I am an American traveling to Prague and Vienna. I have a VISA from my credit union. I'm trying to make reservations for hotel, train tickets, some sites (castle, museum), etc. Every online purchase attempt in Vienna has failed: I get a generic VISA message telling me that additional verification is needed and I should call my bank for help. I called my credit union, but all they tell me is they don't see any rejected transactions and can't help me any more.
As I understand it, these online purchases require a form of 2FA that my CU VISA doesn't support: The bank would send a text to my cell phone with a code and I would enter that code on the purchase webpage.
I've had the same trouble in the past with Barcelona, when I tried to purchase tickets online for the Sagrada Familia.
Its too late for this trip, but I'm thinking about future travel to Europe. Are there American VISAs that will work with these European sites?
Is there a VISA I can get in USA that supports 2FA for online purchases in Europe?
byu/Severe-Reality5546 inCreditCards
Posted by Severe-Reality5546
4 Comments
Funny, I just ran into this issue with a Fidelity 2% Visa – no record of anything for CS to see as it was just rejected and not a declined charge. I used Bilt Mastercard and Capital One Venture X without issues. I don’t have specific recs other than to carry multiple cards when traveling as access to phone/internet will vary if one card is locked for potentially fraudulent charges due to international use.
You need to talk to someone at your bank who knows what “3D Secure” is.
Sounds like 3D Secure. Unfortunately part of this is a small credit union problem that’s more easily avoided by getting virtually any big bank credit card. Other part is that the technology is frankly finicky to begin with even on cards that support it.
Chase definitely supports it, could get a Chase Amazon card for no AF no FTF and some travel protections. Wells Fargo also supports it, so a Wells Fargo Autograph would work too. Capital One does as well, would recommend the Capital One Savor but it’s just annoying that they’re moving over from Mastercard to the Discover network.
3D Secure. Seems like a garbage credit union if they don’t support that. It’s also fairly common in the states for high risk/high value transactions.