Credit/debit card refusals

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martyn94
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Credit/debit card refusals

Post by martyn94 »

I have recently had acute difficulties paying for online purchases (from amazon de, though it has occurred in the past with others) with either my French carte bleu (BNP) or my UK debit and credit cards (Nationwide). The transactions were not huge (ca 200-300€), well within my account balances and credit card limit, and not particularly odd given my pattern of expenditure as an expat.

BNP seem to impose arbitrary, and low, limits irrespective of the state of your account; Nationwide seems to have an acutely sensitive fraud-detection algorithm (which I have been grateful for in the past) that they cannot "turn down". It is acutely inconvenient and embarrassing, all the more so in the latest case because some of the goods were despatched before their payment was bounced.

Has anyone else had this experience and found a way round it (short of interminable international phone calls to "unblock" particular transactions). In particular has anyone found a French bank ( or near-bank such as Fortuneo) which takes a more accommodating line? I am open to the idea of a new banker in any event.
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Santiago
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Post by Santiago »

All I know is that Banque Pop put a limit of something like 2300€ over any 30 day period unless you phone up and ask them nicely if you could spend some of your own money.
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martyn94
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Post by martyn94 »

Santiago wrote:All I know is that Banque Pop put a limit of something like 2300€ over any 30 day period unless you phone up and ask them nicely if you could spend some of your own money.
As I feared, but even lower than BNP seem to apply to me. Anyone done any better? I imagine Mme Betancourt does not get her charges bounced, so it must be possible.
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Post by Merisin »

We routinely use debit cards . Barclays Connect or CA. Never had any problems. Even when buying a computer using our UK card, ordering in Canada for delivery in California.

CA/Mastercard have a callback verification system which means you sometimes cannot place an order unless you are at home. Also, are you entering the correct billing address?


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Post by Allan »

I had a row with Barclays France when we first moved here when they turned down debit card transactions.

They told me that all customers have a limit and the maximum they offered was €8,500 per month on each card.

They said it was for my own protection, but presumably more for their own protection.

Just ask what their limit is and if it is not enough ask for it to be increased.

At the end of the day it is your own money if it is a debit card.
martyn94
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Post by martyn94 »

Allan wrote:I had a row with Barclays France when we first moved here when they turned down debit card transactions.

They told me that all customers have a limit and the maximum they offered was €8,500 per month on each card.

They said it was for my own protection, but presumably more for their own protection.

Just ask what their limit is and if it is not enough ask for it to be increased.

At the end of the day it is your own money if it is a debit card.
The problem with my UK cards was not a limit - it was the characteristics of the particular transaction. I don't particularly want to change my UK bank, so I guess I will have to get used to ringing up and saying "please".
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Post by martyn94 »

Just a follow-up to my earlier post. I had another Nationwide debit card transaction refused last Friday (an airline ticket for about £600), but this time I was told this explicitly by the "Verified by Visa" panel and given a UK number to ring. The number given for overseas callers didn't work ("numéro non attribué"), but I got through on the 0845 number. I was told that this system was operated by "Verified by Visa" in relation to "high-risk" transactions, and could not be adjusted. After the usual identity checks, the transaction was cleared and went through without problems a few minutes later (fortunately for the same price as originally quoted). I guess I will just have to get used to making phone calls and attempting a lot of transactions twice.
martyn94
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Post by martyn94 »

Merisin wrote:
CA/Mastercard have a callback verification system which means you sometimes cannot place an order unless you are at home. Also, are you entering the correct billing address?


Mary
I was certainly using the right address. BNP verify their visa transactions by SMS message to your mobile phone. Since I have no reception at home, I have to juggle my ipad and iPhone at the other end of my driveway to complete anything but trivial transactions, usually in the rain. Which is why I have tended to use my UK cards for larger online transactions, despite the currency hit.
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Post by rogb »

Recent experience with zealous UK credit card issued by NatWest:

1. After clearing the usual security procedures by phone, speak to their Fraud dept to advise I was travelling soon to 2 countries in SEAsia. The objective was to avoid having the card blocked if they normally treat use there as suspicious.

2. They ask me if the mobile phone details they hold are up to date. One needs changing. They wish me a good vacation.

3. Just before getting on the plane, discover that they are chasing me by phone. Ring them back. After clearing security (again), they kindly tell me that they have routinely blocked my card simply because the mobile phone contact details had been changed. Because they have now successfully spoken to me, they kindly unblock my card.
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Post by montgolfiere »

I use La Banque Postale/ Visa card who use a SMS authorisation which works fine.
Other than that i am with the TSB in the Uk and use their Visa Debit and regularily spend random ammounts on line with no problems other than the various verification Proceedures which mainly ask for full banks details and dont take more thaan 30 seconds to fill in.
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Post by russell »

Never had any problems with my CIC carte bleu. I've just paid for an expensive holiday using it and it went through O.K. For some online transactions their system sends me an SMS with a code to type in online to verify it.

Russell.
martyn94
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Post by martyn94 »

russell wrote:Never had any problems with my CIC carte bleu. I've just paid for an expensive holiday using it and it went through O.K. For some online transactions their system sends me an SMS with a code to type in online to verify it.

Russell.
The annoying thing with French cards is that they do not generally use "authorisation systematique" - ie checking whether you have enough money in your account to cover a particular transaction, and allowing it if you do. Even though they are essentially debit cards rather than credit cards, and the technology exists for them to do so. They just set arbitrary limits - so much per transaction/day/week/month - irrespective of your balance with them. Which obviously saves them on IT running costs and capital, but leaves me with money in their hands which I cannot spend when the rare big-ticket transaction comes up.

When more pressing concerns (like making my house habitable and furnished) allow, I plan to switch to one of the online banks (eg Fortuneo, Boursorama, ING) which seem to have more generous transaction limits. And more to the point, they actually disclose what limits they apply to what level of monthly inflow/savings account balance. Anyone here had experience with them?

It goes very much against the grain to go down on my knees for higher limits to my existing bank, which has not over the decades been better than mediocre.
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