Spent 6 hours chasing a banking issue in Budapest, still not fixed

I landed in Budapest last Tuesday thinking I'd have a smooth week of work. My bank from back home decided to flag every single transaction I made here as fraud, even small coffee purchases. I called them and they said they'd fix it, but the next day the same thing happened. I spent over 6 hours on hold and talking to different agents, each one asking me the same questions. They finally said they put a travel note on my account, but now my card won't work at all for any online payment. I still can't pay my co-working space or buy a train ticket to Vienna. Has anyone else dealt with a bank that just can't handle a nomad lifestyle?

2 comments

2 Comments

finley_lopez983d ago

bro same thing happened to me with my credit union last year, they flagged my card for buying a croissant in paris and then locked my entire account for "suspicious activity" lol. spent like 4 hours on the phone with them and they kept asking if i was "sure" i was in europe. like yeah no i just decided to fly to hungary for funsies and forgot to tell you. honestly banks are stuck in 2005 where they think everyone stays in one zip code their whole life. your best bet is probably opening a revolut or n26 account for backup, i learned that the hard way after my card got shut down in prague and i had to survive on cash from my emergency stash. hope the coworking space takes cash, that's a nightmare scenario.

simonp403d ago

same thing happened to me with a big US bank last year in greece. had to open a revolut account in like 10 minutes at an atm lobby just to pay for my hostel. definitely get a backup card before you leave another city, n26 or wise work pretty well for nomad stuff. also try the bank's virtual card feature if they have one, sometimes those don't get flagged as often as the physical ones.