My credit card was declined!

My credit card was declined. Photo credit: B. Rosen

A few years ago I was traveling across the United States on business. I flew from New York to Los Angeles to New Orleans in the space of about seven days. By the time I went to check in at the hotel in New Orleans, my credit card was frozen – declined!

Talk about an embarrassing moment. And, the hotel desk clerk was less than sensitive, to put it mildly.

It turns out that because there was no activity on the card for a while and then all of a sudden there were all these charges in different cities, the card was frozen for my protection. I could understand that. What I couldn’t understand was why the credit card company couldn’t contact me at one of the many numbers they have for me to find out if the card was stolen.

So, the lesson is, if you anticipate that your purchases will be out of character for your spending pattern, especially if you will be traveling outside of your home state or country, alert your credit card company ahead of time. You’ll save yourself both inconvenience and humiliation.

This is becoming more of an issue as banks try to protect consumers and themselves in this era of identity fraud. This increased vigilance, which is good, often comes at a price.

Here is an interesting article entitled Top 9 Reasons Your Credit Card was Declined. Click here to read it. Find out how you can be proactive in preventing your credit card from accidentally being declined.

Has this happened to you? Share your story in the comments below.

Til next time. Think and dream Jamaica!