Vancouver, they denied the charge from Air Canada! Luckily the fraud prevention dept called me while I still had the flight reservation on my screen and was still trying to pay for it, so I was able to resubmit the transaction after confirming all 3 charges were legit.

I do submit travel plans to our card issuers when we're actually traveling, but in this case I was just trying to arrange the trip. The funny thing is, I used this same card to book all kinds of arrangements in advance for our trips to Switzerland last year and the Nordic countries the year before and they never questioned anything about those arrangements. Most of the European sites do use the Verified by Visa checkout process where you enter an extra password for online purchases, while Air Canada does not, so maybe that's the difference.

 

[TromboneAl]

So,

What card to you recommend?

Should I apply, and then when they say "Credit info frozen!" unfreeze, or unfreeze first?

 

[REWahoo]

Should I apply, and then when they say "Credit info frozen!" unfreeze, or unfreeze first?

Whatever card you plan to go for, call their CS number to see which credit agency they will check, then unfreeze that one for a few days, timed for when you apply.

 

[Katsmeow]

So,

What card to you recommend?

Should I apply, and then when they say "Credit info frozen!" unfreeze, or unfreeze first?

May depend on what kind of rewards you might use. For example, I have an Amex Blue Cash preferred card that I get cash back on. It has an annual fee but I get hundreds of dollars back in cash so it is very profitable for me.

I also use my Chase Prime Visa card a lot as I get 5% rewards on Amazon and I get 5% off at Whole Foods. Those are valuable benefits for me.

But, you might have other benefits you would like. Usually I don't like to pay a fee but I do it on the Amex card as I know I make back the fee in a very short period of time.

 

[Bongleur]

I have a similar issue with Cap1. I make a monthly charge to an international supplier for my business. Every month they decline it and I have to get them to approve after they text/email me. I've asked them what I can do, and other than calling them in advance of EVERY purchase (more effort...) they ran out of ideas.

Suntrust is very good about denying unusual activity. BUT they are also very good about getting to an American human on the phone without hassle. So I always call them before I press the final transaction button, and tell them I am about to charge $$$. Then they see it appear & allow it.


Note that they are merging with BB&T so going forward I don't know if that good service will continue.

 

[gauss]

So,

What card to you recommend?

Should I apply, and then when they say "Credit info frozen!" unfreeze, or unfreeze first?

FWIW I was always able to unfreeze easily with the 800 telephone number(s) setup for this. You don't need to setup new accounts, passwords, or anything like that. Just have your PIN ready and the appropriate phone number.

-gauss

 

[audreyh1]

You can call and ask the card issuer which credit agency to unfreeze.

What card to recommend? There are tons of good credit cards out there with major perks, so it depends on your spending patterns. If you don’t have an Amazon credit card already you might consider that as it has fairly broad rewards options, but call Chase first to find out which credit agency to unfreeze.

We like the Costco VISA very much due to the travel, hotel and dining cash back 3%, 4% gas. But unless you are a Costco member it’s not available to you. We use our Fidelity VISA a lot for other purchases: 2% cash rewards on everything. Bank of America recently added cash rewards options on their cash rewards card and we get 3% back on all online purchases. These are all no annual fee cards.