Almost half (49%) of consumers rely on credit or debit cards when travelling abroad
A quarter (26%) have had their cards blocked while on holiday – even though nearly two thirds (61%) of those had told their bank they were going abroad
On average Brits rack up £42 in call and data charges contacting their bank to get the block lifted – a total of £240 million across the UK
Nearly a sixth (15%) have had to wait over 24 hours for their card be reactivated
A fifth (22%) of those cut off had to borrow money to make it to the end of their holiday and a quarter (27%) were left feeling stressed and anxious
Uswitch.com is calling on banks to provide customers with an automatic refund of any costs associated with reactivating their credit or debit card, if the bank had previously been informed about the overseas trip.
Holidaymakers have been unnecessarily hit by a combined £240 million in call and data charges after contacting their banks to reactivate blocked cards while on holiday, according to new research from Uswitch.com, the price comparison and switching service.
Almost half (49%) of consumers rely on their credit or debit cards when travelling abroad, but a quarter (26%) have had their cards blocked during their trip – nearly two thirds (61%) warning their banks in advance that they were traveling overseas.
Resolving the problem has proved time-consuming and costly for those receiving an unexpected freeze on their holiday spending. On average, Brits spent 66 minutes of their precious holiday time on the phone to their bank to unblock their card and at an average cost of £42 each. One in six (15%) had to wait for over 24 hours before their card was reactivated.
The impact of a blocked card on holiday is not only financial, but can cause emotional distress too. A quarter (27%) of those who had their card blocked were left feeling stressed and anxious, while a fifth (22%) had to borrow money from family and friends to get through to the end of the trip. Others (11%) were left struggling to pay for their accommodation. For 6% of holiday makers, being unable to access their cash meant they were forced to pack their bags and come home early.
To avoid blocked cards causing holiday nightmares, consumers would like banks to offer instant text alerts (46%), send an email (35%) or use app notifications (22%) to let them know when their card has been suspended.
While banks typically block cards for security reasons, a fifth (19%) of holidaymakers would like to see them use technology to identify genuine fraud. For example, using GPS tracking to figure out how far your card is from your phone at the point of purchase, or being able to unblock your card through the providers app.
Tom Lyon, money expert at Uswitch.com, says: “There’s nothing worse than going on holiday and finding your cards have been blocked. Typically, banks do so for security reasons but our research shows that many consumers are finding their cards are stopped even after notifying their provider about their travel plans.
“Banks need to up their game and look to technology to ensure that they are providing consumers with an efficient service when they are stranded abroad with a blocked card.
“If you are heading overseas, let your bank know about your travel plans. It is also worth providing your bank with your contact number and making sure your number with them is up-to-date, to allow them to get in touch if you run into problems.
“If you do incur costs such as call or data charges when trying to reactivate your card, ask your bank for a refund. If your bank turns your complaint down, you can take your case to the free and independent Financial Ombudsman Service.”
Find out how you could save over £1,000 a year with Uswitch here.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Rory Stoves
Phone: 020 3872 5613
Email: rory.stoves@uswitch.com
Twitter: @UswitchPR
Notes to editors
Research referred to in the release was conducted online by Opinium from 12th to 15st May 2017 with 2,002 nationally representative UK adults 18+.
When asked, ‘The last time you travelled abroad, did you use a credit or debit card for your spending?’, 982 people answered either ‘yes, a credit card’ or ‘yes, a debit card’ or answered yes to both. 982 is 49% of 2,002.
When we asked those, who had used their card when travelling abroad, ‘Has your credit/debit card even been blocked by your bank whilst travelling abroad?’ 152 answered, ‘Yes, despite notifying my bank’ and 99 answered, ‘Yes, I hadn’t notified my bank.’ 152+99 = 251. 251 is 26% of 982 and 152 is 61% of 251.
When asked if they incurred any extra expense by trying to contact their bank after their card had been blocked, either through data costs, international phone charges or internet access costs the data showed people who had their cards blocked abroad incurred an average extra expense of £41.85. To work out the total amount spent by Brits we divided the number of respondents (224) by the overall sample (2002) = 11% of nationally representative sample. Then 11% of all Brits (51,339,000) = 5,744,224. So, 5,744,224 spent £41.85, which is a total spend of £240,411,151.35.
When asked ‘After you contact your bank to ask them to unblock it , how long did it take the bank to unblock your card?’. 6% answered ‘1-3 days’, 5% answered ‘4-6 days’, 2% answered, ‘a week’, 2% answered ‘over a week’ and 4% answered ‘it was never unblocked’ – meaning that 15% of card holders had to wait over 24 hours to get their card unblocked.
When asked ‘After your card was blocked on holiday were you inconvenienced in any of the following ways because you were unable to access your funds?’, 22% answered, ‘had to borrow money from friends/family’, 11% answered, ‘could not pay for accommodation’, 6% answered, ‘had to come home earlier than planned’, 27% answered, ‘created a stressful environment’.
When asked, ‘in total, how long do you estimate you spent contacting your bank to get your card unblocked while you were abroad?’, the mean answer was 1.1 hours or 66 minutes.
When asked ‘Which of the following do you think your bank should do to ensure you’re warned if your card is blocked abroad and to help you get the card reinstated?’, 46% answered, ‘instant text alerts when your card is blocked’, 35% answered email alert when your card is blocked’, 22% answered ‘app notification when your card is blocked’, 19% answered GPS tracking to measure how far your phone is from your card, to better identify fraud’.
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