Strap in, I got a long one here. I'm in Finland right now on vacation (from the US), and a week before my flight I called my credit union to tell them about my travel plans, including my stops in Norway and Sweden. The associate I talked to told me everything was entered and my VISA debit card should work fine. It worked perfectly on my layover in Norway, I was able to buy food and drink there. But when I got to Helsinki the first thing I did was try to buy a train ticket. It rejected my card twice, so I went to withdraw cash at an ATM and it got declined there. (I know, I should've gotten euros in Norway, it's my first time abroad)
I called my credit union, the associate said the proper codes hadn't been applied to the card to let me use it in Finland because, as she said, "Finland is a high-risk area for card fraud" (never came across that anywhere in my research, I was shocked to even hear it). She said the codes would be applied, and she called me back telling me my card was ready to go. I went to buy a train ticket, got denied. Went to the ATM, got denied. My hotel's paid for, so I used my Helsinki Card to get there at least. I called my credit union again, and a new associate told me that the card was being denied for reasons unknown, that they could do nothing, and that it might work some places but not others. So I attempted to buy a sandwich and juice at a grocery store, but my card was denied there, too.
I called the card issuer to see if they had blocked it. They said there were no fraud alerts on my card and nothing they could do. I called the credit union again, demanding an explanation, because every source and traveler I found said VISA debit cards work just fine in Finland. The associate said she could see the attempted transactions but had no explanation and couldn't do anything. I called the card issuer again, no fraud. I tried making a small purchase on Etsy, and that went through, so my card is not blocked. The card isn't expired, not for 10 more months. It's a chip-with-PIN card that also has a mag stripe.
Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this? I don't know what else to do. I don't have a credit card on me, either. My parents are wiring me money, which is embarrassing to say the least, but it'll keep me fed. This trip was also kind of me trying to prove to myself that I'm an adult who can handle things, that is out the door...
Submitted June 12, 2019 at 08:30PM by CardCrisis http://bit.ly/2WwLoJH
Comments
Post a Comment