1 * 0 = 0
> You either don't travel, don't travel for very long, or don't travel anywhere interesting.
I would prefer you didn't make assumptions.
I travel to lots of interesting places, and I have had my credit card disabled several times. Once because my idiot geography-illiterate bank didn't know that Bulgaria was a part of Europe. Good thing I had a stack of cash with me. For less prepared travellers, the bank is doing nothing but stranding their own customers cashless in unfamiliar places.
In any case, my point still stands that they really shouldn't be calling to verify it is me when I don't even have my home country's SIM card in my phone.
They should be e-mailing me instead, which is the only reliable way to reach me while travelling and SIM swapping. Most people are more reachable easily by e-mail than by phone when travelling for the exact same reason.
Me too. My bank sent me a message telling me to call them using the number on the back of my card. That is an easy solution to the problem.
Which is it?
Banks should adopt a policy of only interacting with customers physically, via their web interface with a login, official mobile app, or by the user calling the bank's official, publicized number. Never by calling the user.
You either don't travel, don't travel for very long, or don't travel anywhere interesting.
I've had several experiences over the years where using a credit card in a country I didn't expect to be in got a call from the bank to verify it was me.
You may tell your bank you're traveling in Germany, Italy, and Switzerland for a week, but on night three of your trip, when you get invited to a party in the Czech Republic by your friend's pretty sister, you get on the train and keep talking. You don't say, "Hold your hormones for a sec, I need to tell my bank I'm going out of bounds."