My friend couldn't use her own bank card without her bank's permission.

[catchnrelease]

34. It's definitely a two edged sword

I've had calls to verify activity on my card account in the past, and I do appreciate that the credit union that issued the card watches out for this.

But, last Nov I flew to Houston to attend a quilt show there, and did purchase a couple of items with my credit card. The day I was waiting in the airport to fly home, I tried to purchase some food and the card was declined. I couldn't figure it out, and just paid with cash. When I called the cu to find out what the problem was, they said that they had frozen the account because of suspicious activity. When I said--no, it's me using it, and verified that--they unfroze the account right away.

The thing that makes me kind of mad is that first, the tickets to Houston had been purchased, at home few weeks earlier, with the same card. I would think they could see that connection in the records, or checked with me at that time. And, the kicker is, when they were trying to verify the activity, they called my home, talked to my husband who said, "She's not here, she's in Houston" and still froze the account. It turned out ok in the end, but if I'd needed the card to pay for my room or something big, I'd have been screwed.

I don't travel out of state much anymore, so didn't know this was an issue, but apparently letting them know in advance is the safest way to go. I do agree it's kind of unnerving to have to let some corp know of your plans and whereabouts. I suppose they will know and can track you when you use the cards anyway.