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Credit Card Problems

Morning Everyone,

A question for any Australians here who have a Commonwealth Bank credit card mastercard. Have you had any troubles using it here?

I havent been able to use mine since about the 23rd of December. I thought it was just old and needing replacing. Have received the new one and Iam still told it is restricted. I have rang my bank and have been told it is activated, and everything is AOK.

Anyone else have any other ideas what the problem could be??

Cheers,

Scott V

By Bunyipcatcher on Feb 27, 2008, 03:38 in Friendly Talkzone.

ozgringo says on Feb 27, 2008, 05:28:

Gday Scott,

I don't have a C'wealth mastercard but twice had issues with using a Westpac visa card in Medellin. I would have to phone their card services department back in Oz to get restrictions taken off it. For some reason if you use a card in Colombia it rings alarm bells.

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Bunyipcatcher says on Feb 27, 2008, 06:00:

G'day ozgringo......The bank has told me that there is no restrictions on it and its been activated......I had been using it for the last 3 years or so with no problems....what a pain the proverbial. Might have to go the cash machine and see if I can withdraw money from the hole in the wall. Just dont want some hungry ATM machine here eating it.

Thanks for the info

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capt_j says on Feb 27, 2008, 06:13:

I can't shed any light on your specific problem but it is tricky getting your money in Colombia. I have a card from an HSBC owned bank and for some reason it only worked at Banco de Bogota. No idea why that is. I only learned this by going to a bunchof different ATMs and it finally worked there.

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pedro (☼Travelguide writer) says on Feb 27, 2008, 07:06:

Bunyip, first try a selection of different banks.

Most of the Colombian ATMs are designed for you to insert your card and remove it, then do your transaction. So don't be concerned about your card being retained.

My Australian cards have always worked (can't speak for Commonwealth. Why aren't you using the Wizard Clear Advantage to travel on? It's a no brainer)

There are a couple of different networks in Colombia.

- One is Davivienda, BanColombia etc
- Other is Bancafe, Banco de Bogota, BBVA, Santander

Your card will probably work on either one or the other.

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Bunyipcatcher says on Feb 27, 2008, 09:45:

Pedro,

Not sure what Wizard Clear Advantage is, its been a long time since Ive been back to oz. Is there w webpage explaining what that is. Might be able to get it setup from oz before my next soiree around some other part of Colombia. The problem at the moment is only with my credit card. Iam going to try to do the groceries in Exito this arvo and see what happens.

Thanks for the help mate

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larryrn says on Feb 28, 2008, 14:44:

When I was there in January I had problems with Capital One not working. I needed to use a Chase card which had a 3 percent foreign transaction fee (vs the Capital One of 1 percent)

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