Blog du Wren

International Banking Fiasco

Some travel stories are too long to fit in a 200 word blog post, but I hate to leave them out because I think they really add to the feeling of what it is like to travel. The following is an example of a longer story that hopefully adds to the picture I'm trying to paint about my travels in Turkey. Please bear with me.*

Due to Turkish web censorship or some other technical reason, I can't access my bank's (U.S. Bank's) website. No biggie, really. I just wanted to see if my tax refund check made it yet. But then I needed to transfer money. And do a few other banking things. Still no crisis, but a pretty big headache.

Then, my accounts get frozen. I only find this out when I am trying to buy an airline ticket from a Dutch website (with liberal use of Google Translate). After completing the transaction, I get an e-mail to the effect of "der carden nein workingen". Bummer.

To try and assess and fix the situation, I talk a trusted friend not behind the great internet wall of Turkey into logging into my account. But one of the oh so helpful security questions have us stymied*. Then I have him use their contact form to submit a letter explaining the situation and try to resolve the issue by e-mail. But the contact form is limited to 200 characters, not nearly enough space to explain things.

It is decided that the best (and probably only) way to resolve the problem is by calling them. Easy, right? Um, not so much.

Being intimidated by regular phones, you can image what international calling does to me. But seeing as that's my only option at this point, I reluctantly go forth. Most international calling these days, at least on the travelling scene, is done through Skype. One hiccup is that the microphone on my computer doesn't work. So I use the hostel's. To use skype, you have to set up an account, so I do that. And to make calls to non-skype users, you have to charge your account up with money. In trying to do that, I realize that I can't...because my bank account is frozen.

I finally get some money on my account by transferring it via paypal, so I set to work to try and make the call. No dice. My skype account has, for some reason, been blocked from that number. Who knows what that's all about. Over the next day or two, I try skyping again from various computers, but again, no dice.

Next choice down the phone options tree is to use a public payphone. Supposedly I can call them collect, but I barely know how to call the US regular style, much less collect style. So to pursue said regular style, I go out and buy a phone card (which is what payphones require here, instead of coins). Through a combination of not understanding the prompts, not necessarily knowing how to dial internationally, and, I'm pretty sure, that I was sold a card with no credit on it, this also fails.

By this point, I can't help but laugh at this incredible fiasco. My attempts to fix a seemingly minor problem have gone on 4 days now and I don't feel any closer to a solution. But since having a frozen bank account doesn't mesh well with spending money hand over fist*, I keep pounding away.

Finally, through gestures and peering questioningly through windows, I find a real phone to call from. Once I get them on the line and explain things, the U.S. Bank people go to work and get most everything sorted out. I still can't access the website, but I can use my card...hopefully. The ticket I wanted is now long gone, so I haven't quite had the chance to test it.

On a somewhat related note, does anyone know how to get back from Europe mid-summer for under $11,000?

Thursday April 7 2011

File under: travel

Toggle Comments (7)

comment?

on Thu 07th Apr, 2011 02:12 pm PDT Stephanie said:
Two ideas, both equally brilliant:
1. Stow away.
2. Mail yourself.
That's all I got.
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on Thu 07th Apr, 2011 02:51 pm PDT mely said:
generally flights out of london are cheap.. and you could probably find a cheap easyjet or ryanair flight *to* london.. good luck young traveller!
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on Thu 07th Apr, 2011 06:45 pm PDT Andrew said:
Kidney courier?
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on Fri 08th Apr, 2011 01:52 am PDT Horge said:
I'd travel Iditarod (dolphin edition) style, but that's if had my druthers (btw, why do we never hear about a single "druther"?). For more boring travel, I think I heard once that tehre are cheap flights from Ireland. But I usually fly from Frankfurt with a roundtrip (airline "logic" means that roundtrip is usually cheaper than 1-way...)
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on Fri 08th Apr, 2011 04:59 pm PDT nathan said:
you could play around with an airfare tool such as http://www.kayak.com/explore/

good luck!
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on Tue 12th Apr, 2011 06:02 pm PDT Jule said:

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on Thu 14th Apr, 2011 06:25 am PDT Dave said:
Take Jule's advice.
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