Well I'm ticked off.
First I was not able to purchase plane tickets from a Philippine based airline. I tried both Cebu Pac and PAL and was denied by both by all my credit cards.
When I posted online about this multiple people replied that they could not purchase online either and that they sent money to their other half to make the purchase in person, simple enough.

Well, now I am trying to make hotel reservations for my fiancee at a hotel for the interview.
I was just informed that my credit card denied the charges. This is my Visa Check Card which comes from my bank account. I made sure there was enough money to cover the hotel fee in the account.
So I call the bank and get informed that there have been no denied transactions on my card. When I mentioned that the charges were comming from the Philippines they told me, "Oh, well that is different. We denie all charges from the Pacific Rim countries due to the high ammount of fraudulent charges from the area." ?????? WHAT THE EFF???
So I say to the guy, "So you are prohibiting me from spending MY money the way I want to?"
"No sir, we are protecting you from fraudulent charges on your account."
"I am telling you right now, I want this charge to take place. I have provided all the evidence you have requested to prove I am how I say I am, CC#, SS#, DOB, etc. I want to spend my money."
So he goes to talk to management and then comes back and tells me that there is nothing that can be done because the charge is not making it to their systems to be denied so they can not make not to allow the charge.

What it sounds like is the CC companies in the Philippines are aware of the fact that the US card will be denied and never attempt to submit the request.

Is anyone else having trouble with any credit cards? So far I have only attempted to make the hotel reservation with my Visa Check Card. I have not tried my GM Mastercard or my AMEX card, both of which are true credit cards. However, both of these were denied by Cebu Pac and PAL a few weeks back.
If your not having trouble post what type of card it is and who the issueing bank is.
If anyone else is having trouble contact your CC company and find out if they also have a blanket block on all PAC rim countries.

Marc

checkout asiarooms.com it worked for us

If your card is tied to a bank account, isn't it a debit card and not credit card ? It may have visa/master logo on it but not a credit card.

Where is asiarooms.com based out of?
If it is anywhere in the Pacific Rim then my CC Company will deny the charges. Its not the company themselves its the region the company is in.

Also, please provide meaningful discussion of the issue. I'm trying to get a discussion going about using credit cards in the Philippines and find out which companies work and which do not.



I have used it in the past in the Philippines without issue. I can use it as a debit card or a credit card.
But if you read the rest of my post my Mastercard and AMEX are also being denied.

Answering myself on this one. asiarooms.com is, acording to the country code of their main number, based out of Thailand. Which is another PAC country.

take some deep rythmic breaths Arrta. oohhmm oohhmm j/k...i can tell you're stressin bad. sorry you're having problems.

since your bank has this policy & isn't helping. call your MC or AMEX customer service # & authorize a 1 time purchase.
if that does not work.

try sending the $$ to your SOs bank & she can use her card (if she has one) & let her make the reservation. if not. call the hotel & speak to a manager about the problem. i told you in the other thread thats what i did. they reserved the room w/o payment first.(coz i spoke to a manager)..then they allowed me to pay from the US since my debit went thru. my bank doesn't have the same policy yours does. but, surely the hotel mangement has dealt w/ similiar cases before.

whatever you do don't stress your SO about this. if it cost you a little more...so be it. peace of mind is worth it. keep at it & something will give. good luck!

Both of my CC companies were able to allow specific charges from the Philippines when I called them. Maybe you need a different credit card company.

I only used CCs for airline and sometimes hotel. Everything else was cash.

I've used my credit card to make reservations and payments in both the Philippines and Thailand. I've also been able to use it at hotels in the Philippines and buying tickets at the PAL ticketing office in Makati and making PAL reservations online. I have also used it for purchases in the larger department stores in Makati. It was a Capital One Mastercard.

I don't use my Visa debit card for reservations or purchases in the Philippines as it is not as well protected in the event of unauthorized use. I do use the debit card at ATMs everywhere to get cash.

Hey.. You just said its your money and you can do anything you want with it..

So here it goes.. Its your money.. Withdraw it and send it to her..

Let her buy the plane ticket from there, she might even find a good deal..

Often foreign purchases will be blocked. The security department at the card companies analyze spending habits. If something is out of the norm, it gets denied. More often it is a foreign purchase that gets blocked. Sometimes they will block a higher dollar purchase if your normal purchases is low. Contact them and tell them that you will be making purchases in a certain country or countries. And always always always notify your card companies when you are traveling abroad. The dates and countries. This will eliminate a lot of hassle. Also, get a toll free number that you can dial when abroad in case you need to contact them.

Now in regards to Cebu Pacific, they are just flat out not accepting the cards for some reason. I called my card companies and they never even seen an attempted authorization.

My cards are from Bank of America (MBNA) and FIA Card Services. IMO you always need at least two cards if you travel, and they should be from different issuers.

he is not traveling to the PI. he is trying to prepay for her hotel in Manila.
1 so she doesn't have to carry the cash & 2 so he can rest easy knowing she has a place to stay.

That is why I love my bank.. They don't be on my business with my transactions..

If they see a foreign charge and unsure about the charges.. They just give me a call and ask me if I am aware about the charges..

Like what Arrta said.. Its your money... You can do whatever you want with it..

HSBC all the way... Their all over the world!!

That's probably not going to happen. Too much room for fraud.

For hotel, just make the reservation and transfer the money to her bank account. She can make daily ATM withdrawals to pay the hotel. That's what I did when I wasn't there. ATMs are everywhere.

I have had several calls over the years to confirm charges, but never a refused authorization. I have had to cancel accounts in the past when the call was for charges I did not make, but I was never held liable for those and they never cost me a dime. I do think the bank debit/charge/ATM cards work differently.

BTW, City Garden Hotels in Manila has their own website. You can check availability make reservations with a 10% deposit (credit cards do work on their website) and pay the rest in person at check in time. They can tell where the nearest ATMs are.
http://citygardenhotels.com/
They own the Lotus Garden and the City Garden Suites, both within walking distance of St. Lukes, and a short taxi ride to the US Embassy.
We always stayed at the Lotus Garden. My wife's cousins and friends did too.

if nothing else works Arrta, try getting a relative to use their card & you can just pay them back.

I already did this for the plane tickets. What I am trying to do now is pay for the Hotel.



Hmm, my GM Mastercard is issued by HSBC. I just called them and they advised they do not have any restrictions on international purchases but they made a note that I will be charging a hotel to the card for arounf $500 USD so that they will not deny or question the charge.
I had not tried my Mastercard for the hotel yet. I was just so ticked off about my bank I posted and generalized all my cards because of the issue last week with the plane tickets.

I used my debit card with mastercard logo on it, and I don't have any problems using it internationally..I even used my debit card to pay my fiance cenomar and birthcert online and booked the hotel at hoteltravel.com..Maybe, it's about ur bank policy..I don't know about credit cards because I have only one credit card with $350 credit limit on it ..i hate credit cards!!!.

I use mine on SEAAIRs website without a problem. I've also had the bank issue one in my fiancee's name and her PI address as an alternate. This allows her to use it there for things like checking into the hotel or picking up the tickets.

I did have to go through a little security red-tape to set that up, but it was a phone call and a faxed form.

Also as a rule, whenever I travel overseas I always call the credit card companies and inform them of the dates of my travel, its a process I've been doing since the 80s after a particularly embarrassing incident with Mastercard while standing in a store in a mall in japan.

I call them too. They'll ask when you're leaving and returning, that way if someone picks up your CC number and tries to use it after you return, they can detect it easier.

What equipment does SEAAIR fly, little puddle-jumpers?

WOOT!!!
I just got the email confirmation that my GM Mastercard was accepted. Yay.

MY wife and I both use Master card debit cards in P.I. I went to my bank and told them that I would be sending one there for regular use. I have used both cards there w/ no problems. Now instead of western union, other family members use my account to send money. JOHN&JEAN

Happy you got your issues resolved.

Just to pile on:

There are plenty of travel companies that are not based in Asia that will be happy to take your money.

I used Orbitz.com

You can get hotels and plane tickets there.

Also, I had my credit cards and debit cards with a local credit union. They barely seem aware that other countries exist- they don't even charge extra for foreign debit transactions like some major banks do. I did call them up and told them ahead of time that I was going to the PI so that they would not react if any red flags came up.

If you want to send money, I found that the cheapest way was to just send a debit card. My only problem with that was that the ATM has to be on the Plus or Cirrus network, which is rare on her home island of Leyte. I ended up using Xoom.com, which is a lot cheaper than Western Union and a lot more available there.

If I need to send cash fast it is WU.
But for the money I send her when I get paid I send via PNB Web Remit. $5 USD per transaction no matter how large or small the amount I am sending is. Now, I was never going to be sending small amounts and it was cheaper than WU even thou it takes 3 days to get there. It goes directly into the account I had her open at PNB so she can access the money at any ATM and use the card in stores if she needs to.

Wow, not sure what your problem is. I used my credit card to book Claudeth and her Mom into the Bayview and used it all over the place when I was in the Philippines. Did you call your card company to see what was going on? I did notify my company that I was going the the Philippines and was planning on using my card. Maybe if you call them you can get it straightened out, might be a fraud issue on their side.

Mostly Dornier 328s of a relatively recent vintage. I'd fly asian spirit's jet service more, but they are to big of a pain to deal with from overseas.

I ALSO HAVE USED ASIAROOMS.COM TO RESERVE ROOMS AND HAVE USED MY CREDIT CARDS. SOMETIMES ITS A PAIN BECAUSE THEY ARE BEING ULTRA CAREFUL.
I GAVE RELYN A BANK CARD TO WITHDRAW MONEY FROM ATM OVER THERE. SHE HAS USED THAT FOR ABOUT A YEAR AND A HALF AND THE FEE IS ONLY 1%.........I ALSO GAVE HER A CHINA AIRLINES CREDIT CARD ISSUED BY BARCLAY BANK. EVEN HAD THEM ISSUE IN HER NAME. I DIDNT SEND EITHER OF THESE CARDS THROUGH MAIL BUT KNEW PEOPLE WHO WERE GOING TO VISIT OVER THERE AND THEY MET UP WITH RELYN. THE FEE FOR OVERSEAS TRANSACTION IS 3%. NOT CHEAP BUT WE ALSO USE IT TO GATHER POINTS TO FLY SOMEDAY FREE ON CHINA AIR.

ONE OTHER SIDE NOTE.....I USE AMERICAN EXPRESS "BLUE SKY" FOR ALL MY PURCHASES AND EVEN TO PAY MY BILLS. FOR EVERY $7500 IN CHARGES I GET $100 OFF FUTURE TRAVEL. FOR EVERYTHING I CANT USE AMEX FOR I USE MY CHINA AIR MASTERCARD. EVEN BILLS LIKE UTILITY, CABLE TV.......YOU NAME IT. I JUST PAY ALL THOSE THINGS OUT OF BANK WHEN STATEMENT COMES. SOMETIME WHEN IM 90 YEARS OLD I WILL GET FREE TICKET.......LOL.

PATRICK N RELYN

Told Yah!! HSBC is the best..

They don't be nosy on your business...

They just verify if the transaction is legit.. They could care less if your trying to use the card in Nigeria or Iraq..

Hello..i encountered same problem with yours when i purchase big amounts.coz im a supplementary or should i say extension of two credit cards namely US Bank and Bank of America account of my fiance..they were really strict on purchasing using CC especially here in Philippines..they would email or inform my fiance about fraudulent may happen...but that was last year..and im glad now i dont have any problem with it..and im glad