Credit card surprise

There’s something else about which to ask your credit card company before you travel. Is a new card being issued for you while you are on the road?

Even if your credit card is not due to expire, banks sometimes reissue cards (due to mergers or new card services), and this leaves you potentially stranded.

At checkout from the Miyako in Kyoto, Japan, several years ago, we found ourselves in the embarrassing situation of being told that our United Visa credit card had been denied. A quick collect call to the issuing bank sorted the situation out.

Even though we had informed the bank twice that we would be gone and had made sure that we could use our card throughout our month of travels, no one told us that new cards would be issued while we were away and that the new card would have to be activated from our home phone.

All of this could have been avoided if a savvy bank person had informed us in advance about the new cards and dealt with the activation before we left.

JANE B. HOLT
Hinesburg, VT