The issues travellers facing when using their bank cards overseas

Travelling overseas can quickly turn into a financial nightmare. Here’s what you need to know to avoid any headaches.

There’s not much that’s more irritating than being on the other side of the world and unable to use your bank account.

And that’s exactly what happened to me recently.

I jetted off into the sunset last month to Europe for a mid-year break and was full of beans, excited about the adventures that lay ahead.

Everything was organised before I left home and my two bank accounts were working perfectly once I arrived.

It was all systems go.

But this was until I tried to make online bookings for common travel expenses such as train tickets, castle entries or kayaking adventures.

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Being unable to use your banking overseas can make a holiday stressful. Picture: iStock

With many of these things you have to book in advance to secure a spot, or risk missing out or find yourself lining up in long queues.

When I punched in my bank details on the relevant websites to make these purchases I was then prompted to enter a one-time PIN to verify the transaction.

But the big problem was I wasn’t using my Australian SIM card overseas — why would I when I risk being pinged with exorbitant international roaming charges to do this?

So I privately contacted my main bank through my verified Twitter account and also my secure banking app to see if they could help turn off this two-factor authentication.

It was driving me crazy as it was stopping me dead in my tracks to secure relevant bookings.

My bank told me they couldn’t help, and that there was no way to avoid using a PIN sent to my Australian mobile to verify each individual online transaction.

Some banks require two-factor authentication when purchasing online, which can become tricky when travelling overseas. Picture: AFP

I either had to turn my phone back on and get the code or ring up the bank — again footing an expensive overseas call to get through.

If I rang bank they could remove the PIN requirement and I could proceed with the transaction.

So in the end the easiest thing for me to do was using my mum’s — who I was travelling with — old-school flip mobile phone.

It doesn’t have data on the phone and wouldn’t cost much to receive a text while overseas.

It was my saviour.

This is why smartphones have become too smart — the costs to use them overseas are extreme.

Banks and credit card schemes have become so risk-averse that even the account holder cannot use their own money.

This exact problem happened to me a few years ago with a different bank and they were able to remove the SMS authentication altogether.

The question I ask is why can’t two-factor authentication involve some other way of verifying the using than sending a PIN code to an Australian SIM?

What about using fingerprint ID or a code sent to a secure email address?

Banks have got this two-factor authentication all wrong and it needs to be changed.

If a customer phones their bank before they leave, tells them their movements and is using their card at ATMs and stores overseas, then why should they be stopped from making online transactions?

I’m still yet to figure this out.

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@sophieelsworth