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Three weeks to fix a banking problem I thought would take an hour | Digital Nomad Life - HW Forums

Three weeks to fix a banking problem I thought would take an hour

I moved to Thailand six months ago. Last month my US bank flagged my account as suspicious after I bought a plane ticket to Vietnam. They locked me out completely. I figured a quick call would sort it out. Three weeks later, after seven phone calls, two video chats, and one visit to a US embassy office, they finally unlocked it. The whole time I had to live off cash I had stashed in my apartment. Has anyone else had a bank freeze their account while traveling? What did you do to get it back faster?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant_perry2mo ago

Oh man, this is literally my nightmare come true! I had almost the exact same thing happen when I was in Mexico for two months... my bank froze my card after I bought a bus ticket to Guatemala. I thought it would be a quick 15 minute call too. Ended up being almost two weeks of back and forth, and I was scraping by on what little cash I had left from the airport ATM. The worst part was they kept asking for proof of my travel plans, which I obviously didn't have printed out... so I had to find a place to print stuff in a small town. It really makes you wonder how banks think people are supposed to survive when they lock you out like that.

troy9962mo ago

Dude, that's brutal. I've learned the hard way too. Always carry a backup credit card from a different bank when you travel. Like, hide it in your sock or something. And for the love of god, always have a small stash of emergency cash, maybe $200 in local currency, somewhere separate from your wallet. That way if your main card gets nuked you still have a few days to sort things out without begging for change. I also set up travel notifications through my bank's app now instead of just a phone call, seems to trip less flags. Still, it's crazy how one bus ticket can turn your whole trip into a logistical nightmare...