Money Tips to Prepare for Upcoming Travel
A big part of getting ready for an upcoming trip is keeping your financial life on track while you’re gone. Whether you’ll be traveling out of state or abroad, this planning guide can help you prepare and protect yourself for a worry-free trip.
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Prepare Your Accounts
Travel NotificationsIt's a good idea to notify BECU and your other financial service providers about upcoming travel plans. Transactions that don't fit into your normal routine look suspicious to sensitive fraud detection systems that monitor accounts for unusual activity. When you travel, it can be difficult for these systems to tell between your legitimate purchases and potentially fraudulent transactions.
It only takes a few minutes to digitally notify BECU to prevent your debit or credit card from being blocked by the system trying to protect your account. You can set a travel notification up to 60 days in advance to cover up to 90 days of traveling. When setting a travel notification, be sure to include each location you plan to visit — including short-term layovers.
- Log in to Online Banking.
- Select Account Services.
- Navigate to the Cards section.
- Select Travel Notification.
- Enter your travel dates and destinations.
- Select all the cards you intend to use on your trip.
- Provide contact information.
- Expand the dropdown menu.
- Select Travel Notifications.
- Follow the on-screen instructions.
Important: If our fraud monitoring systems ever detect suspicious charges on your account, BECU will attempt to contact you before locking the account to prevent unauthorized transactions.
Other Ways to Prepare Your Accounts
Prepare Your Wallets
Traveling With Your BECU Cards
Our chip-enabled cards are highly compatible with global systems, and BECU debit and credit cards are accepted worldwide. Here are some important things to be aware of before you leave:
Prepare for Travel Safety
Security on the Home Front
Not everyone needs to know about your upcoming trip. Avoid posting details on social media about where you're going, when you're leaving, or how long you'll be away. Widely sharing that your house may be unoccupied for a period of time could make your home a target for burglary or other crime. Wait until you're home to tell your network where you've been.
You may also want to submit a USPS Hold Mail request to prevent mail theft and an overflowing mailbox when you return. Learn more about requesting a mail hold from the postal service.
Be ready for fraudsters and thieves who often target travelers in touristy areas using a variety of cons, like "wallet-drop" scams, "bag-watching" scams, and many others. These tips and resources can help you prepare for keeping yourself and your money safe when traveling:
- Research your destination using trusted resources, like government websites.
- Generally, never send money to someone you don't know or just met while traveling, especially if what they're offering in return sounds "too good to be true."
- If you meet someone claiming to be in distress or in need of money, tell them to contact the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.
- If you're unsure whether you're being targeted with a scam, please call the Department of State's Overseas Citizens Services at 888-407-4747 from the U.S. or Canada, or +1 202-501-4444 from overseas. They can help you verify.
- If you do become a victim of a scam, it's important to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and the FBI at ic3.gov.
