Tales of travel woe: Leaving your ATM card in the machine

This has never happened to me because of the fact that I am extremely cautious of how I handle any of my cards when I am traveling. For the most part credit and debit card issuers are quite kind to people who have managed to misplace their cards or have them stolen while traveling, but other companies refuse to mail a new one out of the country. This obviously can be a very big problem for people who depend on their cards as a sole method of getting cash so I'll offer some precautions that might seem obvious at the end of this.

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In my travels I have encountered dozens of people who have lost their cards while abroad. The number one way that this happens is that they walk away from the ATM machine with the card still in the slot. I always wonder how this is possible since most ATM's that I have been to make crazy beeping sounds to let you know that you have forgotten your card. For me this is never going to happen because I check my pocket excessively during the process to ensure that I don't do exactly this.

There is always the chance, although it is a small one but it does happen every now and then, that the machine decides to "eat" your card and not give it back to you. This isn't as big of a deal as it appears and almost all ATM machines have a unique ID number so that if it does happen you can call the hotline that is normally required to be posted on the machine and they will make it possible for you to get your card back. Of course this is going to take time out of your travels but it is far less time-consuming than waiting for a card to be sent from your home country - if that is even an option at all.

In one particularly bad story I met a girl that had left her card in the machine and not realized it until the following day. By the time she had called up the issuing bank the card had already been used a number of times including to purchase flight tickets. I was kind of surprised that the bank simply reversed the charges (although this took months) and didn't even attempt to track down the people who the flight tickets were issued to nor did they attempt to contact the airline to have the tickets cancelled. I can only presume that this is because the cost of them doing this is greater than the cost of the tickets so they don't even bother.

This is a real danger of ATM cards that are also debit cards because while back in your home country they might check ID or have some sort of pin number system to use the card, overseas is a very different story. I have never had my ID checked to use a debit or credit card and it was only when traveling with an American Express card that there was any sort of identity verification that was enforced by the card issuer. One time I was just buying some shoes and when they ran my card the phone rang at the counter that the person was swiping the card at and it was an American Express representative that was fluent in English as well as the local language. The shoe salesperson was as surprised as I was when he handed me the phone and Amex needed to verify that it was actually me. I was quite impressed with this service and perhaps that is why American Express cards are quite expensive and not accepted just everywhere.

With Visa and Mastercard debit/ATM cards basically anyone can use these cards without any difficulty and I don't understand why they don't have your pin number attached to in-person purchases as well. There must be some sort of technology reason why this is the case.

I revert back to talking about how almost all of the people that I know that have had their cards go missing during a trip overseas have done so by simply forgetting to remove the card from the machine before they leave it. In my mind this is extremely stupid but I guess not everyone is as careful as I am.

Here are some tips I would recommend as far as using cards are concerned overseas.

• Travel with 2 cards from two banks or two different accounts and only take one of them out with you. Better yet, just assign one as your "backup" card and never take that with you anywhere. Just keep this one in reserve in case something happens to your main card.

• Don't take your cards out of the hotel or guesthouse at all unless you intend to use them that day. There is no reason for most of us budget travelers to constantly have our cards on us and if you do so, it could end up getting stolen even though you didn't intend to use it at all. IF you don't have it on you, you can't lose it!

• When you go to an ATM turn your brain on full-alert mode: No matter how much fun you are having or how carefree your day has been up to that point, I want everyone to go full OCD at this point. Check your pocket before leaving, then check it again, then before you leave the line or vestibule check it again and again. The best way to not leave your card in an ATM machine is to make sure you have it on you before you leave. If you walk away, there is a very good chance that it is simply going to be gone. Even if there isn't anyone in line after you most ATM machines have a timer on the card slot so that if the card remains there for too long, the machine will swallow it up to prevent theft.

• I always take a photo of the ATM machines that I use abroad before I use it and this is for the sake of knowing exactly what ATM machine I was using. Like I said before most machines are required by law to have a unique identifier on them so if there is a problem you can much more easily explain to customer service where you last had your card. This can come in handy if you discover later that this machine has some sort of scammy per-use fee on it too. These will often be refunded by your local bank but they can't do it for you if you don't know exactly what machine you used.

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• Last but certainly not least I advise that people stay away from "private" ATM machines in general. These are not seen all that frequently anymore as banks started to compete with one another over who could have the most ATM's but they do appear from time to time. These machines are the ones that are most likely to have skimming technology that will steal your card information as well as your PIN.

While I am not trying to be mean to anyone, most of the time when I hear about people losing their cards while traveling it is because of their own carelessness that it happens. We depend on technology a great deal these days and people are becoming increasingly careless because of it. It can really ruin a vacation when you all of a sudden don't have access to cash so don't be one of those guys!