In the first two installments (1) & (2), I shared some experiences I’ve had with local ATMs that can make your life difficult.  In this installment I’m going to share with you how your US-based bank can make your stay miserable.

When I left the US, I contacted my bank and let them know I would be traveling in Central America indefinitely.  (Don’t screw up and tell them you’re moving permanently, then they’ll flag your account and make life VERY difficult down the road-more on that in a future installment).

The bank noted my call and said no problem.  Hehe.  Little did I know.

I spent months in Mexico and had no problems.  It only took a few weeks for me to have problems in Guatemala.  The Wife had gone to la bodegona and filled up nearly two grocery carts with food.  The bill came to over 2000Q, the check-out process was extraordinary (requiring the help of 3 little boys who hang around at the cash registers, offering assistance), only to find that my credit card didn’t work.

I had managed to avoid this trip, hating shopping more than a visit to the dentist, and so I got her call, tired, frustrated and undoubtedly irritated (with me).  After all, she’s standing there with two full carts, one of our kids, and several local boys, all observing the unfolding drama and her attempts to communicate in two decade-old high school Spanglish.

While on the phone, I logged on to my account and verified there was plenty of money in the account.  What could be the problem?

She had the guy in charge of credit cards (you don’t pay right at the register, you have to go to a special counter to pay by credit card), and asked him to run it again.  He did, and shook his head at her.  Fortunately, she had another card issued by a different bank, and handed it to him.

Incredibly, he looked at the card and asked her for ID.  I hadn’t considered that they would check ID-they never had mine-but I guess because she had a huge bill and had been declined twice, he was worried.  Well, since her name wasn’t on this card (it was a corporate card of mine), he wouldn’t run it.

Doing my best to avoid leaving $250 worth of groceries at the checkout lane, I told the Wife to walk all the way to the other end of the store to the ATM, and see if she could withdraw cash using the 2nd card.  The guy agreed-reluctantly-and she was able to withdraw 2000Q.  (Would you want to put back two grocery carts worth of gringo food?).  This, plus the cash she had on her, paid the bill.

The poor Wife arrived home 30 minutes later, embarrassed, tired, and without enough cash to pay the kind taxi driver who had waited for her throughout the experience.  He didn’t have change for 100Q (!), so I raided the kids’ piggy banks and put together the 50Q he wanted for helping to load groceries and drive her home.  Shortly thereafter (about 30 minutes, to be precise), I had navigated all the menus on my bank’s phone support system and reached a live person.

The very sweet Indian lady on the phone confirmed that my card had been blocked due to suspicious usage.  The suspicion, in fact, was that it was being used in Guatemala.  Yes, it had been used with regularity in Guatemala AND Mexico for months before that, without problem, and YES, I had called to warn them, but for some reason it was blocked.  After verifying who I was by giving every private and personal fact of my life, she released the hold and apologized, in that unique English that only Indians, educated by the British, can speak.

Less than a week later the card was declined again.  I won’t trudge through the embarrassing details of the circumstances this time, let me just say I didn’t have the cash on hand to pay.  A phone call to the bank later in the day revealed that they had blocked my card again, this time for pulling out too much cash in too short a period of time.  Apparently if you use a card as a credit card, it’s one thing, but hitting the ATM daily and pulling out the max can trigger a red flag of sorts. (No doubt somebody in a government agency got a piece of paper with my name on it as well, and with raised eyebrows said, “Oh yeah, that guy…”).

Why bother contacting your client and inquiring about the usage, when you can just shut off the card?  Well, the kind Pakistani man couldn’t answer that, but he did release the block and suggested I “limit” my use of the ATM, but should feel free to use it as a credit card without further problems.  He didn’t say it, but of course the reason is the US government believes anyone who deposits money in one country and withdraws it in another is engaged in money laundering.

Remember how I mentioned that few places accept credit cards, and those who do, don’t always, and consider what I had just been told.  Now I couldn’t use the ATM freely, but have few places where plastic is accepted.  It was becoming clear I needed another solution.  You’ll have to wait for installment 4 to hear about that.