bank cards alert using abroad

i went to my bank/s today to inform the i was going abroad,in both banks halifax/natwest i had to tell them what country/s i was to visit and the dates i would be in them countrys  .so i thought i would add a few countrys{this was in the natwest as i wont be using my card outside france}i said starting off in france plus date arriving/leaving then onto belgium.then on to germany then onto italy then switzerland back to france onto spain back into france.then home.by this time there was a lot of people waiting.i was 15 minutes telling the teller  .

before anyone asks,you just cant say i will be travelling in europe.they want dates  i dont know what will happen if you decide to stay extra days in a country.

i have never bothered telling my bank before that i was going away,as if using tolls we always paid in cash.well after the last trip we learnt that most of the pay by cash booths have dissapeared.and paying by card is the only option at most interchanges.as i found out when my card/s were refused at most booths,until i phoned the bank to tell them i was abroad

I have given up telling our bank and credit cards. We were in US and having already given all our dates and places to the credit card company they still put a stop on and we had to phone to get transactions authorized.

last year at la jonquera with a trolley busting to the seems,and after trying 3 cards all refused  i had to go and get margaritas card.and bingo no problem.and that was the first time margaritas card  had ever been used in years and years and years  but it saved the day.

Never had a problem with the NatWest in all the years of travelling and we never told them when and where we are going even Morocco never caused any bells ringing  , will probably do with the Nationwide as we have just changed too them after 51 yrs. with NatWest.

Never ever using internet banking whilst abroad unless in an emergency, and never use the "hole in the wall" outside the bank always go inside.

This is the 1st year we are using a card to draw cash as we always carried enough for every trip but its getting to risky for that even with the safe.

Make sure you do not have all your cards/cash in one place and if you have some old outdated cards leave them in the glove box as the "ner do wells" will find them easily and make off hopefully thinking they have struck lucky.

Will be looking out for the German gang as we will be down there way at the same time heading for Berlin then the Rugen Isle's

Make sure you do not have all your cards/cash in one place and if you have some old outdated cards leave them in an old wallet in the glove box as the "ner do wells" will find them easily and make off hopefully thinking they have struck lucky.

We told Tesco that we were going to France and I gave them the dates.  The young man said we didn't need to advise them and be prepared for them to stop the transaction at any time!  I warned him that now I have told them they better not try any of those tricks or I will be reporting them to the Ombudsman. 

As I recall, they didn't stop any transactions, but then we didn't use the card much as we took plenty of cash for a fortnight plus I doubt they were scared by my threat ha ha ha.

HIa

Thanks for this information

I was somewhere and had a text to check I had used my card somewhere out of area I think