why wont the credit card work?

Question

My girlfriend is visiting the states from japan and whenever she uses her visa credit cards they wont work. Theyll work in some clothing stores but it kinda changes from day to day. The cards will work in American eagle for example but not in aeropostale. is it the store system or is it the card that isnt cooperating?

when her card scans usually it will prompt "call credit company". could that be the fraud protection?

Answer 1

Simple. The card was issued in Japan, she's using it overseas. The bank that issue the card will keep holding transactions until she calls-in and inform them she's on vacation, away from her country. Until that happens, the card will continued to be rejected. If she keeps trying to use it, they will freeze the account permanently until she speaks to the VISA security department.

BTW; yes VISA suspects fraud.

Answer 2

As it isn't clear if the card is being run through a debit machine or not...I'll go on the premise that it is, and by "not working" I take it to mean that when the card is scanned it doesn't read...and not to mean that it declines her purchase.

Some readers are more sensitive than others and if the stripe on the card is even the slightest bit worn it may have a tendency to refuse a proper scan. In such cases if the clerk simply places a piece of paper over the card (i.e. a piece of sales receipt paper in the shape of a V where the card goes in the middle and the paper acts as sort of a "cover"...then is swiped through the machine first at a normal speed, faster or slower depending on whether the other methods read or not.

This usually solves the problem of readers not reading the card correctly (why I don't know). It's possible something to do with static being generated that interferes with the proper reading is involved.

If the problem is being declined...that would of course have to do with purchases being made that are over the cards limit...or there is a set number of transactions allowable per day (very odd tho in the case of a credit card as these normally don't have such restriction).

Check also to see if your credit card company has a "Fraud Protection" program in place. Sometimes, when purchases are made that are out of the ordinary for the client, the bank will refuse to process the request and the client must contact them to verify that indeed the purchase is a legitimate authorized one.

Can't be of much help otherwise, hope it corrects itself for her.

Answer 3

Depends on the credit card. But most of the time you have to call the credit card company and let them know you are leaving the country or the card wont work. The funds on the card can be an issue to.