Technical hitch hits Visa cards

John · 04-13-2007, 12:10 PM

A technical hitch has affected Visa transactions across Europe, leading to some cards being declined. London-based Visa confirmed it had first noticed problems with transactions early on Friday morning.
It added that immediate action was being taken to resolve the problem, but it was unable to put a figure on the number of transactions affected.
Central Europe and Nordic countries have been the areas most affected by the problem.
"We are currently experiencing some technical problems in our card transaction processing," Visa spokesman Simon Kleine said in a statement.
"In some cases this is resulting in card transactions being declined. Immediate action is being taken to overcome this problem and we hope to have a full service resumed as soon as possible."

Cards rejected

A Danish firm that handles credit card transactions - Payment Business Services (PBS) - was one of the first to become aware of the problem.
The company said it had begun to notice problems with Visa payments shortly before 03:00 GMT, with cards being rejected two hours later.
Visa was unable to confirm when the system would be back up and running, however he added that the problem appeared to be minimal in the UK because a back-up system had been put in place.
He added that the firm had received a "number of calls" about the problem in the UK, but that has now been declining, and customers in the UK should no longer be affected by the glitch.
Mr Kleine added that the company noticed the problem mid-morning after it had begun to update its system in the early hours of Friday.

(BBC News)

daWoods · 04-20-2007, 03:42 PM

Had that happen to us on our recent trip to Hawaii. One of our cards was declined, but fortunately the other worked.(different bank) Called them the next day and was told it had been a computer glitch. Darned inconvenient when you're far from home.

Cruise Cat · 04-21-2007, 03:47 PM

If only it resulted in adding money to our accounts!

**Captain Larry** · 04-21-2007, 05:09 PM

My intention for next month in Italy is to use MasterCard as the primary charge card and a debit card with a MasterCard logo. I will have a Visa card as a back up. This sounds like it should be "way back."

judytata11 · 04-22-2007, 09:33 AM

I planned on Visa with Amex as backup, now I'm not sure.

FlRic · 04-22-2007, 02:12 PM

Whatever you do be sure to notify your credit card companies of the dates of travel and destinations. That way they won't "stop" your card because of wierd purchases "away from home". Also give an extra day of travel when returning so you're covered if something delays you.

**Captain Larry** · 04-22-2007, 08:38 PM

Amen! I just called (past Friday) USAA Savings Bank and told them of our upcoming trip. When I said Italy, she asked for the specific states. She then gave me some instructions about how to use the card (MasterCard) in Italy, not only for purchases but for Bancomat emergency cash withdrawals. She also gave me the toll free number and the collect number to call from Italy if there is a problem. I then called the bank where I have my checking account, therefore my debit card, and gave them the same heads-up. Their attitude was that they didn't care. The best I got from them was assurance that the card was usable throughout Italy and a reminder of the daily limits. I will have to watch for unauthorized withdrawals myself.

FlRic · 04-23-2007, 06:40 PM

It happened to us in Singapore (there are worst places to be stranded!). When we went to check out of Raffles we were informed our card was "no good". Fortunately, I had another card that they accepted. We had been in Thailand buying jewelry and furniture and Visa expected us to be home in Florida so they called our home, left a message to call them, and stopped there not knowing we weren't home to receive their "urgent" message.
I also had a neice get stranded in a bed and breakfast in Wales for the same reason. What with the advent of ATM machines everywhere and the reluctance of many places to accept travellers checks ( besides the fact that no one wants to carry a bunch of checks) you need to treat your credit cards overseas as MONEY.........