If notifying your credit card company about an upcoming trip is on the to-do list, you may be able to skip this task. Using new fraud detection technology powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence, some issuers already know your travel plans and can anticipate your purchase activity before you even get through airport security.
However, some credit card companies still recommend providing a courtesy notice before you travel. While forgetting usually isn’t a major issue, it can help avoid the inconvenience or embarrassment of a declined purchase or a locked account because of unusual activity.
Learn which credit card companies have ditched travel notices, which ones you should still notify, and how to keep your card accounts safe when you’re on a trip.
What Is a Travel Notice?
A travel notice is letting your credit card company or bank know that you’ll be traveling, so purchases made outside your usual area will not be flagged as potentially fraudulent.
“I thought this was just advice from my mom,” says David Ciccarelli, CEO of Lake.com and avid business traveler. “I still do it to this day to let them know when and where I’ll be traveling. I even mention the airports I’m flying through so there’s no awkward encounters when grabbing a bite to eat during a long layover.”
While travel notices used to be standard recommendations, for some issuers, the guidance is changing.
Has AI Made Travel Notices Obsolete?
In recent years, credit card issuers have made significant advancements in real-time fraud detection, driven by machine learning and behavioral analytics, says Debtosh Banerjee, president of Seen, a credit card and app for building credit. “These systems can analyze dozens of data points, including transaction patterns, location signals from your device, merchant history, and even flight or hotel bookings tied to your email to help predict whether a purchase may be legitimate,” he explains.
Because of this advancement, many issuers no longer rely on manual travel notices to distinguish between legitimate travel and potential fraud. “At the core is advanced machine learning, specifically anomaly detection and pattern recognition algorithms that monitor transaction data in real time,” Banerjee says.
In other words, the systems evaluate not just the location of the transaction, but also the timing, spending category, historical user behavior and device fingerprinting — which can track web browsing and app activity.
[Read: Best Travel Rewards Credit Cards.]
Are Travel Credit Cards Less Likely to Block a Transaction?
In general, if you use a travel credit card or co-branded credit card (like an airline or hotel card), the expectation is that you will be traveling regularly. “These cards are usually optimized for global usage, and the fraud systems are generally more tolerant of foreign or travel-related transactions,” says Banerjee, “especially with businesses like hotels, airlines and transit services.”
Other types of credit cards — such as cash back or general purpose cards — may be more likely to flag transactions that fall out of your normal spending patterns. But regardless of card type, whether to submit a travel notice comes down to the card issuer’s policy.
Which Card Issuers Have Ditched the Need for Travel Notices?
If you have any card from the following companies, you no longer have to worry about travel notices, and that advice comes straight from the issuers themselves:
— Chase
Give These Card Issuers a Heads Up About Travel Plans
If you have a credit card with a local bank or credit union, their technology may not be as robust for catching fraud, so check their policies before traveling. In addition, a few major credit card issuers still recommend the practice of travel notices, including:
— Citi. You can set it up for any travel from your Citi Mobile app, under Card Management and then Travel Notices.
— Discover. For travel outside the U.S., log into your account and navigate to Add a Trip.
— U.S. Bank. For travel outside the U.S., select Travel Notifications in the Account Services tab of your online account or app.
You can also call customer service to set a travel alert if you don’t want to do it online.
[Read: Best Cash Back Credit Cards.]
Smart Moves to Protect Your Credit Information When You Travel
No matter how intelligent fraud prevention technology gets, there are other things you can do to proactively protect your credit card accounts when you head out of town.
— See if a travel notice is needed. If your card company is not among the ones listed above, look up your issuer’s online FAQs. This can help you quickly figure out the card’s policy on travel alerts. When in doubt, call the number on the back of your card or see if there is a travel notice option built into the card’s app.
— Keep your contact information updated. Check to make sure your card issuer has your current mobile phone number and email address in case it needs to alert you about potential fraud.
— Set up the credit card’s mobile app to see real-time alerts. Most apps have a feature that lets you freeze or unfreeze your card in case you lose it or notice suspicious activity. This is a convenient feature that lets you immediately lock down your account until you get a moment to call the card company.
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Still Need to Notify Your Credit Card Company If You’re Going On a Trip? It Depends. originally appeared on usnews.com
