The holiday season is officially here, and with that comes heavy travel. According to USA Today, 103 million Americans (1/3 of the population) will be traveling during the upcoming holiday weekend. In addition, 94 million of those people plan to drive 50 miles or more to their destination. The time is right for your financial institution to share the following safety tips and best practices with your cardholders.
- Contact your financial institution as soon as you know you you’ll be traveling. It’s best to inform them of your travel destination and dates so they can place a travel strategy on your account.
- Check which forms of payment are used at your travel spot to ensure you’ll be able to pay.
- If, for some reason, you don’t want to pay with your credit or debit card while traveling, utilizing prepaid or reloadable cards is a great alternative.
- Always remember to keep an eye out for skimming devices on gas or payment terminals. Never use your card to pay at a terminal that appears to have been tampered with.
- Verify your card(s) don’t expire during your travel dates.
- Keep your financial institution’s phone number handy in case of an emergency.
For more information about travel alerts and tips, watch this quick video from Ashley McAlpine, TMG Fraud Prevention Manager.
