Just ask Billie Frank. An avid traveler and co-founder of concierge and trip planning company The Santa Fe Traveler,, Frank tried to withdraw about $230 after hours from a Banco Santander ATM in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, in October. The machine gave Frank her card and a withdrawal receipt, but kept the cash.
“The great takeaway for us was not to use an ATM when the bank is not open,” she says.
Whether it’s a malfunctioning ATM, a misplaced card or an aggressive pickpocket, banking issues that are merely inconvenient at home can spur panic when they occur in a foreign country. Planning ahead and knowing what to do can spare you headaches and save your trip from getting derailed.
Call your bank If you lose your debit card to an ATM or pickpocket, or simply misplace it, the best thing to do is stay calm and call your bank, says Tami Farrow, senior vice president and head of retail deposit payments at TD Bank, which serves the eastern U.S. from Maine to Florida.
“Make sure you know how to contact your bank internationally,” Farrow says. “Quite often your bank’s 800 number won’t work when you’re overseas.” A
Although your bank may not be able to retrieve your card from a faulty ATM, it can advise you on what to do next and suspend the card if necessary. In some cases, it will even send you a replacement by overnight carrier.
Larger banks usually have a number for customers to call when they’re outside the U.S., but smaller credit unions and community banks often have just one all-purpose number for customers to report a lost or stolen card. Doing your research will help provide peace of mind when you need it. These links are a good place to start:
- Bank of America
- Wells Fargo
- Capital One credit cards, debit cards
- PNC Bank
- U.S. Bank
- Citibank credit cards, debit cards
It’s also a good idea to call your bank before heading overseas to let it know when and where you will be traveling. That can be a good opportunity to confirm which number to call if something goes awry with your card.
Jessica Pociask, owner of WANT Expeditions,, a wildlife and nature tour company in Traverse City, Michigan, suggests taking photographs of your plastic so you can easily find the account number of a lost or stolen card, as well as the number to reach the card issuer.
“Before every trip, I lay out all of my credit/debit cards, license and passport, take a photo of both the front and back, and email it to myself,” says Pociask, who has visited nearly 80 countries. “This has done wonders from preventing additional charges that I could possibly be liable for while traveling.”
Better to avoid storing the images on your cellphone, though, as they could wind up in the wrong hands if your phone is lost or stolen.
Have a backup If possible, it’s best to avoid relying on one card when traveling abroad. Instead, it’s better to pack multiple forms of payment — cash, debit and credit cards — so you have options if one goes missing or simply doesn’t work, Farrow says.
Some merchants in other countries may accept only MasterCard, while others take only Visa, for example. In many countries, you can use cards only with an EMV chip at unattended ticketing kiosks, like those at train stations and subway terminals.
Travelers should always have backup cash, Farrow says — advice Frank echoes after her ATM incident in Mexico.
But that snafu had a happy ending — eventually.
“About three weeks to the day the money was returned to our account,” Frank says. “We have a good relationship with our bank. I’m not sure it would have worked out, otherwise.”
Kelsey Sheehy is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email:ksheehy@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @KelseyLSheehy.
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