Foreign Perspectives

Whilst I’m sure that many have grown accustomed to having their card declined in recent months due to unannounced and often substantial credit limit reductions, the new HSBC fraud prevention software is sure to increase rejections still further.

As always, where you’re liable to find that your card is declined is when you’re making a transaction that/s outside your normal day to day habits. For example, if you use your card on holiday without telling the bank in advance then it’s much more likely that you will get your transactions rejected from the start rather than after a few days as would have happened previously. Similarly, if it’s a card that you save up for special occasions then you’ll find it rejected when you try to use it.

To avoid serious inconvenience for yourself, it’s best to travel around (at home and abroad) with a minimum of two cards issued by different banks. Worth noting is that some banks issue cards under many different flags so make sure that it really is a different bank that issues your backup card. Don’t forget that you should have a Visa branded and a Mastercard branded card for holiday purposes as not all countries accept both equally.

Popularity: 5% [?]

With the global economy being in something of a mess as we are all too aware, it’s not quite so easy to pick up a new credit card to roll over that Christmas debt as many people have been doing quite habitually in recent years.

However, instant decision credit cards are available and thus it’s possible to find out fairly quickly whether or not you’ve a chance of rolling over your existing debt or just getting a new card at all. Although there are loads of sites that let you compare instant decision credit cards do bear in mind that the banks in general will reduce your credit score if you make a “lot” of credit applications in a “short period”. How many a “lot” is and how long a “short period” is varies between different banks but as a broad rule of thumb it’s probably best to limit yourself to no more than two or three in a month.

Also worth noting is the rise in credit card data sharing which is also affecting the credit decisions by banks and, usually, making it more difficult for a given person to get credit than it would have been a year ago in identical circumstances. Therefore, even if your credit rating is pretty much perfect, you should consider the “bad risk” cards which are easier to get normally and will usually give you a better deal if your rating is better than average.

Popularity: 4% [?]

If you wanted to send a small amount of money to someone, for most people the simplest thing to do is to either pop a cheque in the post or simply to post the cash. If it’s a large chunk of cash then cheques and bank transfers are the way to go normally.

However, what if it’s a sum that lies in the middle ground and you want to send it internationally? For most people the answer isn’t nearly so cut and dried there. For instance, if you were sending EUR 200 from the UK to France or vice versa you’d be looking at around £25/EUR 20 in bank charges for the cheque or transfer and that’s before you factor in the tourist rate of exchange that you’d be getting.

If it’s a company you’re sending it to then you could use a credit/debit card of course, but that’s not really an option for an individual, is it? Well, actually these days it is as the person you’re sending it to could have a paypal account in which case, if they upgrade it to a premium account, then they could take the money off you at a cost of around 4%.

However, if it’s a family member a more practical way is to pop into the post office and pick up a travel money card and just post it to them. There’s no security risk as you can wait ’til it arrives before enabling the card. It costs around 4% to exchange the money from sterling to euros or dollars and it’ll be £5 or so two years later to renew it.

Popularity: 3% [?]