Trouble using international credit cards

[CarverFan]

Problem was with Cotodigital, that's Coto online. When I registered my card, the only choice for HSBC was HSBC SA which is the South American issued one. They have changed the website. In the old website, I paid with HSBC UK cards. Been doing this for years. Now I can't, I think it's the first sign of stricter controls on foreign cards. When DiscoVirtual goes back up (not working for the last few days) I will check if they have changed their payment system too.

Markgeezer, CarverFan is a literary alusion, I'm not a serial killer!

 

[RichardP]

PS. what does CarverFan mean ?

As in Raymond Carver.

 

[AngelinBA]

Have used the same international mastercard here just fine for 11 years but this February it was declined in two different shops. I called my bank in NZ, they said the transaction was fine at their end but from what they could see the problem was with the security code part of the transaction, that the shop staff were putting in a wrong code. I haven´t tried since then, but my boss and his wife had the same problem a few weeks ago as well.

 

[toongeorges]

I think it's the first sign of stricter controls on foreign cards.

Just it would not make sense to block foreign credit cards that bring in dollars/foreign currency.

Well yeah, this is Argentina, whether it makes sense or not does not matter.

 

[CarverFan]

I think they're trying to crack down on the use of foreign bank accounts by Argentines, rather than by tourists. Tourists wouldn't shop at Coto online anyway. Will call them, ask why they've changed policy and update.

 

[TrevorCito]

I think they're trying to crack down on the use of foreign bank accounts by Argentines, rather than by tourists. Tourists wouldn't shop at Coto online anyway. Will call them, ask why they've changed policy and update.

I might be able to offer a simple reason as to why as I worked for some time with visa & MasterCard and am familiar with their policies. Its not really so sinister.

By joining the credit card network, the vendor agrees to a range of customer protection assurances and fraud protections, namely refunds. By rejecting international cards, the vendor limits credit card fraud risk to themselves and domestic customers with dni numbers. Let me explain. If you purchase a TV online here and then cry fraud, your home bank will most likely refund the disputed transaction and force the vendor to repay the full amount. The vendor loses even though they have followed all the rules (non repudiation checks) for two reasons. 1) Argentina is a credit card fraud hotspot, 2) the cost to recover the goods from you once you return to your home countryis often greater than the purchase price so they lose.

 

[ndcj]

The most likely in the case of temporarily not being able to make a transaction using a foreign card in somewhere like Coto is that large supermarkets have something called a "floor limit" which allows them to continue processing credit card transactions even if their link to the network goes down.

This floor limit almost always excludes non-local cards and often excludes local debit cards. The reason is that after the network link comes back up, all those transactions will be approved, even if it would put the card holder over their limit.

For this reason, if the link to the processing network is down, most large retailers will continue to accept local cards, but automatically refuse to process international cards, prepaid cards and sometimes even local debit cards.

 

[KarlaBA]

When I registered my card, the only choice for HSBC was HSBC SA which is the South American issued one.

HSBC SA does not mean HSBC South America. It means HSBC Sociedad Anónima, which is the legal name of the HSBC Corporation as it is duly incorporated in Argentina.

In the USA, HSBC has the legal name HSBC BANK NA. The 'NA" does not stand for North America. It means "National Association" - a banking regulation term.

 

[CarverFan]

I phoned them up and they couldn't answer my query. Yes they affirmed SA was sociedad anonima. But there was a requirement online for 3 digits of a code from the front of the card that don't appear on the foreign card. I used the security code from the back and it didn't go through.

 

[YanquiGallego]

I think something is up with international credit cards as numerous merchants recently have asked me if my card was foreign, one time they had to key in a different Mastercard option for the card to process at FarmaCity, etc